Chatbots are outdated: A guide to AI agents from The Current

December 29, 2025

By Kim Komando

I’ve always said the way we work with AI chatbots is pretty dumb. 

You go to ChatGPT, Gemini or Claude, type a prompt, it spits out an answer, and then what? You copy and paste that text into an email or use the info to book a flight on a different website. It’s clunky, manual and just a more polished Google search.

But in 2026, all of that changes. We are moving away from chatbots and toward AI agents. You’re going to start hearing that term everywhere.

🤹‍♀️ From talking to doing

If 2025 was the year AI talked to you, 2026 is the year AI acts for you. We’re moving toward what I call “actionbots.” Imagine saying to your phone, “I need to be in Dallas for a wedding on June 12. Find me a flight under $500, book a hotel near the church and put the itinerary on my calendar.” Boom, it’s done in seconds.

I’ve seen it in action, and it’s freaking amazing.

In the old way, a chatbot would give you a list of links. Soon, your AI agent will actually open the browser, navigate travel sites and fill out forms. You won’t be searching. You’ll be approving the final result.

👀 It’s watching everything

New AI models can see your screen like you do. They click buttons, scroll menus and interact with apps, online back-end ordering systems and websites. 

Think about it. Why open five apps to plan a dinner party when one AI agent can handle invites, order catering and coordinate Uber rides in the background? 

🕵🏻‍♂️ Privacy issues

You know me, I’m always looking for the catch. For an AI agent to be your digital chief of staff, it needs the keys to your kingdom. I’m talking every key.

It has your credit card info, personal details, height, weight, shoe size, likes, wants, wishes, home address, private calendar, and well, it knows everything about you and anyone who you interact with.

This is where the 2026 battle will be fought: privacy vs. convenience. 

If these agents are doing the clicking, they see everything you see. The winners will prove your data stays on your device and doesn’t get sucked up into a Big Tech cloud. And what about the hackers? This could be a field day for them!

This shift can feel overwhelming. But don’t worry. As this tech rolls out, I’ll be right here in your inbox. You can depend on me to cut through the hype and tell you how to use this new frontier safely.