What are agents? That word is getting tossed around a lot right now. Most of the
By Brett Bohannon · May 21, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
What are agents?
That word is getting tossed around a lot right now.
Most of the time, it gets used in the context of coding.But I think that limits the conversation.
Addy Osmani, Director at Google AI, explained it really well:
“At its core, an agent is a system that runs tools in a loop to achieve a goal. The real skill lies in designing both the tools and that loop.”
That right there hits home.
Because an agent is not always some giant autonomous system running wild in the background.
Sometimes it is a simple loop with a very specific goal.
Summarize how your campaigns are performing.
Check if anything changed across a list of ASINs.
Compare LTV against campaign performance.
Review a catalog issue and route it to the right next step.
➔ The goal matters.
➔ The tools matter.
➔ The loop matters.
➔ And the design around all of it matters even more.
That is the part I think gets missed when people talk about agents.
It is not just “connect data to AI.”
It is designing the system that knows what to do with the data, which tool to call, what context to apply, and when the job is actually done.
That is the gap I’m building Helm around. Not agents as a buzzword.
Agents as simple, focused systems that can work through a goal with the right tools, knowledge, and structure.
The term will probably keep getting stretched in a hundred different directions. That’s fine.
For me, the question is simpler:
➔ Can the system help move from insight to execution?
That’s where it gets interesting.