"The tech industry laid off more than 73,000 workers in the first four months of 2026. In a classroom inside a Hollywood recording studio, a 51-year-old hip-hop artist was teaching 75 college students how to build the AI agents that are replacing them."
"The course, which wrapped in late April, split students between his Los Angeles office and ASU's main campus in Tempe. They learned to create synthetic voice prompts, build personalised AI agents, and apply agentic AI concepts to real problems. Guest lecturers included Nick Turley, head of ChatGPT at OpenAI, and Richard Kerris, Nvidia's general manager for media and entertainment."
"The premise of the course is that young people, particularly those from underserved communities, should not wait for AI to happen to them. They should learn to build it. " There's a generation of folks who are like, why do I need to go to school? I just got debt and a diploma with no jobs," will.i.am said. " We are on a mission to change that narrative. ""
"Over sixteen class meetings, they progressed from basic prompt engineering to building functioning AI agents tailored to specific use cases. The student projects were more practical than academic. Claudia Beaton built Aki, an app for street and beach vendors in Brazil that uses AI to help them improve their businesses. Other students created agents to help military veterans navigate their benefits and tools for learning African languages."
More than 73,000 workers were laid off in the tech industry in the first four months of 2026. A 51-year-old hip-hop artist co-taught an artificial intelligence course at Arizona State University called “The Agentic Self.” The course ran for sixteen weeks and included students from 18 to 70, meeting in Los Angeles and on ASU’s main campus. Students learned to create synthetic voice prompts, build personalized AI agents, and apply agentic AI concepts to real problems. Guest lecturers included leaders from OpenAI and Nvidia. Projects focused on practical use cases such as tools for street and beach vendors, support for military veterans, and learning African languages.
Read at TNW | Artificial-Intelligence
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