What Is an AI Agent? Why We Built Kotoro as an AI Companion
Learn how AI agents differ from chatbots, why Kotoro was built as an AI companion, and how it perceives, decides, acts, and remembers in your browser.
An AI agent is an AI system that interprets a user's request and context, decides what should happen next, and uses tools to produce a result. Kotoro does more than generate chat replies. It can use page context that a user chooses to share, act inside the browser, create reminders, and carry useful memories into a later conversation. That makes Kotoro both an AI agent in your browser and an AI companion designed to feel like a friend.
What this article covers
- 01How an AI agent differs from a conventional chatbot
- 02Why we built Kotoro as an AI companion in the browser
- 03How Kotoro perceives, decides, acts, and remembers
- 04What Kotoro can do and where its boundaries are
Why did we build another kind of AI?
Many AI products live behind a tab or app. You open one when you need an answer and close it when the task is done. This is useful, but the context and sense of continuity can disappear with each session.
Kotoro began with a different question:
What if AI could be more than a tool waiting to be opened, and become a small presence in the place where people already spend their time?
That is why Kotoro lives on ordinary web pages as a cat instead of asking people to visit a separate destination. It walks, rests, and talks in the browser. It can read along when the user explicitly includes page content, and it can carry selected details from earlier conversations into a new one.
The goal is not to automate a person's entire computer. It is to bring practical help and a gentle sense of presence onto the same screen—in other words, to create an everyday AI friend.
What is the difference between an AI agent and a chatbot?
There is no perfect line between chatbots and AI agents. A useful distinction is whether the system mainly generates a reply or can interpret a goal and follow through with tools and state changes.
| Area | Conventional chatbot | AI agent | Kotoro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Input | The user's current message | A goal, context, and current state | Chat, approved page context, relationship settings |
| Decision | Chooses what reply to produce | Chooses the next action and tool | Chooses a reply, cat action, search, or reminder |
| Result | Usually a text response | A response, tool call, or state change | Talks, moves, and changes supported settings |
| Continuity | Mostly the current conversation | Uses memory and execution state | Uses long-term and cat-specific memories |
| Initiative | Usually waits for a message | Can act on an event or schedule | Optional proactive messages and requested reminders |
AI agents do not all have the same autonomy or tools. Kotoro is not a general-purpose agent that controls an entire computer. It is an agent with a clear role and action space: being a cat friend inside the browser.
Four reasons Kotoro is an AI agent
1. It perceives the user's request and permitted context
Kotoro considers the user's message, the current conversation, and the cat's settings. If a user wants to ask about the current page and explicitly chooses to include its content, Kotoro can use that information as context for the answer.
Simply displaying the cat does not cause every page to be read or sent automatically. Page context enters the conversation only when the user chooses to include it.
2. It decides what to do, not only what to say
“Jump” should result in a cat movement, while “Do not start a conversation for 30 minutes” should change the proactive-message setting. A request such as “Every Monday at 9 a.m., remind me to check my plan” can create a recurring reminder.
Kotoro does not reduce every request to text generation. It maps the user's intent to an action that the cat is allowed to perform.
3. It takes action inside the browser
Kotoro's supported actions include:
- Playing cat animations such as jumping, walking, and grooming
- Pausing proactive messages or hiding from web pages for a set time
- Creating and cancelling one-time or weekly reminders
- Using web search for cats that have access when current information is needed
- Explaining or summarizing page content that the user chooses to include
Turning a request into a visible state change or tool use is what separates Kotoro from a purely conversational character. See How to Move Kotoro and Ask Your Cat for Quiet Time for practical examples.
4. It remembers what can help the next conversation
An AI friend cannot build much continuity if every meeting feels like the first one. Kotoro does not memorize every old chat word for word. Instead, it selects preferences, conversation boundaries, and relationship details that may remain useful.
It also separates long-term memory shared across cats from relationship memory belonging to one cat. How Kotoro Can Remember Older Conversations explains how those memories are selected and updated.
Why call Kotoro an “AI companion” instead of a productivity tool?
Kotoro has practical features such as search, page explanations, and reminders. But adding the largest possible number of tools is not the product's central idea. We use three principles for an AI companion:
- It shares a familiar space. You meet it on the web pages you already use instead of keeping another app open.
- The relationship continues. Names, preferences, boundaries, and cat-specific memories can carry into the next meeting.
- It respects the user's rhythm. The cat may start a conversation when allowed, but the user can pause that behavior or hide it at any time.
Agent capabilities make this relationship possible. Memory keeps the companion from becoming a stranger again. Actions turn words into experiences on the screen. Tools provide concrete help when it is useful. For Kotoro, AI agent and AI companion are two sides of the same experience.
What does Kotoro deliberately not do?
Being able to act does not mean having unlimited control of a computer.
- Kotoro does not arbitrarily click website buttons or complete forms, payments, or purchases.
- Displaying and moving the cat does not send the entire page to a server.
- Even when page sharing is selected, it should not be used on screens containing login details, payment data, or private documents.
- AI answers can be wrong. Important medical, legal, or financial decisions should be checked against reliable sources.
- Kotoro is not a replacement for human relationships, a real pet, or professional emotional support.
A trustworthy agent should make its limits as understandable as its abilities. Read Kotoro's Guide to Chrome Permissions and Page Access for more detail about when page information is used.
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is a system that interprets a goal and its context, selects an appropriate action or tool, and produces a result. It can go beyond generating conversation by searching, creating reminders, changing supported settings, or using memory in a later step.
How is Kotoro different from a chatbot?
Kotoro does not stop at answering in chat. It can connect a conversational request to cat movements, settings, reminders, and supported search, then use important relationship details in later conversations.
Does Kotoro autonomously control websites?
No. Kotoro's action space is limited to its cat behavior, conversation, supported search and reminders, and display settings. It does not arbitrarily click website controls or make purchases.
Does an AI friend replace a human friend?
No. An AI companion can add conversation and lightweight help to time spent alone at a screen. It is not designed to replace human relationships or professional support.
Kotoro is closer to “a cat who helps when needed and stays nearby the rest of the time” than “an AI that does everything for you.” It talks, acts, and remembers while remaining inside boundaries the user can understand and control. That is why Kotoro is both an AI agent and an AI companion.