Also known as: autonomous agent, AI staff, agentic worker
An AI agent is an autonomous software worker that executes tasks on behalf of a person or team. Unlike an AI assistant that responds to prompts, an agent reads context, makes decisions, uses tools, and completes work end-to-end. It sends emails, updates records, chases invoices, or posts status updates without requiring step-by-step human direction.
Where you'll see ai agent in day-to-day work inside Helm.
In Helm, agents are configured around three axes: a role (Project Manager, Account Manager, Payment Recovery Specialist, etc.), a set of apps and external integrations they can read or write, and an autonomy level (observe, suggest, or auto). Every agent runs on Claude, reads the same records your team uses, and operates inside the platform, not as a sidecar. Agents are first-class actions in Workflows, so rule-based automations can hand off to agent reasoning when the decision needs judgment.
Concepts that show up in the same workflows and reports.
Common questions and honest answers.
An assistant replies to prompts and summarizes information. An agent acts. It sends emails, updates records, calls external APIs, and completes tasks. Assistants help you work. Agents do work.
Yes, with bounded autonomy. Most teams start agents in Observe or Suggest mode (reporting or drafting for approval), review outputs for a few weeks, then promote to Auto mode for the workflows they trust. Agent runs log every action with full audit trail.
Agent runs log every action with full audit trail. Workflows set budgets and guardrails (monthly cost caps, rate limits, permissioned tool access). Most corrections are caught at approval time in Suggest mode or via Workflow gates.
Helm is the AI work platform where these concepts stop being theory and start being your Monday morning.