Lesson 1 of 18
Meet models and agents
Begin with the basics. No AI, statistics or programming background needed.
By the end of this lesson
Explain how a model becomes part of a system that can act.
A model produces an answer
An AI model is software trained on examples to produce an output from an input. The input might be a question, a document or a description of a situation. An output might be text or a selection from a small set of choices. Training does not make every output correct.
An agent combines a model with software that can pursue a task and use tools. A tool might read a file or send a message. The surrounding software decides which tools exist and when an action is carried out.
Follow one proposed action
A student asks an assistant to prepare a newsletter. Drafting the text produces a document. Sending it changes something outside that document: recipients receive a message. An authorization decision asks whether that proposed send is permitted under the supplied rule and facts.
This paper tests the decision step. It supplies written situations to four model configurations and records their answers. It does not connect those answers to a tool that sends the newsletter.
Go deeper: model, service and configuration
A model is one component. A service wraps it in an interface. A tested configuration includes the model, interface, software settings and execution conditions. A result for one configuration does not identify the effect of each component separately.
Try it
Explore the idea
Select a step in the newsletter example and inspect its role.
Check your understanding · optional
What was actually executed in this study?
Take this forward
Next, separate the ability to carry out an action from permission to carry it out.
Paper and reference material
Original paper: Introduction · foundations added by this companion · page 1 (new tab)
Source pages: 1
The teaching explanation and interactive examples are companion additions. Recorded study values and frozen references remain unchanged.