---
title: "What is an AI agent?"
description: "An AI agent is software that carries out a task independently instead of only answering: it reads incoming email or documents, decides within pre-agreed rules what needs to happen, and does it — following up a quote, booking a receipt, scheduling an appointment. The difference with a chatbot: a chatbot talks, an agent works."
url: https://vanborg.com/en/explained/ai-agent
locale: en
type: page
updated: 2026-08-06
author: "Nicolaas Sterenborg"
---

# What is an AI agent?

An AI agent is software that carries out a task independently instead of only answering: it reads incoming email or documents, decides within pre-agreed rules what needs to happen, and does it — following up a quote, booking a receipt, scheduling an appointment. The difference with a chatbot: a chatbot talks, an agent works.

## What an agent does and doesn't decide itself

A good agent works within boundaries fixed in advance: it may send a reminder but not give a discount; it may schedule an appointment, but only in the slots you opened up. Anything outside the rules it puts before a human. That keeps the speed of automation combined with an owner's control — and it's exactly why businesses dare to trust it with their admin.

## The automation flows

We rent out five core flows that work in any trade — chasing quotes, drafting quotes, requesting reviews, booking admin and building your schedule — plus custom work for whatever only exists in your trade, from a compliance file to a waiting list that shifts up on a cancellation. Every flow runs on your existing email, calendar or bookkeeping — nothing needs replacing.

## What an AI agent costs

With us a flow is always €250 setup and then a fixed monthly rent from €79, cancellable monthly. That rent covers more than running: management, the monthly tuning of the rules based on what actually came in, and new AI models as soon as they're better. Compare that with a custom project costing thousands up front: there you pay the risk before knowing whether it works. With rent you can stop after a month if the agent doesn't earn its keep — which means we carry the risk, and that's exactly why we only build agents that work reliably.

## See also

- [The automation flows](https://vanborg.com/en/services/automations)
- [ChatAgent: the talking side](https://vanborg.com/en/services/chatagent)
- [See an agent at work in the demo](https://vanborg.com/en/demo)