AI vs. automation: What's the difference?

Artificial intelligence (AI) has been powering the tools we use in our everyday lives for decades now. And every time powerful advancements in AI are released, conversations around the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI inevitably dominate the headlines. Amid all the noise, I’ve noticed people throwing around buzzwords like “AI” and “automation” (and, if they’re feeling fancy, “agentic AI”) and using them interchangeably.