By Bernard Marr – Two terms that come up frequently in conversations about business automation today are “agents” and “robotic process automation” (RPA).

They’re often mentioned together because both aim to streamline repetitive, rules-based tasks that were traditionally handled by humans.

However, while they share some common ground, especially around automation and the use of “robots,” they represent very different approaches to solving different kinds of problems. Understanding these differences is essential if you want to choose the right tool for the job.

At its core, RPA is about programming software with clear, rule-based instructions to perform simple, repeatable tasks.

AI agents, by contrast, aren’t programmed; they’re trained. Once trained, they’re left to get on with the job using tools like natural language models and computer vision to navigate complex tasks and make decisions.

So, how does that affect the kind of problems each one is best suited to solve? And more importantly, how do you decide which to use in a given situation?  Read On: