Ep 717: AI Agents in 2026 Explained: What They Are and When You Should Use Them (Start Here Series Vol 8)

AI Agents. AI Agents everywhere. 🪐

For what seems like an eternity, we've been hearing about how AI agents were going to do everything. (In a good and bad way) 

But it never really happened. 

Until now. 

Today, AI agents are more important than ever. But... the questions are still legit plentiful. 

 ↳ What actually is an AI agent? 
 ↳ How do they work? 
 ↳ And what are the best ways to implement them? 

We'll tackle those questions and more, LIVE. 

AI Agents in 2026 Explained: What They Are and When You Should Use Them -- An Everyday AI Chat with Jordan Wilson (Starter Series, Vol 8)

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Topics Covered in This Episode:

1. AI Agents 2026: Definition & Overview
2. AI Agents vs Traditional AI Chatbots
3. Current State of AI Agents in Enterprises
4. AI Agent Adoption Statistics & Market Trends
5. Key Differences: Workflow Automation vs AI Agents
6. Types of AI Agents: Task, Process, Decision
7. Autonomous vs Passive AI Agents Explained
8. Real-World Risks: Security & Shadow AI Tools
9. AI Agent Use Case Decision Framework
10. Best Practices: Starting AI Agent Pilots
11. Measuring AI Agent ROI & Performance
12. Building Effective Agent Ecosystems

Timestamps:

00:00 "Join Our Inner Circle"

05:29 "Understanding AI Agents"

08:41 "Autonomous Agents as Workers"

11:04 Agentic AI: Decisions and Challenges

17:00 "Shadow AI Poses Growing Risks"

18:00 "Agent Creativity and Loopholes"

22:04 "Agentic Transactions and AI Workflows"

25:27 "Getting Started with AI Agents"

27:20 "Future Success in AI Agents"

Keywords: 

AI agents, autonomous agents, agentic AI, multi-agent systems, AI agent definition, agentic models, autonomous systems, AI chatbots, AI-powered workflows, decision frameworks for AI agents, enterprise AI adoption, agent guardrails, AI task automation, passive agents, bounded autonomy, agent observability, agent traceability, agentic first workflow, AI delegation, sub-agents, tool-using

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Start Here ▶️

Not sure where to start when it comes to AI? Start with our Start Here Series. You can listen to the first drop -- Episode 691 -- or get free access to our Inner Cricle community and all episodes: StartHereSeries.com 

Also, here's a link to the entire series on a Spotify playlist.