Ambiguity is a feature for propaganda. If people project random hopes and fears onto buzzwords that gets them talking and serves sales well. In an imaginary world where people were highly educated and journalists honest and specific, new advances would be taken-up quickly by a small group of beneficiaries and everyone else would move on. The idea of software "agents" is of course nothing new. "Buzz" - AKA "the warm thrill of confusion and space-cadet glow" appeals primarily to the idea that "this changes everything!". The smoke and mirrors machine never sleeps.