Agentic AI Vs Generative AI: Key Differences that Everyone Needs to Know

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing our lives in ways we don’t even realize. From unlocking our phones using face ID to getting our playlist ready on our music app, AI is silently working in the background. Though we read about AI everyday and how it is impacting our lives, do you know what are the types of AI out there? Yes, you read it right. There are different types of AIs.

If you are someone who follows tech news, then you must have heard about terms like Agentic AI and Generative AI. At first glance, they sound complicated, don’t they? But don’t worry, we’re here to break it down for you in simple words.

What is Generative AI?

First let’s begin with generative AI, which is widely used nowadays. Generative AI is like a super creative assistant. It’s designed to generate content like text, images, music, videos, and even computer code, based on patterns it has learned. Imagine asking an AI tool to write you an essay of 1000 words or make a digital painting. That’s generative AI.

Generative AI does what we tell it to do, that’s it. Nothing more than that. It doesn’t take initiative and hence it is just reactive and not proactive.

What is Agentic AI?

Now here comes a little futuristic AI- The Agentic AI. Agentic AI, as the name suggests, acts like an agent as it doesn’t just wait for your instructions but makes decisions that can plan, take actions, and even achieve goals.

For example, you tell an AI to plan your vacation to Japan. An Agentic AI won’t just give you a list of places to visit. It will book your flights, reserve hotels, create a sightseeing schedule, and even set reminders for your visa application.

It’s designed to act autonomously, meaning it can make decisions and execute tasks without constant supervision.

Advantages of Agentic AI

1. Autonomy in Decision-Making – Agentic AI is developed to make independent decisions based on its goals and environment, reducing the need for constant human intervention. This is especially useful in complex tasks like space exploration or disaster management.
2. Goal-Oriented and Specialized Behaviour - Unlike traditional AI, agentic AI works towards achieving specific goals. For example, an agentic robot in healthcare can monitor a patient and adjust treatments proactively.
3. Adaptable - It can easily adapt to changes in its environment. In self-driving cars, agentic AI responds to unpredictable road situations dynamically.
4. Complex problem solving - It can break down complex tasks into smaller steps and plan actions, making it ideal for industries like logistics and manufacturing.

The Future: Will Generative AI Become Agentic?

Though we are talking about the difference between Agentic AI and Generative AI, the truth is that they aren’t always separate. As technology advances, they’re starting to merge. For example, an AI that writes emails (Generative) and then sends them automatically (Agentic).

But do you think giving AI too much independence is the right thing to do? Too much independence means more safeguards. Although agentic AI sounds like an interesting concept it can be dangerous too. Imagine a situation where your AI assistant accidentally spends your entire savings on luxury handbags because it “thought it was a good idea”.

The decision is yours – Would you really like AI to make decisions on your behalf? What if it makes a mistake? As agentic AI emerges, researchers and developers are working hard to overcome these problems and make it more user-friendly.

So next time you discuss with your friends how AI is changing everything, it’s important to understand that AI is not just a buzzword or a trending word, but a reality that is going to stay with us. And therefore, it is essential to know the difference between generative AI and agentic AI, as these agents are soon going to change our daily lives. Are you ready to embrace this reality soon?