Notes: Tell Agentic AI, Chatbots and Workflows Apart

A chatbot is software you converse with. ChatGPT can search the web and can do agentic work. The conversation alone does not tell you how the software chooses its steps.

A fixed workflow follows steps and rules prepared in the software before the job begins. An agent can choose some next actions while working, based on what it finds and the requested result. Both can use tools. Giving a model a long list of steps does not by itself show that a fixed workflow has been built.

For a price comparison, a fixed workflow can read saved pages and flag missing prices. An agent can choose another search when a saved page has no price. The two approaches can work together: the agent finds prices, and a fixed calculation compares them. Check the products, source prices and calculations before using the report.

A manual request, a configured schedule or a detected event can start a job. What starts the work is separate from how the steps are chosen. Receiving a notification that an invoice arrived does not mean its details were added to the spreadsheet.

An assistant helps a person. An agent chooses and takes actions toward a goal; agentic describes that way of working. Automation means software carries out work automatically, whether a person or another trigger starts it. These descriptions can apply to the same system.

Preparing an email reply and sending it are different actions. Check what the system can do and which actions require approval.

Write the result you want, one decision the model might make and one tool action it would take. Those details explain the work more clearly than a product label alone.

Use the Meeting vocabulary companion to choose a sentence that fits your situation. It gives twelve terms in practical sentences and the titles of the earlier explanations. Adapt the example while keeping the meaning.