Agent Explained

In general, agent is an entity which interact with its environment according to its own active properties, or preferences and goals. It can be an abstract, software, physical or human system, as well as a chemical substance.

Agent can also mean:

• Agent (law): a person authorised to act on behalf of another person
  • Tuition agent, a person who represents a tuition agency in searching for suitable tutors for students.
  • Literary agent, a person who represents a writer
  • Theatrical agent
  • Booking agent
  • Sports agent, a professional who represents an athlete
  • Talent agent, a person who finds jobs for actors, models, and other people in various entertainment businesses.
  • Press agent, publicist who acts on behalf of a client on all matters involving public relations
  • Foreign agent, someone registered with the U.S. Justice Department as mandated by the Foreign Agents Registration Act
  • Travel agent, makes vacation and travel arrangements
  • Real estate broker, or real estate agent
  • Yacht broker, or yacht agent
  • Yacht charter broker, or yacht charter agent
• Election agent, a person responsible for a candidate's campaign
• Free agent, a sports player who is out of contract
• Agent provocateur, a person assigned to provoke unrest, violence, debate, or argument by or within a group while acting as a member of the group but covertly representing the interests of another
• Rational agent deliberate being

In espionage and law enforcement

• Secret agent, a spy
• Double agent, in spying
• Special agent, generally, a federal criminal or non-criminal investigator or detective.

In economics

• Agent (economics)
• Representative agent
• Homo economicus
• Agent-Based Computational Economics

In chemistry and warfare:

• Agent Orange, a herbicide
• Biological agent, an infectious disease that can be used in biological warfare
• Chemical weapon agent, classified by their effect and include; Nerve agent, Blister agent, Blood agent, Pulmonary agent, Incapacitating agent, and Riot control agent.

In linguistics:

• Agent (grammar), one of the thematic roles: the participant of a situation that carries out an action. Replaces "subject" in placement typology.
• Agent noun (or nomen agentis), one of the derivatemes (a topic from linguistic morphology)

In computer science:

• Software agent, software that acts on behalf of a user
  • Forté Agent, a newsreader and email client
  • Intelligent agent, an intelligent software agent
  • User agent, a client application used with a particular network protocol
• Intelligent agent, an artificial intelligence system capable of perception, learning and goal directed behavior
  • Agent environment
  • Agent architecture
  • Agent based model

In fiction:

• Agent 212, a Belgian comic
• Agents, characters in The Matrix
• The Agent (film), a 1922 film
• Secret Agent (1936 film), a 1936 film
• The Agents, superhuman characters in Seven Samurai 20XX
• Agent 47, a character from the computer game series Hitman

In finance:

• Agent, a financial institution acting as the operational intermediary in a syndicated loan between the syndicate banks and the borrower. The most common form is the "Administrative Agent".

In popular culture:

• Polish version of The Mole.

See also

• Robot