Microsoft has released an excellent learning resource for anyone looking to dive into the world of AI agents: "AI Agents for Beginners". This comprehensive course is available free on GitHub.  It is designed to teach the fundamentals of building AI agents, even if you are just starting out.

What You'll Learn

The course is structured into 10 lessons, covering a wide range of essential topics including:

• Agentic Frameworks: Understand the core structures and components used to build AI agents.
• Design Patterns: Learn proven approaches for designing effective and efficient AI agents.
• Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG): Enhance AI agents by incorporating external knowledge.
• Building Trustworthy AI Agents: Discover techniques for creating AI agents that are reliable and safe.
• AI Agents in Production: Get insights into deploying and managing AI agents in real-world applications.

Hands-On Experience

The course includes practical code examples that utilize:

• Azure AI Foundry
• GitHub Models

These examples help you learn how to interact with Language Models and use AI Agent frameworks and services from Microsoft, such as:

• Azure AI Agent Service
• Semantic Kernel Agent Framework
• AutoGen - A framework for building AI agents and applications

Getting Started

To get started, make sure you have the proper set-up.

Here are the 10 lessons

1. Intro to AI Agents and Agent Use Cases
2. Exploring AI Agent Frameworks
3. Understanding AI Agentic Design Principles
4. Tool Use Design Pattern
5. Agentic RAG
6. Building Trustworthy AI Agents
7. Planning Design
8. Multi-Agent Design Patterns
9. Metacognition in AI Agents
10. AI Agents in Production

Multi-Language Support

To make learning accessible to a global audience, the course offers multi-language support.

Get Started Today!

If you are eager to learn about AI agents, this course is an excellent starting point.

You can find the complete course materials on GitHub at AI Agents for Beginners.