Most people's experience of AI goes something like this: you type a question, you get an answer, and then you go off and do something with that answer yourself. That is perfectly useful -- but it is only half the picture.
An AI agent is something a step further. Rather than just answering your question, it takes action on your behalf. It can plan a sequence of steps, use tools, browse the web, write and run code, manage files, and work through a complex task from start to finish -- without you having to hold its hand at every stage.
A simple way to think about it
Imagine you asked a colleague to research the best project management tools for a small team, compare the top five options, and put together a summary with a recommendation. A standard AI chatbot would give you a list. An AI agent would actually do the research, visit the websites, compare the features and pricing, and write you a proper report.
The difference is between being given information and having a task completed.
What can an AI agent actually do?
- →Research a topic thoroughly and write a full report with sources
- →Build a website or web application from a description
- →Analyse data files and produce charts and written insights
- →Browse the web and gather information from multiple sources
- →Write, test, and run code to solve a specific problem
- →Manage files, create documents, and organise information
- →Connect to your calendar, email, and other tools
Meet Bob
The owner of this site has her own personal AI agent called Bob, built on Manus. Bob is set up to help with specific recurring tasks -- the kind of things that would otherwise take up a chunk of the working week. Having a named, configured agent like Bob means you can give it context about how you work, what you need, and how you like things done, and it will remember that across tasks.
It sounds a bit futuristic, but it is genuinely available right now, and it is not as complicated to set up as you might think.
Do you need one?
Honestly, not everyone does -- at least not yet. If you are just getting started with AI, it makes more sense to get comfortable with the basics first: using ChatGPT for writing, Claude for documents, Perplexity for research. Those tools alone will save you a significant amount of time.
But if you find yourself doing the same complex, multi-step tasks repeatedly -- or if you have a project that involves a lot of research, writing, and organisation -- then an AI agent could be genuinely transformative.
Manus is the easiest place to start with AI agents. You can set one up without any technical knowledge, give it a name, and start delegating tasks to it. Think of it as hiring a very capable, very patient assistant.
The bottom line
AI agents represent the next step in how we use AI -- moving from asking questions to delegating work. They are not perfect, and they still need a human to check their output and give them direction. But for the right tasks, they are remarkably capable, and they are only going to get better.
