# AI agents · Oxagen Research Source: https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents [Research](https://oxagen.sh/blog) · Pillar # AI agents Models that take actions, and what makes them reliable. The science of agents: planning, tool use, memory, and evaluation. Posts run from ReAct and Reflexion to the benchmarks that measure whether an agent finishes a task, and what each run costs. ## 11 posts in AI agents [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/a-prepaid-wallet-for-agent-spend) * [Product Releases](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/product-releases) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [A prepaid wallet for agent spend](https://oxagen.sh/blog/a-prepaid-wallet-for-agent-spend) Oxagen 5.5 prices each model call by size before it runs, pays from a monthly allowance and then a prepaid wallet, and holds new runs when the wallet is dry while started runs keep their rules. November 5, 2026 · 5 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/steering-a-run-you-are-not-watching) * [Autonomous agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/autonomous-agents) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [Steering a run you are not watching](https://oxagen.sh/blog/steering-a-run-you-are-not-watching) When a long run goes wrong, most teams can stop it or type at it. Both work badly. A steer is a third option. It is a message with a delivery mode, a status, and a record. September 16, 2026 · 6 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-agent-time-horizon-is-doubling) * [Autonomous agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/autonomous-agents) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [The agent time horizon is doubling](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-agent-time-horizon-is-doubling) METR measures how long a task an agent can finish on its own. That length has doubled about every seven months since 2019. This post covers what week-long runs mean for supervision. September 16, 2026 · 6 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-problem-is-not-slop-it-is-your-process) * [Autonomous agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/autonomous-agents) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [The problem is not slop, it is your process](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-problem-is-not-slop-it-is-your-process) The worry about AI slop is about output quality. The measurements point to a different cause. Teams give an agent a workflow built for people and expect it to work. September 16, 2026 · 6 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/what-an-agent-should-be-told-before-it-starts) * [Autonomous agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/autonomous-agents) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [What an agent should be told before it starts](https://oxagen.sh/blog/what-an-agent-should-be-told-before-it-starts) A prompt file has no owner, no date, no scope, and no record that the agent read it. So it is a poor place for a standing rule. Steering records give each rule those things. September 16, 2026 · 7 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-limits-of-self-correction-and-model-collapse) * [Self-improving models](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/self-improving-models) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [A model cannot grade its own homework](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-limits-of-self-correction-and-model-collapse) Without outside feedback, self-correction fails, and a model trained on its own output gets worse. This post covers what the collapse and verifier research says to do instead. September 9, 2026 · 8 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/deterministic-coding-agents-every-turn-on-the-record) * [Coding agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/coding-agents) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [Deterministic coding agents: every turn on the record](https://oxagen.sh/blog/deterministic-coding-agents-every-turn-on-the-record) A coding agent changed your code and no one can replay how. What the research says about feedback from running code, random sampling, and turns you can audit. September 9, 2026 · 8 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/self-evolving-agents-what-the-evidence-shows) * [Self-evolving agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/self-evolving-agents) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [Self-evolving agents: what the evidence shows](https://oxagen.sh/blog/self-evolving-agents-what-the-evidence-shows) What changes when an agent improves itself, what checks the change, and the measured gain, across eight systems from Voyager to AlphaEvolve. September 9, 2026 · 8 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-science-of-ai-agents-from-react-to-tool-use) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [The science of AI agents: from ReAct to tool use](https://oxagen.sh/blog/the-science-of-ai-agents-from-react-to-tool-use) Planning, tool use, memory, and reflection each come from a paper that measured something. This post traces those papers and what agents still cannot do. September 9, 2026 · 8 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/what-an-ontology-buys-an-agent) * [Code graphs](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ontologies) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) ### [What an Ontology Buys an Agent](https://oxagen.sh/blog/what-an-ontology-buys-an-agent) An agent can answer with confidence from the wrong context. This post covers what classes, relations, constraints, and dated facts add to an agent's answers. September 9, 2026 · 8 min read [](https://oxagen.sh/blog/why-agents-fail-measuring-reliability-and-cost) * [AI agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/ai-agents) * [Coding agents](https://oxagen.sh/blog/pillars/coding-agents) ### [Why agents fail: measuring reliability and cost](https://oxagen.sh/blog/why-agents-fail-measuring-reliability-and-cost) AgentBench, WebArena, GAIA, SWE-bench, and tau-bench each measure a different thing. None of them reports what a run costs. This post covers what that hides. September 9, 2026 · 8 min read