What is an AI agent?
The word “agent” is used for anything that talks back. If you cannot picture the job, the brief will wander. You need a definition you can hold in your head: what it reads, what it can do, and how you know the work is done.
Ask for a definition with parts. Name the audience. Ask for what it must not do, so the picture has an edge.
A definition with edges
Explain an AI agent to a new colleague in four short sentences. Cover: what it reads, what it can do, what it must not do on its own, and how I know the work is finished.
Paste the prompt. Read the answer as a picture, not as a slogan.
An agent reads your brief and whatever you attach. It can draft, plan, and use tools you allow. It must not send, spend, or publish unless you say so. The work is finished when you can check the result against the brief.
A definition you can reuse when you sit down to brief one. If a later prompt fails, come back to these four edges.