Agentic AI vs. Generative AI: Key Variations Defined

Key takeaways

• Generative AI creates content material, whereas agentic AI takes motion to attain objectives.
• Use generative AI for concepts and drafts, and agentic AI for planning, coordination, and follow-through.
• Agentic AI provides autonomy by making choices and finishing multi-step work with minimal steerage.
• Collectively, generative and agentic AI help end-to-end workflows from creation to execution.
• You don’t want technical experience to begin utilizing both—many instruments already embrace each capabilities.

Take into consideration the primary time you noticed an AI instrument in motion, immediately producing a paragraph, a picture, or perhaps a block of code from just some phrases. It felt a bit of like peeking into the long run. That spark comes from generative AI, a kind of AI designed to create issues primarily based in your prompts.

However AI is shortly shifting past creating and into doing. That’s the place agentic AI is available in. As an alternative of simply producing content material, agentic AI could make plans, take actions, and work towards objectives with solely a little bit of steerage from you.

Each are spectacular, however they’re constructed for various sorts of duties. Realizing how they differ can assist you select the appropriate strategy to your work and on a regular basis duties.

On this information, we’ll discover what generative AI and agentic AI is, how they evaluate, and the way you should use them to get extra accomplished with much less effort.

Desk of contents

Agentic AI vs. generative AI: What’s the distinction?

Generative AI creates content material primarily based in your prompts. Agentic AI, however, takes issues additional: It begins with a objective and determines how you can obtain it, planning and executing the mandatory steps with a excessive diploma of autonomy.

What does generative AI do?

Generative AI produces new content material—like textual content, pictures, video, or code—in response to what you ask it to create. You give it a immediate and it delivers one thing new, whether or not that’s a solution, a proof, or content material you should use straight. Consider it like getting access to an always-on assistant that responds to your requests on demand.

You’ll discover generative AI throughout many instruments and classes. ChatGPT and Google Gemini are general-purpose instruments that generate textual content and pictures. DALL·E and Midjourney give attention to visible content material, and GitHub Copilot helps builders write and perceive code. Whereas their outputs differ, they work in an analogous means—you present enter, and the instrument generates content material in response.

Grammarly has generative AI options which you can immediate to create content material that helps you brainstorm, draft in your individual voice, refine concepts, enhance readability, revise, and extra. Grammarly’s AI is constructed to reinforce your writing wherever you’re employed, making your communication more practical throughout your whole workflow.

What does agentic AI do?

In contrast to generative AI, which responds to particular person prompts, agentic AI can work towards a objective autonomously. It plans steps, makes choices, makes use of instruments, and adapts because it progresses—with no need fixed directions. You possibly can consider agentic AI as greater than a responder. It has company: the power to determine what to do subsequent so as to full a multistep activity.

For instance, in a piece setting, you may give an agentic AI a objective similar to “Put together every thing wanted for subsequent week’s consumer kickoff.” It might assessment background paperwork, draft an agenda, coordinate schedules, put together briefing supplies, ship follow-ups, and flag open questions, checking in solely when choices or approvals are wanted. Grammarly’s AI brokers work proactively, leveraging your context to create extra participating, compelling content material, talk extra successfully, and set up and handle your workday.

How generative AI and agentic AI work

Whereas each forms of AI are highly effective, they function in essentially other ways. Generative AI creates new outputs by predicting what ought to come subsequent in a sequence, whereas agentic AI follows a loop of actions primarily based on its setting, objectives, and suggestions. Let’s take a more in-depth take a look at how every AI know-how works.

How generative AI works

Once you ask instruments like Grammarly to put in writing an e mail, the generative AI know-how it employs isn’t pulling from a saved library of responses. As an alternative, it generates new content material by predicting the almost definitely subsequent token (a phrase or piece of a phrase) primarily based in your immediate. The identical precept applies to picture era—predicting the subsequent pixel or function.

These predictions are powered by a massive language mannequin (LLMs) that makes use of patterns it learns from billions of examples to foretell what comes subsequent. Every phrase it generates influences the subsequent, creating a series that enables the AI to create one thing authentic out of your immediate.

How agentic AI works

Agentic AI works by means of a easy however highly effective loop: understand, plan, act, and study. Once you give an agentic AI system a objective, it gathers info and context, makes use of that info to make a plan, executes the plan throughout your instruments and apps, after which evaluates the outcomes to get higher subsequent time. It repeats this cycle till the objective is full, adjusting its strategy with what it learns alongside the best way.

For instance, think about you’re managing a bunch undertaking and wish an agentic AI system to assist streamline the work. The AI might pull key particulars from assembly notes or emails, then draft a plan that identifies priorities, homeowners, and deadlines. From there, it would create duties, assign them to the appropriate individuals, and verify in on progress. You keep centered on the artistic and strategic work whereas the agentic AI handles the coordination and administrative duties.

Actual-world examples of generative AI and agentic AI

Each forms of AI are already a part of on a regular basis workflows, however they present up in several methods. Generative AI helps you create issues; agentic AI helps you get issues accomplished. Right here’s what that appears like in apply.

Generative AI examples

Generative AI is nice once you want one thing written, summarized, or created on the spot. Just a few acquainted use circumstances embrace:

• Turning a tough concept into polished writing: Give it a few bullet factors, and it drafts the total e mail, message, or report part.
• Reworking materials into new codecs: Flip your notes into summaries, flashcards, quizzes, or scripts.
• Producing artistic variations: Ask for a number of headline choices, completely different tones, or various variations of a message.
• Designing visuals or ideas: Create pictures, mockups, or diagrams from an outline.
• Enhancing readability or tone: Enhance a paragraph to sound extra assured, concise, or audience-appropriate.

In brief: You give route, and it creates the content material.

Agentic AI examples

Agentic AI exhibits up once you want greater than content material—it helps you progress a activity or undertaking ahead by taking motion in your behalf. Listed here are some examples:

• Managing a multi-step analysis activity: You share your matter, and it gathers sources (when linked), filters high-quality ones, builds an overview, and updates it because it finds extra info.
• Maintaining a doc workflow on observe: It displays edits from reviewers, consolidates suggestions, assigns follow-up duties, and pings people who find themselves behind.
• Dealing with follow-ups robotically: It watches for replies to essential emails and sends acceptable follow-ups—or flags those it’s best to deal with personally.
• Planning and coordinating a undertaking: You set the objective, and the system drafts the undertaking plan, identifies homeowners, tracks progress, and tweaks the plan as issues change.
• Working enchancment loops: It checks outcomes, identifies what labored or didn’t, and adjusts its subsequent actions accordingly.

In brief, you set the objective, and it plans, executes, and adapts alongside the best way.

When do you have to use generative AI vs. agentic AI?

If you happen to need assistance producing concepts, exploring matters, or creating content material, use generative AI. If you wish to automate a workflow or full an motion, use agentic AI. Use each when it is advisable create content material and take motion on it. Right here’s a breakdown of how you can determine:

Use generative AI once you need to:

• Draft, edit, or polish an editorial
• Design, make, or polish a picture or different forms of content material
• Brainstorm concepts or discover new instructions
• Summarize or reformat info into a unique construction

Use agentic AI once you need to:

• Offload busywork like follow-ups, scheduling, or monitoring
• Automate duties which have a number of steps or dependencies
• Transfer a undertaking ahead by organizing analysis, planning subsequent steps, or coordinating contributors
• Hold observe of progress and adapt as issues change

Use generative AI and agentic AI collectively when it is advisable transfer from creating one thing to truly getting it accomplished.

How generative AI and agentic AI work collectively

By utilizing agentic and generative AI collectively, you’ll be able to create end-to-end workflows. These applied sciences complement one another completely: Generative AI handles the artistic heavy lifting, whereas agentic AI handles the follow-through and execution.

This mixture is especially highly effective as a result of it mirrors what number of real-world duties truly work. In consequence, you’ll be able to delegate time-consuming duties to AI so you’ll be able to give attention to higher-level technique and decision-making. Listed here are some examples of this energy duo in motion:

• Getting ready displays: Generative AI can assist you brainstorm key factors, analysis your matter, and draft slides with supporting visuals. Agentic AI can then set up the slides into a transparent storyline, determine the place further info is likely to be useful, schedule apply classes (when linked to your calendar), and ship reminders as deadlines strategy.
• Finding out for assessments: Generative AI creates apply questions, explanations, and research guides out of your class supplies. Agentic AI can flip these supplies right into a structured research plan, set reminders, observe your progress as you full apply actions, and modify the plan primarily based on areas the place you want extra focus.

• Creating social media content material: Generative AI helps you brainstorm concepts, draft posts, and create graphics. Agentic AI can adapt content material to your model tips, schedule posts throughout platforms, and supply weekly summaries of engagement metrics so what’s performing effectively.

Advantages of generative and agentic AI

Generative and agentic AI are designed that can assist you work extra effectively—by supporting each creation and execution. Used collectively or individually, they will scale back busywork, speed up progress, and aid you give attention to higher-value work.

• Quicker creation and ideation: Each forms of AI aid you transfer shortly from a clean slate to one thing tangible—whether or not that’s drafting content material, exploring concepts, or outlining subsequent steps.
• Improved follow-through and execution: Generative and agentic AI can help with turning concepts into motion by dealing with repetitive duties, coordinating steps, and supporting multi-stage workflows.
• Higher give attention to significant work: By offloading routine or time-consuming duties, each types of AI unlock your time for artistic, strategic, or decision-heavy work.
• Smoother end-to-end workflows: Collectively, generative and agentic AI can assist you progress from concept to consequence with much less friction—supporting each the considering and the doing alongside the best way.

Limitations of generative and agentic AI

Regardless of their capabilities, generative and agentic AI have limitations that require energetic human oversight. Understanding these constraints helps you utilize AI extra responsibly and successfully.

• Inaccurate or deceptive output: Each generative and agentic AI can produce incorrect info or flawed conclusions, particularly when prompts are unclear or knowledge is incomplete. All the time confirm essential outputs.
• Overtrust and diminished scrutiny: AI methods can seem assured even after they’re mistaken. Keep away from taking outcomes at face worth—assessment outputs, ask for sources, and apply your individual judgment.
• Coordination and reliability challenges: When AI methods deal with a number of duties or work together with different instruments, errors or conflicts can happen. Clear boundaries, testing, and monitoring are important.
• Bias in outputs: As a result of AI learns from historic knowledge, it could actually mirror present biases. Common assessment and correction are essential to keep away from reinforcing unfair or inaccurate patterns.
• Information privateness and safety dangers: Each generative and agentic AI typically depend on user-provided info. Be cautious with delicate knowledge and assessment privateness and data-handling practices rigorously.

How will you begin utilizing generative AI and agentic AI instruments in the present day?

Many instruments now help each generative and agentic AI capabilities—and you could already be utilizing a number of with out realizing it. One of the best ways to get began is to start small: Attempt a generative instrument to spark concepts or draft content material, then layer in agentic capabilities to assist set up, coordinate, or transfer the work ahead. As you experiment, you’ll begin to construct instinct for which duties every sort of AI is finest fitted to.

Right here’s a easy strategy to information your first steps:

1. Choose one activity you repeat typically: Select one thing you do weekly, like sending out crew updates, summarizing and organizing your class notes, or getting ready for a consumer assembly. Beginning with acquainted duties helps you notice the place AI could make the largest distinction.
2. Use a generative AI instrument to draft, define, or generate concepts: Attempt instruments like Grammarly for writing help or DALL·E for fast graphics. Use generative AI to create a primary draft, brainstorm instructions, or polish what you have already got.
3. Add agentic AI to prepare, execute, or automate subsequent steps: As soon as the content material is in place, use agentic AI to assist with the follow-through—similar to organizing your notes, making a activity listing, sending or scheduling messages, or coordinating updates (relying on the integrations your instruments help). Observe: This doesn’t at all times require separate instruments. Many generative AI instruments now embrace agentic capabilities, and most agentic methods use generative AI behind the scenes.
4. Evaluation the outcomes, refine your setup, and increase from there. Take note of what labored effectively and what felt clunky. Alter your strategy, then progressively apply this generative-to-agentic workflow to different areas of your work or research.

What’s subsequent for agentic AI and generative AI?

Whereas generative and agentic AI have been evolving for years, they’re now turning into extra succesful, dependable, and embedded in on a regular basis instruments. The subsequent wave of progress is much less about completely new breakthroughs and extra about refinement: higher reminiscence, smoother coordination, and deeper context. Listed here are a number of tendencies shaping what comes subsequent:

• Smarter collaboration between agentic AI methods: As an alternative of 1 system making an attempt to do every thing, we’re shifting towards coordinated “multi-agent” setups—the place completely different AI brokers specialize, then hand off work to at least one one other. For instance, one system may course of assembly notes, one other extracts motion gadgets, and a 3rd drafts follow-up messages. It’s much like having a small crew working behind the scenes.
• Elevated reminiscence capability: Extra AI methods will be capable to bear in mind your preferences, tasks, and magnificence throughout classes. This helps scale back repetitive setup work—as an example, recalling your model tips once you request a revised draft, or remembering how you favor info structured.

• Higher contextual consciousness: AI instruments are getting higher at understanding the broader context of your activity, not simply your immediate. With entry to paperwork or schedules (once you grant permission), an agentic AI might infer the subject you’re finding out or the deadlines you’re working towards and tailor its help accordingly.

• Broader adoption: Generative and agentic options are more and more baked into instruments you already use—e mail, calendars, writing apps, browsers—making them accessible with out studying a completely new set of expertise or sophisticated software program.

Transferring from output to outcomes

Agentic AI and generative AI are like having a artistic accomplice and a undertaking supervisor rolled into one. Each time you utilize Grammarly, generative AI and agentic AI converge right into a single expertise that helps you are feeling extra in command of your workflow. Generative AI sparks concepts and creates content material, whereas agentic AI turns these concepts into outcomes by appearing in your behalf. Constructed to help end-to-end writing and communication workflows, Grammarly’s AI brokers go a step additional—they analyze your objectives, viewers, and context to floor probably the most related options as you’re employed so you’ll be able to take the subsequent finest motion on the proper second.

Agentic AI vs. generative AI FAQs

Are AI and generative AI the identical factor?

No. Generative AI is one sort of AI that makes a speciality of creating content material, similar to textual content, pictures, or code. AI is a broader subject that features many forms of methods that may acknowledge patterns, make predictions, or take actions. Examples embrace voice assistants, suggestion methods, and fraud detection.

What’s agentic AI vs. generative AI?

Generative AI creates content material in response to prompts. Agentic AI takes a objective and plans actions to attain it, dealing with steps and choices alongside the best way. You possibly can consider generative AI as a artistic accomplice and agentic AI as a coordinator that retains the work shifting.

Is ChatGPT generative AI or agentic AI?

ChatGPT is primarily generative AI as a result of it produces content material primarily based in your prompts. Nonetheless, newer variations embrace agentic options—similar to looking the online, calling APIs, or operating code—that enable it to take sure actions when enabled.

When ought to I exploit generative AI vs. agentic AI?

Use generative AI once you need to create content material shortly, discover concepts, or rewrite and refine what you have already got. Agentic AI can assist when it is advisable full duties, automate multi-step workflows, or offload follow-through work. Use each once you need AI to create one thing and act on it—for instance, drafting an e mail, sending it, and scheduling a follow-up in the event you don’t get a response.

Can agentic AI and generative AI work collectively?

Sure, you should use each to create AI that may deal with workflows from begin to end. Generative AI can create and polish content material, whereas agentic AI handles execution, group, and follow-through to show these creations into outcomes.

Does Grammarly use generative AI, agentic AI, or each?

Grammarly makes use of each generative AI and agentic AI. It makes use of generative AI that can assist you create or refine content material—for instance, by prompting it that can assist you rewrite textual content, modify tone, enhance readability, and extra.

Grammarly’s agentic AI capabilities can proactively help you within the surfaces you’re working in, providing you with options and concepts primarily based in your context and what you’re writing. Grammarly’s AI brokers can analyze your writing context, floor related options, and apply those you approve.

Collectively, Grammarly’s generative AI and agentic AI options aid you transfer easily throughout each side of your workflow, get unstuck, and focus extra on high-impact considering.