With the rise of Generative AI (GenAI) systems, AI assistants and agents have emerged as common AI helper solutions to support many use cases, such as drafting emails, creating documents, analysing data and more.
With so many different AI assistants and agents available in the market, it can be hard to choose the right one for your specific use case. This article is designed to help you understand what AI assistants and agents are, what they can do and how to choose the right one for your use cases.
An AI assistant is a conversational chat interface (powered by GenAI) that can help to search for specific information, generate responses, or review content and more. For example, helping employees to produce more accurate work by identifying errors and suggesting improvements.
AI agents are AI systems that use reasoning autonomously to perform complex tasks on behalf of a user or another system and require minimal direct control by the user. For example, an AI agent can take real-time notes during online meetings.
AI assistants and agents are used by organisations principally for:
The diagram below shows an example of how an AI multi agent solution could work:
Source: Deloitte, 2025.
There are three core groups of AI assistants and agents available:
In this section we step through an example scenario where an organisation is looking to build an AI copilot or agent for its sales team to improve sales performance and address key use cases within the team.
To identify the most suitable type of AI solution for this use case consider the following options, benefits, and factors based on these examples:
Benefits |
Considerations |
---|---|
|
|
Benefits |
Considerations |
---|---|
|
|
Benefits |
Considerations |
---|---|
|
|
AI assistants and agents can solve complex problems, help employees to be more productive, and provide organisations with numerous opportunities. To maximise the effectiveness of any solution, it is essential to:
Selecting the most appropriate AI assistants and agents is crucial for effective adoption and unlocking the full potential of these technologies. By carefully considering the available options and weighing their benefits and considerations, businesses can ensure they choose solutions that align with their unique requirements.