Lately, the term "AI Agent" keeps popping up everywhere. Whether I'm browsing news or watching videos, everyone's talking about agents and the agent market, like it's the next big thing.

We're all familiar with ChatGPT and Gemini, but what exactly is an AI Agent? Why bother with an agent when we can just use ChatGPT?

Let's start with what an AI Agent is. Simply put, it's like an "all-around assistant."

You can chat with ChatGPT, and it can write articles and answer questions. But if you ask it to book a flight or track a package, it'll shrug and say, "I can't do that!"

But an AI Agent is different. It can not only chat but also "work." Think of ChatGPT as a smart brain without hands or feet. An AI Agent equips that brain with memory and a body, allowing it to perceive the outside world, remember what it's done, and go off to complete tasks.

Take Manus AI, for example, which has been gaining traction recently. If you ask it to write a report, it can plan the steps itself, search for information online, remember what it's seen, and finally deliver the report to you. With ChatGPT, you'd have to find and feed it the information yourself before it could even start.

So, why do we need agents? Aren't large models enough? Actually, large models are like "armchair experts" – great at talking, but lacking in action. Agents, on the other hand, are more like "doers" who can interact with the real world.

For example, if you say, "Help me find a cheap flight to Shanghai next week," the agent can research and compare prices on its own, giving you a reliable recommendation. ChatGPT would mostly chat with you about the scenery in Shanghai, with very little practical information.

So, an agent gives AI a "hands-on skill," transforming it from someone who just talks into someone who can actually get things done.