What's the Difference Between AI Agents and Chatbots?
Tools, memory, autonomy, and ops model — why chatbots answer questions but agents run loops.
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Direct answer
Chatbots respond in a session — FAQ, scripted flows, limited tools. Agents pursue goals across tools, time, and triggers with memory, planning, and governance.
Key points
- Chatbot: reactive, single channel
- Agent: proactive cron/event, multi-connector
- Agents need sandboxes; chatbots need content updates
Side-by-side
| Chatbot | Agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger | User message | Event/cron too |
| Tools | Rare | Core |
| Memory | Session | Persistent layers |
| Governance | Content mod | Ask + evals |
Related: AI agent vs RPA.
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