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

We're all familiar with ChatGPT, Gemini, and the like. But what exactly are AI Agents? Why bother with them when we can just use ChatGPT?

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

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

An AI Agent is different. It can not only chat but also "get things done". Think of ChatGPT as a smart brain without hands and 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 getting a lot of buzz lately. If you ask it to write a report, it can plan the steps, search for information online, remember what it's read, and finally deliver the finished product. With ChatGPT, you'd have to find the information yourself and feed it to the model before it could even start.

So, why do we need AI Agents? Aren't large language models (LLMs) enough? LLMs are great at talking, but they lack the ability to take action. AI Agents, on the other hand, are more like "doers" that can interact with the real world.

For instance, if you say, "Find me a cheap flight to Shanghai next week," the agent can search and compare prices on its own, giving you a reliable recommendation. ChatGPT might just chat about the scenery in Shanghai, but it won't offer much practical help.

In essence, AI Agents add "doing skills" to AI, transforming it from something that just talks the talk to something that can actually walk the walk.