Agentic AI and AI Agents: A Primer for Leaders

Overview

Forget everything you know about traditional AI. Agentic AI doesn’t just analyze data; it acts on it. From drafting sales emails to updating CRMs, it’s not just a tool—it’s a game-changer. Are you ready to harness its power? Agentic AI combines Generative AI with tools and actions, enabling the creation of "agents" that revolutionize how work is done. Unlike tools that simply generate static outputs, these agents take action—drafting emails directly in your inbox, updating a CRM with client meeting notes, or analyzing sales data and producing a PowerPoint presentation. In the fast-paced world of AI-enhanced work, understanding Agentic AI isn’t optional—it’s your competitive advantage. These intelligent agents are reshaping how tasks are executed, decisions are made, and value is created across industries. By automating repetitive workflows and enhancing high-value tasks, they empower teams to focus on innovation and strategy. Agentic AI is transforming industries, and this course will ensure you’re leading the charge, not playing catch-up. Understanding their capabilities and limitations is essential for staying competitive in this rapidly evolving landscape. This course demystifies Agentic AI, teaching you how these agents work and how to design them to suit your needs. By the end, you’ll not only know how to differentiate genuine AI innovation from overhyped gimmicks but also be equipped to build tools that deliver tangible value. Whether you’re in business, technology, or leadership, this course will help you stay ahead of the curve.

Syllabus

Agentic AI Concepts

This module explains how to design agentic AI interactions that are reliable and goal-directed. You’ll learn about the flipped interaction pattern, in which agents ask questions and guide the next steps; how multimodal inputs like screenshots can improve diagnosis; and when to use step-by-step execution versus ahead-of-time planning. The module also covers how to make agents work safely in real environments by providing the right context, constraining behavior with tools and actions, and using clear tool names, informative results, helpful error messages, and in-context examples to guide consistent performance.

Overview of Custom GPTs

This module introduces custom GPTs as a practical way to build agentic AI applications without traditional programming. You’ll learn how to shape model behavior using instructions, tone, background knowledge, and guardrails; how retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) brings in current or domain-specific information without retraining; and how custom GPTs combine instructions, knowledge, and capabilities to create reusable AI tools.