what happens during the perception part of the agentic ai loop?

During the perception part of the agentic AI loop, the agent's primary function is to receive external input, such as data, instructions, or observations, and process that information to interpret or "make sense" of it. This involves collecting and interpreting data from the environment using sensor technologies and data ingestion pipelines, much like how a self-driving car uses cameras and radar to perceive its surroundings. The perception layer transforms raw data from various input modalities into a format that the AI system can process. Accurate perception is crucial as it underpins all subsequent decision-making and actions by the agent. Essentially, the agent takes in raw data or input from its environment and processes it to understand its meaning before proceeding to reasoning or action phases.