AI used to be a tool on your desk. Now it is the desk. And the desk just hired itself as your assistant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In our latest Active Teaching Lab, David Delgado shared how AI has become both the infrastructure for our work, and the experienced assistant able to anticipate our needs and execute complex jobs without being asked.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AI is quickly transforming into an engine running the tools we use on a daily basis. It\u2019s no longer about strapping AI onto an app. Apps are being built within AI itself. David shared how Adobe Firefly<\/a> permits instructors to create consistent, editable images and infographics (all but impossible a year ago). Zoom\u2019s AI Companion<\/a> now summarizes meetings privately, with no data shared beyond participants. Microsoft Office 365<\/a> is likewise increasingly AI-driven: PowerPoint will create entire slide decks from text prompts, Excel will automatically analyze data, and Outlook can quickly summarize entire email threads. Finally, check your Canvas<\/a> settings for experimental features like generated rubrics and discussion summaries. These Canvas features are worth exploring, though some may eventually move behind a paywall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are now entering an age of “Agentic Labor.” Tools like OpenClaw<\/a> and Claude Code<\/a> are capable of executing complex plans over hours and days rather than just generating single assets. In 2024, you might have asked an AI bot to draft an email to your supervisor asking for a raise. Today, you can ask AI to initiate a plan to get a raise. The agent will then evaluate your annual job reviews, compare your skills to the local and national job markets, examine the salaries for similar positions on job posting sites, and then walk you through a multistep process toward a raise, or even other qualified positions. In essence, AI has advanced from a robust version of Grammarly into an expert job coach who provides research, evaluation, and writing services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This fundamental shift from AI producing \u201cassets\u201d to AI producing \u201clabor\u201d has real consequences for our students\u2019 careers. Yes, AI can still transform raw data into a report in Excel. But employers will be expecting students to be able to manage a “fleet” of AI agents to craft and research business proposals, create large complex computer applications, or develop legal briefs. Thus we need to train our students as both subject-matter-experts and project managers who are able to employ AI agents and make quality assurance (QA) reviews of complex AI output. Content and project management expertise are the new essential hard skills for employability<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAgentic Labor as a Service<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n