# AI agent

> An AI agent is a software system, built on a large language model, that carries out actions on its own and uses interfaces to other programs to reach its goal.

Original page: https://t10.de/en/glossary/ai-agent
Publisher: total10 GmbH, https://t10.de/en/glossary

In its [guidance on AI agents](https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Verbraucherinnen-und-Verbraucher/Informationen-und-Empfehlungen/Technologien_sicher_gestalten/Kuenstliche-Intelligenz/KI-Agenten/ki-agenten.html) (in German), Germany's Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) describes them as systems that are meant not only to give answers but to act independently in the digital world. Unlike a chatbot, an agent works through the tasks users set in several steps, largely unaided, without a person confirming each step. One risk is loss of control: the more independently an agent acts, the harder it is to follow what it is doing. The advice is to give an agent only the access its task really needs.

The German business encyclopaedia [Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon](https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/ki-agent-175166) calls AI agents autonomous systems that can perceive, decide and act towards a goal. Modern agents are integrated into technical and organisational processes through interfaces, for example to handle orders, support sales or write code.

Each agent we build fits the client's use case and works through defined interfaces such as a REST API or MCP tools. For a pharmaceutical logistics company we built a knowledge platform in which an email agent turns incoming emails into tasks and knowledge-base entries. It cannot delete anything, and the system logs everything it writes. Agents produce drafts; nothing is published until a person approves it. A task with fixed logic and a predictable output does not need an agent.

## See also

- [Lock-in](https://t10.de/en/glossary/lock-in): Lock-in is a customer's dependence on a supplier that makes it less attractive, or harder, to switch to a different one.
- [n8n](https://t10.de/en/glossary/n8n): n8n is a tool for automating business workflows, including steps that use AI; it is published under fair-code licences and can run on a company's own infrastructure.
- [MCP](https://t10.de/en/glossary/mcp): MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open protocol that connects applications built on large language models with external data sources and tools.
- [Prompt](https://t10.de/en/glossary/prompt): A prompt is the input a user gives a generative AI system, which then responds with an output.
- [Large language model](https://t10.de/en/glossary/large-language-model): A large language model (LLM) is an AI model, trained on large amounts of text, that processes text inputs called prompts and generates text outputs from them.
- [Hallucination](https://t10.de/en/glossary/hallucination): A hallucination is content that an AI model makes up while generating its output and that was part of neither its input nor its training data.
- [Business application](https://t10.de/en/glossary/business-application): In general terms, a business application is software used to perform or support business functions.

## Where the term appears

- [Custom AI agents for businesses](https://t10.de/en/ai-agents)
- [Out of the inbox: a knowledge platform for a pharma logistics provider](https://t10.de/en/blog/knowledge-platform-pharma)
- [The self-driving content machine](https://t10.de/en/blog/self-driving-content-machine)
- [AI product copy and SEO content with RAG](https://t10.de/en/seo)

## Sources

1. [KI-Agenten: Wenn Künstliche Intelligenz selbstständig handelt (Verbraucherseite, ohne Datumsangabe)](https://www.bsi.bund.de/DE/Themen/Verbraucherinnen-und-Verbraucher/Informationen-und-Empfehlungen/Technologien_sicher_gestalten/Kuenstliche-Intelligenz/KI-Agenten/ki-agenten.html), Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI), accessed 2026-11-07
2. [KI-Agent, Autor: Prof. Dr. Oliver Bendel (FHNW)](https://wirtschaftslexikon.gabler.de/definition/ki-agent-175166), Gabler Wirtschaftslexikon (Springer Gabler), accessed 2026-11-07