Many recently announced “AI agents” are actually sophisticated automation systems, according to Brian Evergreen and Pascal Bornet writing for VentureBeat. True AI agents can research, reason, decide and act to achieve a goal with full autonomy, while automation simply follows predefined recipes when conditions are met. Identifying genuine agency requires looking at a system’s behavior when faced with exceptions and its ability to handle complex workflows independently. The authors argue that this “masquerade” isn’t necessarily problematic, as automation often works better for certain business processes. Organizations should choose the right solution based on their specific needs.