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Vanderbilt University

AI Agents and Agentic AI with Python & Generative AI

AI Agents Are the Next Leap in Software. Learn to Build Them in Python. AI agents aren't passive tools. They think, act, and solve problems—without waiting for instructions. That's the future of software. And in this course, you'll learn how to build it. Frameworks come and go. Principles last. This course cuts through the noise to teach you how AI agents really work—using Python, the leading language for AI development. Forget tutorials on trendy APIs that'll be dead by next quarter. You'll learn to build AI agents from the ground up. No fluff. No shortcuts. Just the core architecture that powers intelligent systems—knowledge that stays useful no matter how fast the landscape shifts. In this course, you will: - Master Python-based agent architectural fundamentals - Understand the core GAME components (Goals, Actions, Memory, Environment) that make AI agents tick and how they work together in a cohesive Python system - Leverage Python's strengths for efficient agent development - Use Python's dynamic typing, decorators, and metaprogramming to create flexible, maintainable agent frameworks with minimal boilerplate code - Rapidly prototype and implement Python agents - Learn techniques to quickly design Python agent capabilities with prompt engineering before writing a single line of code, then efficiently translate your designs into working Python implementations - Connect Python AI agents to real-world systems - Build Python agents that can interact with file systems, APIs, and other external services - Create Python-powered tool-using AI assistants - Develop Python agents that can analyze files, manage data, and automate complex workflows by combining LLM reasoning with Python's extensive libraries and ecosystem - Build Python developer productivity agents - Create specialized Python agents that help you write code, generate tests, and produce documentation to accelerate your software development process Why Principles Matter More Than Frameworks The AI landscape is changing weekly, but the core principles of agent design remain constant. By understanding how to build agents from scratch, you'll gain: - Transferable knowledge that works across any LLM or AI technology Deep debugging skills because you'll understand what's happening at every level - Framework independence that frees you from dependency on third-party libraries and allows you to succeed with any of them - Future-proof expertise that will still be relevant when today's popular tools are long forgotten By the end of this course, you won't just know how to use AI agents—you'll know how to build them in Python, customize them, and deploy them to solve real business problems. This course will teach you these concepts using OpenAI's APIs, which require paid access, but the principles and techniques can be adapted to other LLMs.

Status: File Management
Status: Prompt Engineering
BeginnerCourse11 hours

Featured reviews

JE

5.0Reviewed Sep 23, 2025

Excellent course, well-paced, a variety of non-boring delivery methods and practical examples in code.

CC

5.0Reviewed Jul 28, 2025

This was a great course and Dr. White is so very well-versed in the subject. His thinking "outside the box" in problem-solving is quite remarkable.

MM

5.0Reviewed Aug 7, 2025

Detail explanation from Basic AI features to advanced deep understanding very useful upgrading skill course.

AQ

5.0Reviewed May 6, 2025

It's very informative. It gets straight to the point with useful code and detailed explanations of how the code works!

PR

5.0Reviewed May 17, 2025

What I liked most about this course is the comparison between the old ways of doing things and the new ways.

EI

5.0Reviewed Jul 1, 2025

One of the best practical courses I have completed. The course seems to have a humorous take on graded exercises, while the real value lies in the ungraded exercises.

VJ

5.0Reviewed Sep 2, 2025

The course was very engaging, and gave me tools to learn and experiment. I loved it.

GV

4.0Reviewed Feb 18, 2026

I like the approach to create an agent from scratch, proably is missing MCP Server and Client to access the tools

CJ

5.0Reviewed Mar 25, 2026

This course reshaped my understanding of what an AI Agent should be and can be.

MG

5.0Reviewed Jul 14, 2025

A great way to explain and show some good frameworks to building (and testing) AI agents.

MB

5.0Reviewed Jul 24, 2025

Nicely explained of using Agents, Loops, GenAI use cases. Professor is energetic in teaching concepts.

TP

5.0Reviewed Nov 4, 2025

Well presented. As a beginner it was easy to follow the sequence, and run through the problems to understand the concept.

All reviews

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