Week 1 Assignment: Understanding AI Agents
Part 1: Reflection Questions
Answer the following questions based on the concepts covered in the lecture:
1. Foundational Understanding
How would you explain the difference between traditional AI systems and AI agents to
someone with limited technical background?
Your Answer Here:
2. Professional Application
Think about your organization or industry. What specific tasks could benefit from AI agents?
What would an implementation look like for one of these tasks?
Your Answer Here:
3. Architecture Analysis
The virtual assistance example we discussed in the lecture employs a specific multi-agent
architecture. What type of architecture is it, and why is this approach effective for this
application?
Your Answer Here:
4. Components Analysis
Choose one cognitive component of AI agents (Perception, Reasoning, Action, or Feedback
& Learning) and explain how it manifests in a real-world AI application of your choice.
Your Answer Here:
Part 2: Case Evaluation - When to Use Agentic Systems
For each of the following scenarios, evaluate whether an agentic AI system would be appropriate.
Explain your reasoning by discussing the benefits and drawbacks of using an agent versus a
non-agentic solution.
1. Simple Data Lookup: A system that retrieves specific information from a structured
database in response to direct queries (e.g., "What is the price of Product X?")
Your Answer Here:
2. Basic Calculator: A tool that performs straightforward mathematical operations like addition
and multiplication
Your Answer Here:
3. Travel Planning Assistant: A system that needs to coordinate flights, accommodations,
transportation, and activities based on user preferences, budget constraints, and real-time
availability
Your Answer Here:
4. Research Synthesis: A system that searches across multiple sources, extracts relevant
information, evaluates credibility, and compiles findings into a cohesive report
Your Answer Here:
5. Smart Home Coordinator: A system that manages multiple connected devices, anticipates
user needs based on patterns, and proactively adjusts settings accordingly
Your Answer Here:
6. Email Management: A system that sorts incoming emails and drafts responses
Your Answer Here:
7. Medical Symptom Assessment: A system designed to evaluate described symptoms and
provide health information
Your Answer Here:
8. Financial Investment Advisor: A system providing investment recommendations based on
market conditions and user goals
Your Answer Here:
Part 3: Repository Analysis
Review the codebase at https://github.com/readytensor/rt-repo-assessment. Based on the definition
of agentic AI systems we've covered in the lecture, would you classify this solution as agentic? Why
or why not? Support your analysis with specific examples from the codebase that either align with or
deviate from the key characteristics of AI agents we've discussed.
Your Answer Here:
Part 4: Future of Work Analysis
Based on what you have understood about agentic AI in Week 1, do you think the following job titles
will be eliminated in the next 10 years due to agentic AI? Explain your reasoning for each:
● Software Engineer
● Data Analyst
● Data Scientist
● ML Engineer
● AI Engineer
● Data Engineer
● ML-Ops Engineer
Your Answer Here:
Part 5: Choosing the Right Architecture for an Automated
Peer Review System
Background:
Imagine you are tasked with building a system to automatically review academic papers for a journal
submission platform. The system should read the paper, identify strengths and weaknesses, and
generate a structured review.
Exercise:
Below are two different architectural designs for this system:
● One is a non-agentic workflow,
● One is a multi-agent system,
Your task:
● Carefully study the two architectures.
● Based on what you learned about Workflows vs. Agents, choose the architecture you think
will perform best for this task.
● There is no right or wrong answer - we want you to think strategically about tradeoffs like
flexibility, transparency, cost, complexity, and reliability.
● You can also propose another architecture that you think would be best for this case study.
In 2–8 sentences, explain why you made your choice. To better help you answer this question, refer
to this article: Building effective agents
Your Answer Here:
