COVanderbilt University · on Coursera

AI Agents and Agentic AI with Python & Generative AI

Beginner 10 hours English Completion CertificateFREE

About this course

AI Agents and Agentic AI with Python & Generative AI is a from-the-ground-up course in building AI agents in Python — not wiring together an existing agent framework, but understanding how agents actually work. Dr. Jules White's GAME framework (Goals, Actions, Memory, Environment) structures the course around the core components every working agent needs.

By the end you've built practical agents for tasks like file exploration and documentation generation, with tool discovery and function-calling mechanisms that let agents act on external systems. It's the first course in a longer specialization, so it's an entry point as much as a complete skill on its own.

The honest take: most "AI agent" content right now shows you how to use a framework. This one is unusually committed to showing you what's happening underneath — worthwhile if you want to actually understand agents, slower if you just want a working agent today.

What you'll learn

Build a Python AI agent framework from first principles

Apply the GAME framework (Goals, Actions, Memory, Environment)

Design tool discovery and function-calling for agents

Build practical agents for file exploration and doc generation

Understand agent architecture, not just framework usage

Prepare for deeper agent-building in the full specialization

This course includes

10h

On-demand video

Yes

Certificate

Yes

Mobile access

English

Language

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Instructor

Jules White

Coursera instructor

— learners— courses — instructor rating

Dr. Jules White is a professor at Vanderbilt University and one of Coursera's most-enrolled instructors for practical generative AI and agent-building courses.

Requirements

Basic Python knowledge

Who this course is for

Python developers curious about agent architecture
Learners who want to understand agents, not just use a framework
Anyone planning to continue into the full agent specialization

About this provider

Coursera

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4.6 trust score

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Frequently asked questions

Yes, basic Python knowledge is expected — this isn't a programming-from-scratch course.

No — it builds an agent framework from first principles using Dr. White's GAME model, so you understand the architecture rather than just calling a library.

Yes, free to audit, with a certificate available on Coursera's paid plans.

Around 10 hours of focused work, typically over about a week.

Yes — it's the first course in a longer agent-building specialization.