Demystifying AI agents

Agentic AI represents the next evolution in artificial intelligence — systems that can act autonomously to accomplish complex goals with minimal human supervision. While ChatGPT and similar LLMs have transformed how we generate content and answer questions, agentic systems go further by chaining together multiple capabilities to solve problems end-to-end. This session offers a concise introduction to agentic AI systems and their emerging applications for higher education. We’ll cut through the buzzwords to explain what makes AI truly “agentic” and showcase three practical examples: autonomous coding assistants, personalized learning agents and research acceleration tools. You will gain a clear understanding of how agentic systems differ from conventional AI, what’s possible today versus future potential and practical first steps for using agents. This brief but targeted overview is designed for higher ed professionals seeking to move beyond chatbots toward more powerful AI solutions that can independently accomplish complex tasks.

Presenters

Mark Lee — Colorado College