The change is not better conversation. It is delegated action—and delegated action needs an operating system around it.
Tool access changes the stakes
Both chatbots and agents may use the same underlying model. The agent becomes different when it can reach a browser, filesystem, store, inbox, calendar, or codebase. A good answer becomes one input to a real workflow.
That reach turns ordinary model weaknesses into operational failure modes. A fabricated fact can become a published claim. A retry loop can become a bill. A stale note can override what is true right now.
Memory is useful, not authoritative
Agents often keep notes so they can continue work later. Those notes drift. Alastair’s house rule is simple: live reality outranks remembered notes. Check the current file, setting, queue, or account before acting on what memory says.
Durable logs also need to live somewhere a failing job cannot erase. The system should preserve evidence of what happened, not only the agent’s confident summary.
Operate the system, not the demo
A demo proves an action can happen once. An operating system proves it can happen repeatedly, within limits, with visible failures and a recovery path.
That means budgets, execution ceilings, backups, alerts, approval points, and a kill switch. The model is only one part of the stack.
Continue the work
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