Learning No Longer Requires Learning

Agentic AI is defined by Gartner [1] as an approach to building AI solutions based on the use of one or multiple software entities that are classified, completely or at least partially, as AI agents. AI agents are autonomous or semiautonomous software entities that use AI techniques to perceive, make decisions, take actions and achieve goals in their digital or physical environments. The Chronicle article [2] simplifies this in describing Agentic AI as “us[ing] a series of tools to complete a task on behalf of a user.” For this blog, the focus will be on the decision-making and action-taking components and a question being asked in education (and the title of the article being reviewed, which is: Can Educators Counter ‘Agentic AI’?

When I first read the article title, I was initially concerned this was an article focused on ensuring AI is not used in education, but as I read the subtitle and the article, it became clear that the reason for the question being asked was not that, rather it was that online education may be at stake if the use of AI, specifically AI agents, is not taken into account with the online education model.

Based on the article, A company named Perplexity has a browser named Comet that is being given away to students and the targeting line they are using is “let Comet automatically complete your assignments, quizzes, and tests.” Watkins follows this with the comment, “is shocking,” and makes the assertion that this approach moves from the concept of AI helping us learn to AI doing the work. This effectively removes learning from the equation. This reminds me of a past article that included an example of a student using AI to write their essay and the professor using AI to grade the essay, which was described as taking this learning engagement and removing both the learning and the engagement. While automating work in the education space is broadly impacting, Watkins describes it as “a dilemma for all types of courses, but it’s a crisis for those delivered online.” The reason being that while there are mechanisms in live classroom settings to manage how students are learning and what tools they are using, those for online learning are much less effective.

To be clear, the goal of these mechanisms is not to prevent the use of AI, rather it is to ensure that the goal of the course, learning, is upheld and achieved. Watkins discussed the discouragement of using deceptive techniques such as hidden prompts referencing comments from Mark A . Bassett, an associate professor at Chares Sturt University, “Laying traps for students in this way relies on deception, undermines trust between students and staff, and contradicts the principles of fair assessment and academic integrity.” The options that the article presents for consideration include monitoring time in a course, slow release of course content, injection of analog opportunities, and my favorite from the list, sell the student on the benefit of learning. While the first three will have some degree of effectiveness, they are not full proof and likely will become approaches that future AI models can overcome. Selling students on the reason they are in school to begin with seems like the best method to me. It is a similar approach to discussing the use of AI within a development team in a professional environment, and that the use of AI should be encouraged and used as a helper to improve efficiency and quality. Asking primarily hypothetically since there are obvious real-world answers, but if a student doesn’t want to learn or a developer doesn’t want to build a solution, why not just not engage in those activities rather than using AI to do all of the work?

Watkins concludes the article noting that it will not be deceptive techniques or technology tools such as lockdown browsers that provide the full answer to the question Can Educators Counter ‘Agentic AI’?, rather higher education institutions will need to reimagine and rethink how students work and thereby their learning is assessed.

How do you need to change how you learn or work to account for changes that come with the availability of AI as a tool?




References:

  • [1] D'Hoinne, Jeremy, Acosta, Manual, Murphy, Josh. Hype Cycle for AI and Cybersecurity, 2025. Gartner, ID G00829144, August 7, 2025
  • [2] Watkins, Marc. “Can Educators Counter 'Agentic AI'?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 72, no. 8, December 12, 2025, page 36 - 37.

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