Societal and Agentic Foundations

This unit examines the cultural, ethical, technical, workforce, educational, and environmental dimensions of agentic AI, grounding learners in the principles that shape responsible autonomous systems. It builds on foundational AI concepts introduced earlier and prepares students to design, evaluate, and govern agentic systems in later applied and technical units.

Learning Objectives

• Analyze cultural and social implications of agentic AI by comparing at least three case studies to identify stakeholder impacts, equity concerns, and potential biases.
• Evaluate ethical and governance frameworks for steering autonomous systems and produce a policy brief recommending responsible design and deployment practices.
• Demonstrate understanding of agentic AI architecture by creating a diagram of the Agent Intelligence Pyramid that explains component functions, data flows, and key technical challenges with mitigation strategies.
• Apply scenario-based analysis to assess likely effects on education, the job market, and the environment, and propose three actionable adaptation or mitigation recommendations for each domain.