Why there is confusion around Automation and Agentic AI
Why there is confusion around Automation and Agentic AIBenjamin Etienne13 min read·Jul 17, 2025--8ListenShareYou’re not really building agents, are you ?TL,DR; An agent isn’t just told what to do (automation) or how to call a specific function (function calling). An agent is given a mission, and it figures out the how, adapting along the way. It’s the difference between a self-driving car (an agent trying to reach a destination, dynamically avoiding obstacles) and cruise control (automation).Introduction: Are We All Just Confused?Ok, yet another article about agents, but I am not here to tell you how marvelous and revolutionary they are.
- ▪Why there is confusion around Automation and Agentic AIBenjamin Etienne13 min read·Jul 17, 2025--8ListenShareYou’re not really building agents, are you ?TL,DR; An agent isn’t just told what to do (automation) or how to call a specific funct
- ▪An agent is given a mission, and it figures out the how, adapting along the way.
- ▪It’s the difference between a self-driving car (an agent trying to reach a destination, dynamically avoiding obstacles) and cruise control (automation).Introduction: Are We All Just Confused?Ok, yet another article about agents, but I am no
Hacker News (AI / LLM) files mainly under ai. We currently carry 2,264 of its stories.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Why there is confusion around Automation and Agentic AIBenjamin Etienne13 min read·Jul 17, 2025--8ListenShareYou’re not really building agents, are you ?TL,DR; An agent isn’t just told what to do (automation) or how to call a specific function (function calling). An agent is given a mission, and it figures out the how, adapting along the way. It’s the difference between a self-driving car (an agent trying to reach a destination, dynamically avoiding obstacles) and cruise control (automation).Introduction: Are We All Just Confused?Ok, yet another article about agents, but I am not here to tell you how marvelous and revolutionary they are.
…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Medium.