AI assistants vs AI agents: What works better?
Jun 5, 2026

Summary
This post clarifies the distinction between AI assistants and AI agents, defining agents as autonomous systems that plan and execute multi-step workflows towards a goal with minimal human input, contrasting them with reactive AI assistants. It details the operational differences, key features like autonomy and tool orchestration for agents, and their suitability for workflow automation. This contributes to the understanding of how Glean's agent orchestration platform enables complex task execution.
More from the Agent Orchestration Platform trail
- AI Agents for Financial Compliance: How Enterprise AI Is Solving the Regulatory Reporting Challenge
- From enterprise search to enterprise context: what AI agents actually need
- Scale AI usage without runaway spend with Glean’s AI usage controls
- Glean Agents can now work independently, build faster, and stay governed at scale
- Glean expands horizontal, agent platform with open agent interoperability, dozens of personal and business agents, and comprehensive AI security