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What is an AI agent?
An AI agent is an AI system that does not just answer but acts. It gets a goal, such as booking a patient in for a check-up, chooses the steps itself, uses tools such as the diary or a messaging service to do it, and checks that it worked. Agentic AI is the name for that way of working: AI that completes tasks instead of writing text.
The EU AI Act does not use the word agent. It speaks of an AI system: a machine-based system that operates with some autonomy and infers from the input it receives how to generate outputs such as content, recommendations or decisions (article 3, point 1). An agent is one, so the same rules apply to it.
SourceRegulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), article 3, point 1
Chatbot, workflow or AI agent: what is the difference?
The difference is who chooses the steps and what the system may change. A chatbot answers and changes nothing. A workflow, built in a tool such as Zapier, Make or n8n, runs the same steps every time something happens. An agent chooses the steps itself, within the rules and tools you allow it.
| Question | Chatbot | Workflow | AI agent |
|---|---|---|---|
| What does it do? | Answers questions in a conversation | Runs fixed steps when something happens | Reaches a goal and chooses the steps itself |
| Who sets the steps? | Nobody, it only answers | Whoever built the workflow, in advance | The system, within your rules |
| What can it change? | Nothing outside the conversation | What the fixed steps allow | What its tools allow: an appointment, a message, a note |
| Example in a practice | A chat that gives the opening hours | A text message 24 hours before every appointment | Spotting a cancellation, going down the waiting list and rebooking the slot |
Which tasks does an AI agent take over in a care practice?
The tasks that suit an agent are administrative, repetitive and easy to describe. Together they take up a large part of the front desk’s day, and they stall as soon as nobody can pick up the phone.
- Answering the phone and WhatsApp, recognising the patient and booking, moving or cancelling an appointment.
- Offering a slot freed by a cancellation straight away to the patients on the waiting list.
- Sending confirmations and reminders, and acting on the patient’s reply.
- Calling patients back for a check-up that is due.
- Answering questions on hours, address, fees and preparation with what the practice itself has written down.
- Leaving the team a summary and a record of every conversation.
What is an operating system for a practice?
One agent that answers the phone is useful. Six separate tools, each with its own diary, patient list and rules, are a problem. An operating system for a practice is the layer where the agents read the same diary, recognise the same patient, follow the same rules and write to the same log.
The practice software stays the record: the clinical file, billing and the diary stay where they are. The operating system works on top. It reads the diary and writes only the appointment types the practice opens to it, where the software allows a connection, and otherwise leaves a ready request for the team. That is how we build Tilcao, the operating system for dental practices. How the AI dental receptionist works inside it is on a page of its own.
Which rules apply to AI agents in healthcare?
An agent is an AI system, and the practice that uses it is its deployer. Since 2 August 2026 a person talking to an AI system must know it, unless it is obvious; the duty sits with the provider, who has to build the system that way. An agent on the phone therefore says at the start that it is an AI.
An agent that schedules appointments is not a medical device: the European guidance MDCG 2019-11 names appointment scheduling, billing and voicemail as software with no medical purpose. That changes as soon as a system assesses complaints or says how urgent something is.
The conversations contain health data under article 9 of the GDPR. The practice is the controller, the supplier a processor, with a processing agreement that names every subprocessor. Professional secrecy applies on top. The full account, with sources, is on AI in dentistry and telling patients about AI.
What must an AI agent never do in healthcare?
Everything clinical stays with the clinician. A front-desk agent recognises a red flag and passes it on, but does not assess it.
- Name a condition or make a diagnosis.
- Judge how serious or how urgent a complaint is.
- Recommend a medicine or a dose.
- Promise a prescription or a treatment.
- Book an appointment over a red flag, instead of reading out the practice’s rule and alerting a person.
Which practices does Tilcao work for?
Today, dental practices in Belgium, in Dutch, French and English. You can hear it on the demo line, +32 460 23 23 00, by phone or on WhatsApp.
GPs, physiotherapists and other care practices can ask for a setup. We first look at their software, their appointment types and their rule for urgent calls, because those differ from a dental practice. What an AI may and may not do there is on AI for GPs and physiotherapists, and what the receptionist itself does on AI medical receptionist.
Questions practices ask
What is agentic AI?
Agentic AI is AI that completes tasks instead of only writing text. An agent gets a goal, chooses the steps itself, uses tools such as a diary or a messaging service, and checks that the task is done. In a care practice the tasks are administrative: appointments, waiting lists, reminders and questions on the phone.
Is an AI agent the same as a chatbot?
No. A chatbot answers questions and changes nothing outside the conversation. An AI agent acts: it books, moves or cancels an appointment, sends a message or offers a freed slot, within the rules the practice sets.
Can an AI agent book appointments in my practice diary?
Yes, if you allow it. A good agent writes only the appointment types you open, checks real availability and leaves a record. Where your software allows no connection, it prepares a request for your team instead of booking itself.
Is a front-desk AI agent a medical device?
Not while it schedules appointments and answers practical questions: the European guidance MDCG 2019-11 counts appointment scheduling as software with no medical purpose. A system that assesses complaints or urgency can become a medical device.
Does Tilcao also work for GPs or physiotherapists?
Tilcao works in dental practices today. GPs, physiotherapists and other care practices can ask for a setup; we first look at their software, appointment types and rule for urgent calls before promising anything.