---
title: "Agent (agentic AI)"
description: "An AI system that acts (browses, executes code, calls APIs, moves data or delegates to other agents) under delegated authority, rather than only producing text."
canonical: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/glossary/agent-agentic-ai
author: "Jorge García Aibar"
license: "CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)"
doi: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22956197
version: "0.5.0"
updated: 2026-09-25
---

# Agent (agentic AI)

An AI system that acts (browses, executes code, calls APIs, moves data or delegates to other agents) under delegated authority, rather than only producing text. Agents are the hardest object to govern because their behaviour is emergent and their actions have external effects.

- Developed in: [ch. 23, What makes an agent a governance object](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-agents#what-makes-an-agent-a-governance-object); [ch. 11, Agentic systems](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/ai-defined#agentic-systems)
- Chapters: [ch. 01, Definition](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/definition) · [ch. 11, AI Defined](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/ai-defined) · [ch. 23, AI Agents](https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/governing-agents)
- In the glossary chapter: https://aigovernanceengineer.com/bok/glossary#t-agent-agentic-ai

## Sources

Defined by this Body of Knowledge: the section it is developed in is the source.