Autonomous agent

An autonomous agent is a system situated in, and part of, an environment, which senses that environment, and acts on it, over time, in pursuit of its own agenda. This agenda evolves from drives (or programmed goals). The agent acts to change the environment and influences what it senses at a later time.

Non-biological examples include intelligent agents, autonomous robots, and various software agents, including artificial life agents, and many computer viruses.