We call AI systems “agents” all the time. But what does “agency” actually mean? Alan Love, philosopher and professor at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, argues that biology offers a more careful way to think about goal-directed behavior, function, and, eventually, machine intelligence. From earthworms reshaping soil to organisms selecting between behavioral options, living systems reveal forms of agency that are easy to overlook — and difficult to reduce to simple stimulus-response behavior. This video What living systems teach us about true agency is featured on Big Think.