Building
Tool use
An AI reaching outside itself to use calculators, search, or other software.
Tool use is when an AI is allowed to call on outside helpers instead of relying only on what it knows. It might run a calculator for exact math, search the web for fresh facts, or query a database. Giving a model tools makes it far more reliable, because it can look things up and compute rather than guess.
For example
Rather than estimating a tricky sum, an AI with tool use runs an actual calculator to get it right.
Related
RAG (retrieval-augmented generation)Letting an AI look up real documents before it answers.AI agentAn AI that can take actions and complete multi-step tasks on its own.MCP (Model Context Protocol)A common standard that lets AI plug into apps and data sources.Function callingHow an AI asks software to run a specific action with the right details.