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The Agentic Spectrum
Know where each approach sits and what failure modes come with it. The right level of autonomy depends on the task, risk, and trust boundary.
Detailed comparison: when to use each level
| LEVEL | LATENCY | COST PER QUERY | BEST FOR | EXAMPLE USE CASE | HUMAN OVERSIGHT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chat | 1-3s | $0.001-0.01 | Simple Q&A, creative writing, summarization | Customer FAQ chatbot | None needed (low risk) |
| RAG | 2-5s | $0.01-0.05 | Knowledge-grounded answers from docs | Internal knowledge base assistant | Monitor retrieval quality |
| Tool-using | 3-8s | $0.02-0.10 | Single-step actions (lookup, create, update) | CRM lookup, ticket creation | Approval for writes |
| ReAct | 10-60s | $0.05-0.50 | Multi-step reasoning with tools | Research + summarize + email | Step-limit guardrails |
| Multi-agent | 30s-5min | $0.50-5.00 | Complex workflows with specialization | Code review → test → deploy | Checkpoint approvals |
| Autonomous | Minutes-hours | $5-50+ | Long-horizon tasks with self-correction | Ongoing data pipeline monitoring | Kill switch + audit trail |
The Agentic Spectrum — Levels of Autonomy
Decision framework: choosing the right level
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