Work tools
People work better when they have good tools.
A calculator to do math faster.
A manual to look up something they don’t master.
A computer to access systems, websites, and information.
Email, messaging, and platforms to communicate with the team.
Much of a human being’s execution capacity doesn’t come only from them.
It also comes from the tools they use.
With AI Agents, the logic is similar.
AI Agents can also have tools.
And these tools amplify what they can do.
For example, you can give an AI Agent the ability to:
- Access websites
- Query databases
- Interact with social media
- Execute code
- Use simulators
- Access internal company systems
- Use a credit card to hire or purchase any resource necessary for the task
Yes, a credit card comes in as another operational tool.
Many AI Agents already operate with defined budgets.
They receive a spending limit and make decisions within that limit to achieve an objective.
This might include the AI Agent hiring services, paying for tools, or acquiring resources needed to execute the task.
In some cases, an AI Agent’s tool can be a human being.
There have been experiments where AI Agents, facing a limitation, chose to hire people to solve parts of the task.
A famous case involved an AI Agent that needed to solve a CAPTCHA, something that, as an artificial intelligence, it couldn’t do on its own.
The solution found by the AI Agent itself was to access a freelance platform and hire a human.
The AI Agent paid a few dollars to the human, who solved that part of the task.
This shows that the AI Agent is not limited only to what it knows how to do.
It also depends on the tools it has access to.
And these tools can include systems, services, APIs, and even people.
On the other hand, an AI Agent without tools is limited.
It might reason well.
But it can’t execute actions outside of its own environment.
So, when you’re thinking about how to use AI Agents in your organization, remember:
The tools you give them are as important as their intrinsic capabilities.