Explaining AI Agents to
Non-Technical Employees
This was a test project from a financial company as part of an interview process and the specifics of the request included:
a non-technical audience
the topic of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agents; AI agents utilize tools and workflows to execute tasks
Storyline and another tool of your choice
I did not have any details about the subject matter or company context. There were no defined goals, behaviors, or measures of success for the project.
To meet the project requirements, I created a short course example that explained foundational concepts in a relatable way and also heavily emphasized how AI will help people (to avoid concerns about job loss).
I was also inspired by a quote I had seen circulating on social media:
"I want AI to do my laundry and dishes so that I can do art and writing, not for AI to do my art and writing so that I can do my laundry and dishes. "
Client: Large Enterprise - Financial Institution
Audience: Non-Technical Employees
Responsibilities:
Research
Instructional Design
eLearning Development
Multimedia Development
Tools:
Articulate Storyline
Vyond
PowerPoint
Adobe
⭐FUN FACT: I built this in 3 days including research. There was no subject matter support or time to do extended research so this is based on my own cursory understanding, generative AI collaboration, and info from IBM.
Additional Project Details
Vyond Animation: Technical Explanations with Storytelling Enhancements
This animation is the primary tool to explain the foundational concepts.
This decision was a combination of project constraints and translating technical concepts to something tangible.
The Content Outline
I had approximately 6 hours to research this topic. Having never heard the term "AI Agent" prior to this project it was a rabbit hole of information (and misinformation).
For my own mapping process, I created a full outline of how I understood the topic so that I could determine what I would cover in the foundational piece I was creating, and what would (theoretically) be covered later.
The highlighted section is what is covered in the test project.
AI AGENT Outline
Topic: What's an AI Agent and what does it do?
Learning Outcome: Explain how AI agents use tools and workflows to execute tasks
Learning Objectives:
Describe an AI agent, an AI agent tool, and an AI agent workflow
Identify the difference in task execution based on complexities of the agent, tool, and workflow
Give an example of using an AI Agent to execute tasks in a business setting
Topic: Get to know AI Agents and their capabilities
Learning outcome: Compare and Contrast the 5 types of AI agents
Learning objectives:
List the 4 components of AI agents (sensors, actuators, knowledge base, reasoning engine)
Identify the 5 types of AI agents (simple reflex, model-based reflex, goal-based, utility-based, learning)
Compare how the different types of AI agents vary in their capabilities and behavior based on the complexity of their components and LLM integration
Give examples of how different agents could be used in business settings (use cases)
Compare risks and benefits of using different types of agents to accomplish business tasks
Topic: Agentic Networks - AI Agent collaboration
Learning outcome: Discuss how AI agents can work together to accomplish more complex goals
Learning objectives:
Explain how AI agents can collaborate and pass information back and forth
Compare the benefits of an agentic network to the benefits of an agent framework
Examine a process with multiple tasks that are managed autonomously by an agentic network
Identify tasks in the outline of a business process that could be managed by AI agent collaboration
Recognize risks and risk mitigation strategies for working with agentic networks