A chatbot turns a question into an answer. An agent turns a goal into completed steps, using tools such as a browser. If the product can change something in the world on your behalf, it is acting as an agent.
The core difference
Ask a chatbot to book a table and it tells you how. Ask an agent and it opens the form, selects the time, fills in your name and asks whether to confirm. The chatbot’s output is text; the agent’s output is a changed state — a booking made, a form submitted, a draft placed in your reply box.
Side by side
| Chatbot | AI agent | |
|---|---|---|
| Input | A question | A goal |
| Output | An answer | Completed steps |
| Tools | None, or search | Browser, apps, files |
| Steps | One turn | Many, in a loop |
| Main risk | Wrong answer | Wrong action |
| Safeguard | Your judgement | Approvals before final steps |
A quick test
To tell what a product really is, ask: can it click? If it can only read and write text, it is a chatbot, however clever. Many “AI sidebars” are chatbots that can see the page. That is useful — but different from an agent. Our list of agent extensions separates the two.
You need both
Thinking tasks suit chat: explain, compare, draft. Doing tasks suit agents: fill, book, change. Hark combines them — Chat mode for the page and your email, Agent mode for tasks — so you do not have to choose a tool before you start.