Artificial intelligence is built through rational agents that perceive their environment and act to achieve goals.
Imagine a robot playing chess. It sees the board (perceives), thinks about which move to make (processes), and moves the piece (acts). This is the idea of a rational agent: a program that makes good decisions to win, just like a human player.
Why it matters This book is the modern foundation of artificial intelligence, used in universities to learn how robots and virtual assistants work.