This week we accidentally discovered our agent was bilingual during a client demo that reminded us that the best way to learn what an agent can do is to just ask.
Let's get into it.
“Can it do that?”
One thing we've noticed when people start using agents is that they still treat them like traditional software. They ask: "Can it do this?" "Can it handle that?" "Is it allowed to answer this kind of question?" And our answer is often: let's find out. Sometimes the boundary of what's possible isn't always obvious until you actually try it.
Habla Español
This week, we were showing a client an agent we built for him. He does a lot of his business in Spanish and works mostly with Spanish-speaking customers, so naturally, he asked if the agent could speak Spanish. We looked at each other and said — let's find out. So we asked the agent, and sure enough, it responded in fluent Spanish. We hadn't deliberately built that as a feature, but it still worked.
We did confirm that this agent has proper grammar with his owner, so perhaps he studied abroad in Madrid in a past life.
The thing about agents is that they aren't static apps where every button has to be labeled before you use it. Between whatever Anthropic or OpenAI model you’re using, and whatever specific skills you build for them, they have brains, tools, and knowledge to draw from. You learn what they can do by working with them, pushing them, and asking slightly better questions over time. Sometimes the answer will be no. Sometimes it'll be "not yet, but we can build that." And sometimes it'll be “wait, it already can.”
The habit we're trying to build with clients is curiosity. Don't assume the agent can't do something just because it wasn't in the feature list. Ask it. Try it. See where it breaks. You might be surprised with the answer you get.
Stay curious,
Julia & Russell
