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Building Agentic AI Workloads - Crash Course

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Overview

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Learn to build agentic AI systems in this comprehensive crash course that defines agents as software entities using LLMs to perceive environments, make decisions, and execute actions to achieve specific goals. Explore the critical distinction between static workflows and dynamic agentic systems, understanding how LLMs serve as a reasoning "brain" to decompose tasks at runtime. Master essential components including system prompts, tools, and memory through practical Python demonstrations while comparing architectural patterns such as Supervisor and Swarm. Discover the three pillars of AI (algorithms, data, and compute), examine the spectrum of autonomy, and understand when to use agents versus traditional workflows. Build hands-on experience progressing from single LLM calls to custom Python agents, adding memory and history, and implementing agents with frameworks like LangChain. Analyze multi-agent systems, evaluate agentic performance using code-based, LLM-as-a-Judge, and human evaluation methods, and address current challenges including hallucinations, cost, and debugging. Examine real-world incidents through the AI Incident Database, assess career impacts across different job categories, and explore the evolution toward Software 3.0 development paradigms. Investigate emerging interoperability protocols like MCP (Model Context Protocol), A2A, and AGUI while looking ahead to world models and the future of Artificial Machine Intelligence (AMI) beyond current LLM capabilities.

Syllabus

- Introduction and Speaker Background
- A Brief History of Artificial Intelligence 1940s–Present
- Traditional Machine Learning vs. Generative AI
- The Three Pillars of AI: Algorithms, Data, and Compute
- Specific Tasks vs. General Task Execution
- Defining Agency and the Spectrum of Autonomy
- Agentic Milestone Timeline 2017–2026
- What is a Generative AI Agent?
- Agents vs. Workflows: Dynamic Flow vs. Static Paths
- Pros and Cons of Agentic Systems
- Patterns and Anti-patterns: When to Use Agents
- The Core Components of an Agent
- Choosing the Right LLM for Your Agent
- Crafting Identity with System Prompts
- Understanding Memory: Intrinsic, Short-term, and Long-term
- Enhancing Capabilities with Tools and Actions
- Hands-on Implementation: From Single LLM Call to Python Agent
- Adding Memory and History to Your Custom Agent
- Building Agents with Frameworks LangChain
- The Evolving Landscape of Models and Frameworks
- Agentic Architectural Patterns: Supervisor vs. Swarm
- Case Study: Single Agent vs. Supervisor Architecture
- Deep Dive: Swarm Architecture Performance
- When to Choose Multi-agent Systems
- Interface Protocols: MCP, A2A, and AGUI
- How to Evaluate Agentic Systems LLM vs. System vs. App
- Evaluation Methods: Code-based, LLM-as-a-Judge, and Human
- Current Challenges: Hallucinations, Cost, and Debugging
- Real-world Incidents and the AI Incident Database
- Career Impact: Which Jobs are Most at Risk?
- Software 3.0: The Evolution of Development Paradigms
- Weathering the Storm: Strategies for the Future
- Beyond LLMs: World Models and the Future of AMI
- Recommended Resources and Closing Thoughts

Taught by

freeCodeCamp.org

Reviews

5.0 rating, based on 1 Class Central review

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  • this course was really fantastic! Starting from the historical background of AI, 1940s ( computing machinery & intelligence & logical calculus stuff), Machine Learning Rennaissance,(geoff hinton), Deep LEarning Boom, Generative AI, software implementation!

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