What Is an AI Agent?

Video Description

In this episode of AI + a16z, a16z Infra partners Guido Appenzeller, Matt Bornstein, and Yoko Li discuss and debate one of the tech industry's buzziest words right now: AI agents. The trio digs into the topic from a number of angles, including: - Whether a uniform definition of agent actually exists - How to distinguish between agents, LLMs, and functions - How to think about pricing agents - Whether agents can actually replace humans, and - The effects of data siloes on agents that can access the web. - They don't claim to have all the answers, but they raise many questions and insights that should interest anybody building, buying, and even marketing AI agents. 00:00:39 - How do we define “AI agents” 00:04:40 - Degrees of agentic behavior 00:09:34 - Can agents really replace humans? 00:15:32 - Is it agentic behavior or a software function? 00:18:46 -  How should we price AI agents? 00:22:54 -  Identifying true value 00:25:59 -  Where do agent capabilities live? 00:29:40 -  Agents vs. a hostile web 00:34:04 -  What does success look like?