One Tech Tip: How to get started with AI agents, and which are best for specific tasks

Agentic artificial intelligence is gaining popularity far beyond tech circles, with Meta, OpenAI, Anthropic and other companies going head-to-head in the surging market for consumer-friendly AI agents.

While the leading AI labs have offered tools with agentic capabilities for years, agents that are designed to work proactively on a user’s behalf for tasks from buying groceries to managing to-do lists have taken off this year.

For anyone getting started, it can be overwhelming to understand the differences between the companies' various offerings and which agents might be best suited for specific tasks.

Here are some pointers on where to begin if you're looking to leverage agents in your personal or professional life — or both.

Don't just use one agent; opt for a ‘stack’

Many people in the tech world turn to multiple agents from different AI labs for both their work and home lives. Why? Because “there’s not one holy grail-like agent right now that could do everything,” said Jose Artigas, a business consultant working on AI strategy.

Artigas and many others who use AI agents regularly rely on a “stack” of them, a term that refers to a combination of many tools and technologies.

Each company's consumer-facing agent has a slightly different target function, and they vary in accessibility. Some are free, some require a monthly subscription and others are still in testing modes or otherwise not available to everyone. There are also restrictions on their availability in countries outside of the U.S.