The 5 Levels of AI Agents Explained: Agentic Artificial Intelligence by Pascal Bornet
AI agents don’t jump straight to full autonomy. They progress through clear levels of capability, much like self-driving cars. Early agents can only execute predefined tasks and require close human oversight. As we move up the progression, agents handle more complex actions and make limited independent decisions, though human validation is still essential. The highest levels where agents fully understand goals, plan strategies, and operate across domains remain mostly theoretical today.
Understanding this progression framework helps organizations separate real capabilities from hype and make smarter decisions about adopting agentic AI.
In this article, we’ll explore each level, starting with Level 0 "Manual Operations" and see how agent capabilities build toward greater autonomy.
The 5 Levels of AI Agents
Level 0: Manual Operations (Human-Only)
At this stage, humans do everything such as thinking, deciding, and executing tasks with no automation support. Tools like spreadsheets, email clients, and business applications are just passive instruments. All cognitive work and all operational tasks depend entirely on people, leading to inefficiencies, errors, fatigue, and limited scalability.
Level 1: Rule-Based Automation
These agents follow fixed rules and predefined workflows, similar to basic cruise control. They rely on scripting, rules engines, and RPA (Robotic Process Automation). They can perform repetitive tasks like data entry or form processing but have no intelligence, no contextual understanding, and no adaptability. Everything is rigid and fully predefined.
Level 2: Intelligent Automation
This level combines traditional automation with AI capabilities such as machine learning, NLP, and computer vision. These agents can understand unstructured data, make predictions, classify information, and support more complex workflows much like advanced driver-assist systems. They still need human supervision but can automate far more than rule-based systems.
Level 3: Agentic Workflows
Here, agents can plan, reason, remember, and generate content. They operate autonomously within predefined boundaries like cars that can navigate highways but still require a human for tricky parts. They manage multi-step workflows, adapt to variations, and learn from feedback, but still struggle with complex novel situations. Large language models, basic memory, and tool-use form their technical foundation.
Level 4: Semi-Autonomous Agentic Systems
These systems can operate independently within specific domains. They understand goals, break them into steps, learn from outcomes, and adjust strategies similar to self-driving cars that work in mapped, good-weather conditions. They have advanced planning, causal reasoning, recursive self-improvement, and can collaborate with other agents. Autonomy is high, but still domain-limited.
Level 5: Fully Autonomous Agentic Systems (Theoretical)
This is the ultimate form of agentic AI: systems that can understand any goal, adapt to any domain, learn continuously, and operate entirely independently like a car that can drive anywhere under any conditions. These agents would coordinate with other systems, design their own workflows, reason ethically, and maintain alignment with human values. This level requires technology beyond current AI capabilities.
The Current State of AI Platforms
The AI platform market is bustling with promise. Many solutions today focus on automation or assistance; chatbots, workflow tools, data-analysis engines and plug-ins that boost productivity. These platforms fall into two broad categories: assistive AI which supports human tasks (e.g., drafting emails, analysing data), and basic automation platforms that execute predefined workflows (e.g., RPA, rule engines). Both have advanced greatly in recent years, fueled by large language models, improved data pipelines, and robust integrations.
However, the majority of these platforms still rely heavily on human oversight and predefined processes. They excel at augmenting human work but rarely venture into true autonomy. Many stop at “suggest,” “automate one step,” or “trigger a prebuilt workflow.” Technical complexity, risk of misalignment, compliance and tooling silos limit how far they go.
As a result, these platforms often leave a gap. Businesses crave systems that act, not just react, without losing control.
Where Knoon Stands
That’s where Knoon AI enters the picture.
We’re positioned at the forefront of agentic automation: a platform built for multi-agent orchestration, deep domain knowledge, tool-enabled action, and human-in-the-loop safety. Rather than offering single-task assistants or standalone chatbots, Knoon enables you to deploy digital workers or specialized agents that collaborate, escalate, route, and execute across your support, sales, operations, and knowledge ecosystems.
In the current landscape, Knoon stands among a small number of platforms that have moved decisively into “agentic” territory. Our agents don’t just process inputs. They understand goals, access connected data, use integrated tools, make decisions, and take actions. And when situations fall outside defined workflows, the human team remains a trusted fallback. In this way, Knoon bridges the gap between traditional automation and the next generation of autonomous business systems.
Knoon shows early Level 4 traits:
- Multi-agent coordination (agent routing)
- Autonomy within well-defined domains (support, sales, internal ops)
- Tool-enabled actions and reports
- Goal-based prompts
| Level | Agentic AI Description | Main Technology Involved | Examples | Industry Services | Knoon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 0 — Manual Operations | Humans perform all cognitive and execution tasks with no automation. | Basic digital tools (email, spreadsheets, manual systems). | Manual support replies, manual data entry, manual onboarding. | Gmail, Excel, Slack, Zendesk (manual mode). | Knoon far surpasses Level 0. |
| Level 1 — Rule-Based Automation | Simple automation following fixed rules and deterministic workflows. | RPA, rule engines, scripts. | Automated email templates, form auto-fill, data copying. | Knoon, UiPath, Zapier, Make.com, simple chatbots. | Knoon far surpasses Level 1. |
| Level 2 — Intelligent Process Automation | Automation enhanced by AI: understands structure, extracts data, makes predictions. | NLP, ML, computer vision, workflow orchestration. | Document extraction, AI routing, keyword-based support. | Knoon, Ada, Forethought, Intercom AI Assist. | Knoon includes these abilities but is beyond this level. |
| Level 3 — Agentic Workflows | Agents can plan, reason, use tools, adapt, and execute multi-step workflows within a domain. | LLMs, memory systems, tool usage, basic reinforcement learning. | AI agents generating replies, triaging tickets, running workflows, using tools. | Knoon, OpenAI Assistants, ReAct agents, GPT with tools. | Knoon’s core level: multi-agent, knowledge-based, tool-enabled, autonomous workflows. |
| Level 4 — Semi-Autonomous Agentic Systems | Agents operate autonomously within a domain, decompose goals, adapt strategies, and collaborate. | Advanced reasoning, real-time planning, causal models, multi-agent coordination. | Research agents, automated domain workflows, adaptive multi-agent teams. | Knoon, Devin (partial), Anthropic Team agents, advanced AutoGPT. | Knoon is approaching Level 4: agent routing, domain autonomy, goal execution, multi-agent collaboration. |
| Level 5 — Fully Autonomous Agentic Systems(Theoretical) | AI handles any task across domains, self-learns, self-improves, and self-directs with no human involvement. | AGI-level reasoning, long-term memory, autonomous improvement. | Universal personal assistant; autonomous business manager. | Future AGI — no platform at this level. | No modern system is at Level 5. |
The result is a platform that offers the best of both worlds: a human-centric, enterprise-grade foundation plus advanced agentic autonomy. In a time when many AI platforms promise more than they deliver, Knoon delivers practical, scalable agent-driven solutions that align with your workflows, your brand, and your goals. If you’re ready for a digital workforce that works with you.
Knoon is where the future of work begins.