AI Agents vs Chatbots vs LLM Apps [Simple Breakdown]

By now, everyone probably knows what a chatbot is. Think ChatGPT, Google's Gemini, or one of the other half dozen AI chatbots you've probably used. Now that AI is getting more sophisticated, the developers are starting to break down newer functionality into smaller tidbits. That's where AI Agents and LLM Apps come in.

So what the heck is the difference?

Table showing the difference between AI chatbots, LLM apps, and AI agents

What are LLM Apps?

If you've ever been in a meeting where there's an AI bot that listens and then summarizes the meeting, that's an LLM app.

LLM stands for Large Language Model. LLM is an AI system trained on massive amounts of text. Any of the chatbots you have used are using LLM at the core. But for this conversation, when someone says LLM, think AI, they are just trying to sound smart. (That's why I'll continue to use it so you think I'm smart)

LLM Apps is a fancy way to say an AI app that's designed to do one specific task.

An LLM app is almost like putting a chatbot on rails. You're saying, "I'll give you X. You give me back Y. "

Let's say I made a website. It had one input, French text. You put in French text, the website puts the text into an AI model and tells it "translate this to English," and it outputs text that translates the French. That's an LLM app.

The takeaway: LLM Apps use AI to perform one specific task.

What are AI Agents?

AI agents are the next phase of development for AI. At least, they will be.

While we are starting to use the term AI agent more and more, I don't believe most are really there, yet.

AI agents are supposed to be able to solve the problem for you.

When I think AI agent, I think of this: You give the AI agent a goal. "Why did our sales drop in July?" The AI agent should search through your entire library of data. Find the sales books. Understand that you're a brick-and-mortar store located in Philadelphia. Check the weather for Philadelphia. Recognize that it rained a lot in Philadelphia in July. Find local road closures, detours, and search social media. And understand that you had less foot traffic going past your store, so you had fewer walk-ins.

Most AI agents today aren't that. Most AI agents today are truly LLM apps + chatbots. But the lines are blurry.

The do it for me test

Here's a very simple AI agent: Let's say you create an "HR Agent"; it can answer employees' questions about HR, but it can also fill out forms or update data on behalf of the users. Now, that would be an agent. If I said to the "HR Agent" I have a new phone number, update my contact information. And it said, "You can do it by going HERE," that's not an AI agent. An AI agent would get that information from you and update your contact information in all the places it needs to be updated across your organization.

An LLM app tells you where the finish line is; an agent crosses it for you.

AI agents have the real possibility of replacing employees.