AI Agents for Beginners

Planned curriculum

8 lessons in teaching order. Lessons open when the course launches, once their faculty-led teaching videos are recorded and verified.

1. 01What an AI Agent Is, and What It Isn't

   • Explain how an agent differs from a chatbot and from a fixed workflow
   • Name the parts of an agent: goal, model, tools, context and loop
   • Place a task on the scale from assisted to autonomous
2. 02The Agent Loop: Plan, Act, Check

   • Describe the loop an agent runs and where it can stop
   • Read an agent's trace and spot where it went wrong
   • Set stopping rules so a loop can't run on forever
3. 03Tools and Permissions

   • List the tools an agent needs and separate read-only from write actions
   • Apply least privilege to every tool an agent can use
   • Decide which tool actions must wait for approval
4. 04Choosing a Task for a Simple Agent

   • Judge whether a task suits an agent using clear criteria
   • Narrow a broad idea into a small, supervised first task
   • Define inputs, outputs and success before you build anything
5. 05Writing Instructions and Setting Limits

   • Write agent instructions that state the goal, tools, steps, limits and escalation
   • Give the agent a fixed output format that a person can check quickly
   • Tell the agent what to do when it is unsure
6. 06Guardrails and Human Approval

   • Build guardrails around an agent: limits, approvals, logs and a way to stop it
   • Explain prompt injection and why content an agent reads is untrusted
   • Protect sensitive data an agent might see or repeat
7. 07Testing and Evaluating an Agent

   • Build a small test set with normal, hard and tricky cases
   • Run the same test more than once and compare results
   • Decide an acceptance level before relying on an agent
8. 08Common Failures and Your First Agent Plan

   • Recognise the common ways agents fail and the first fix for each
   • Decide when not to use an agent
   • Write a plan for running your first agent under supervision

Resources included at launch

6 resources, provided inside the course once it opens.

• Agent task canvas

  A one-page canvas for deciding whether a task suits an agent and writing its specification.

  PDF DOCUMENT
• Agent instruction template

  A fill-in template for an agent's instructions: job, tools, steps, limits, output and what to do when unsure.

  PDF DOCUMENT
• Tool and permission register

  A spreadsheet register of every tool an agent can use: read or write, account, limits, approval and owner.

  EXCEL WORKBOOK
• Guardrails and approval checklist

  A checklist for limits, permissions, approvals, logging, prompt injection and stopping an agent.

  PDF DOCUMENT
• Agent test and evaluation sheet

  A spreadsheet for logging repeated test runs with correctness, rule-keeping and honest reporting scores.

  EXCEL WORKBOOK
• Agent failure log and first-agent plan

  A failure log with first fixes, and a one-page plan for supervising your first agent.

  PDF DOCUMENT

Downloads are not available from this page.

Quick answers

Can I take AI Agents for Beginners now?

Not yet. It is Coming soon: the faculty-led teaching videos are still being prepared, and purchases are not open.

Who is it for?

Curious professionals and builders with no coding background.

How will it be taught?

Each lesson is planned as a faculty-led video with a short written summary, hands-on practice, a quiz and resources. The full written lesson text stays internal.

What device do I need?

Lessons and exercises are designed to work on a phone, tablet or computer with a web browser.

How does access work?

Courses are a one-time purchase with lifetime access to the content included when you buy. It is not a subscription, and it does not include courses released later unless they are named in what you bought.

Is there a certificate?

Students who mark every lesson complete can receive a certificate of completion. It confirms completion; it does not certify assessed practical competence.

Learning resources for every course are listed on the Learning Resources page, and you can read more about how AcademyGen teaches.