1 What is an AI agent?
This chapter covers
- What an LLM agent is and when to use them
- The components of an LLM agent
- Building an agent from scratch
The emergence of Large Language Models (LLMs) in 2023 and the advancement of Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology in 2024 brought significant changes to the field of artificial intelligence. Now, we stand at the center of yet another wave of innovation: the explosive interest in agents. An LLM agent is a system that uses a Large Language Model (LLM) as its reasoning engine to autonomously make decisions and execute actions in order to achieve specified objectives. In essence, the LLM functions as the agent’s "brain."