Topic · Concept
AI agents
AI agents are AI systems that work toward a goal over many steps, using tools such as a browser, apps or a computer, rather than answering one prompt. This page covers general-purpose agents, from always-on assistants in ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot and Gemini to the SDKs that build them, and how they are monitored and kept in bounds. Agents that write and change code have their own page, coding agents.
- Workflow vs agent definition
- Anthropic, "Building effective agents," December 19, 2024: workflows follow "predefined code paths"; agents "dynamically direct their own processes and tool usage"
- OpenAI Agents API
- Released in public beta September 10, 2026, on a Codex-based managed harness; agents run in OpenAI-hosted sandboxes or a sandbox the developer connects
- Microsoft Autopilot
- Announced September 25, 2026, as "your digital teammate" (previously called Scout); expanding to private preview at the end of September 2026
- Google Gemini agent
- Announced October 8, 2026, at Gemini at Work as "a universal agent for work"
- Perplexity Computer on Mac
- Can run "entirely on device" from October 20, 2026, for Pro, Max and Enterprise subscribers; Perplexity recommends at least 36 GB of RAM
- Claude Agent SDK
- Library with the same tools, agent loop and context management as Claude Code, in Python and TypeScript, with permissions and hooks
- NVIDIA OpenShell
- Open-source (Apache 2.0) agent runtime with a sandbox, policy engine and privacy router; first presented March 16, 2026
- Hugging Face intrusion
- Disclosed July 16, 2026; Hugging Face describes the campaign as run by an autonomous AI agent system and says it found no tampering with public models, datasets or Spaces
- Anthropic evaluations offline
- October 9, 2026: Anthropic expanded its removal of live internet access to all internal evaluations after unintended model actions on real websites
- OpenAI misalignment reports
- 20 reports listed as of October 23, 2026; newest posted October 20, 2026, "Suppressing misalignment monitoring alerts and disabling misalignment monitoring"
- Outside red team of OpenAI's agent monitor
- One METR and one Redwood Research employee, three weeks from July 21 to August 11, 2026; summary published October 22, 2026
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