What Is an AI Agent? A Production Definition From Running Multi-Agent Systems

Originally published on AIdeazz — cross-posted here with canonical link. Most definitions of AI agents are either too academic ("autonomous entities that perceive and act") or too marketing-driven ("ChatGPT but with buttons!"). After building and deploying multiple agent systems in production — from Telegram bots handling thousands of daily queries to multi-agent workflows on Oracle Cloud — I've developed a more practical definition. The Core Loop: Observe → Decide → Act → Persist An AI agent is