AI Agent
An AI system that handles goal-relevant state and advances work through multiple interactions with an environment, tools, software, or other components, rather than relying solely on one model inference.
Example
A system receives requirements, checks availability, compares options, and proceeds to the next action after obtaining the user's confirmation.
Distinctions and cautions
A model or chatbot that only produces one response to one input is not necessarily an AI agent. The designation AI Agent does not necessarily imply a minimum number of steps or degree of autonomy that applies uniformly across all uses. Excessive Agency separately concerns permissions or external effects beyond what is needed.
Terminology note
The boundary of what counts as an AI Agent may vary with operational definitions that consider the system’s state, interaction with its environment, tool use, and the stages of its processing.
Evidence
View evidence →
Agentic AI
- Title
- Agentic AI
- Author / organization
- NIST
- Year
- 2026
- Source type / publication status
- Government official web; current
- Supported concepts / claim context
- AI Agent; autonomy and goal-driven interaction.
- Scope and limitations
- A high-level official description, not a universally binding implementation standard.
- Access / version note
- Official page referenced in the research input; exact link not recorded.
- Recorded official URL / DOI / identifier
- As recorded:
NOT_RECORDED_IN_RESEARCH_INPUT (official NIST page)(no URL inferred)
AI Agent Standards Initiative
- Title
- AI Agent Standards Initiative
- Author / organization
- NIST
- Year
- 2026
- Source type / publication status
- Government initiative; current
- Supported concepts / claim context
- AI Agent; reliability, interoperability, security.
- Scope and limitations
- Describes the scope of an initiative; does not establish a single ontology.
- Access / version note
- Official page referenced in the research input; exact link not recorded.
- Recorded official URL / DOI / identifier
- As recorded:
NOT_RECORDED_IN_RESEARCH_INPUT (official NIST page)(no URL inferred)
LLM06:2025 Excessive Agency
- Title
- LLM06:2025 Excessive Agency
- Author / organization
- OWASP
- Year
- 2025
- Source type / publication status
- Institutional security guidance; living/current
- Supported concepts / claim context
- Excessive Agency; functionality, permissions, autonomy and mitigations.
- Scope and limitations
- Security-framework terminology; not an ISO/JIS or universal terminology standard.
- Access / version note
- Living guidance; exact page URL not recorded.
- Recorded official URL / DOI / identifier
- As recorded:
NOT_RECORDED_IN_RESEARCH_INPUT (official OWASP page)(no URL inferred)