ELI5: what is an agentic agent in the context of llms

What is an agentic agent?

An agentic agent is like giving a language model a remote control to make decisions and take actions on its own [1]. Instead of just answering questions, it can choose what to do next based on what it learns [2].

How is it different from a regular chatbot?

A regular chatbot just reads your question and gives you an answer. An agentic agent is smarter—it can decide to search for information, try different approaches, and manage what happens next in the conversation [1][3].

What makes it work?

The secret is that the LLM controls the flow of the whole system, kind of like a conductor directing an orchestra [1]. It understands what you're asking and figures out which tools or steps to use [2].

Why is this useful?

Agentic agents can handle complicated tasks that need multiple steps because they can think through problems and adapt as they go, rather than just giving one fixed answer [2][3].