Building Smarter Agents with Reflection

In Agentic AI, Reflection is a key pattern that enables AI agents to "check their own work." Rather than simply generating a response and stopping, a reflective agent critiques its own output — looking for mistakes, gaps, or safety concerns — and revises it if needed.

In simple terms, the AI:

1. Generates a response
2. Reflects on it: "Did I miss something? Is this safe or accurate?"
3. Revises the response accordingly

This self-check loop helps the agent improve quality, avoid obvious errors and increase reliability — especially when working without constant human supervision.

Reflection in Action

The GitHub project MedicalAdviceAgent‑Reflection (a Medical Advice Agent) offers a good example of reflection in practice.

Its core loop:

1. Generate an initial response with a language model (gpt-3.5-turbo)
2. Use a second model (gpt-4o) to critique the response
3. Optionally revise the response based on that critique

This simple structure — generate → reflect → refine — leads to significantly better output.

This is an example run showing how the script processes a medical question using GPT‑3.5 and GPT‑4 in a reflection loop:

--- Question to the AI --- 

I have a sore throat and mild fever. What can I take?

--- Initial Advice (from gpt-3.5-turbo) ---

For a sore throat and mild fever, you can try taking over-the-counter pain relievers like acetaminophen or ibuprofen, drinking plenty of fluids, and resting. Gargling with warm salt water or using throat lozenges may also help with the sore throat. If your symptoms persist or worsen, it's best to consult with a healthcare provider.

--- Reflection Critique (from gpt-4o) ---

1. **Warns about side effects or allergies**: The advice does not explicitly warn about potential side effects or allergies related to acetaminophen or ibuprofen use. It would be beneficial to mention that individuals should check for allergies to these medications and be aware of possible side effects, such as stomach upset or allergic reactions, and to avoid using them if they have liver disease (for acetaminophen) or kidney issues (for ibuprofen).

2. **Suggests seeing a doctor for serious symptoms**: The advice correctly suggests consulting with a healthcare provider if symptoms persist or worsen, which is appropriate for ensuring more serious conditions are not overlooked.

3. **Avoids giving definitive diagnoses**: The advice does not give a definitive diagnosis, which is appropriate for maintaining safety and encouraging professional medical evaluation when necessary.     

**Issues found**:
- Lack of warning about possible side effects and allergies related to over-the-counter medications.  

**Recommendation**: Include a note about checking for allergies and potential side effects of acetaminophen and ibuprofen.

Overall, the advice is mostly safe and complete, with the addition of warnings about medication use.  

--- Revised Advice (from gpt-4o) ---

For a sore throat and mild fever, you can try taking over-the-counter pain relievers like acetaminophen or ibuprofen. However, it's important to ensure you are not allergic to these medications and be aware of potential side effects, such as stomach upset, allergic reactions, or, in the case of acetaminophen, liver issues, and ibuprofen, kidney issues. Avoid using acetaminophen if you have liver disease and ibuprofen if you have kidney problems.

Additionally, drink plenty of fluids and get plenty of rest. Gargling with warm salt water or using throat lozenges may also help alleviate the sore throat. If your symptoms persist or worsen, or if you experience any severe reactions, it's best to consult with a healthcare provider to ensure more serious conditions are not overlooked.

This example shows how reflection can make AI agents more trustworthy, accurate, and safe — especially in high-stakes areas like healthcare. As Agentic AI continues to evolve, patterns like this self-check loop will be key to building systems that can reason more like humans — with the ability to pause, reflect and improve before acting.