COURSE

Agentic Experience Design

The full course in designing AI agents that act on behalf of people. Learn to run the complete 12-step CDI Method for Agentic Experience Design (AXD), from deciding where agents should act to deploying and monitoring them with governance, trust and human-centric experience at the core.
Get this course, plus 40+ topic-based courses, 500+ videos, 200+ hours of content, and a weekly expanding knowledge base with our Course Plan.
COURSE DETAILS
FORMAT

SUBSCRIPTION
LEVEL
VIDEOS
QUIZZES
ON-DEMAND VIDEO AND QUIZZES
COURSE PLAN
BEGINNER/INTERMEDIATE
60
35
FORMAT
CERTIFICATE
SUBSCRIPTION
LEVEL
VIDEOS
ON-DEMAND VIDEO AND TASKS
COMPLETION
COURSE PLAN
BEGINNER
23
FORMAT


CERTIFICATE
SUBSCRIPTION
LEVEL
VIDEOS
ON-DEMAND VIDEO AND TASKS
COMPLETION
COURSE PLAN
BEGINNER
23
CERTIFICATES
LEAD INSTRUCTOR

Hans Van Dam

CO-FOUNDER & CEO
CDI

About this course

Traditional Conversational AI answers questions. Agentic systems take action. That shift moves risk from the conversation to the outcome: a wrong answer costs a moment; a wrong action costs money, records, or trust.

AXD is CDI's methodology for that reality. It gives you a systematic way to decide where an agent should act, how much authority it should have, what it must never do, and how to prove all of that before launch and keep proving it afterwards.

The Introduction to Agentic Experience Design gave you the shape of the method. This course teaches you to run it. Six modules take you from first principles to a live, monitored agent: why agentic systems exist and what makes them different from automation; how Conversational Capital compounds and collapses; and the complete 12-step CDI Method applied to agents that book, approve, transfer and decide.

Perfect if you…

  • Are a conversation designer, CX leader, product manager, AI practitioner or innovation lead working on AI agents
  • Are responsible for AI assistants, chatbots or agentic systems in your organization
  • Work in a regulated or high-stakes sector where agents act on customers' behalf and trust matters
  • Want a structured, end-to-end method for designing AI agents that goes beyond prompt engineering

Might not be right if you…

  • Are looking for programming tutorials, coding instruction or orchestration frameworks
  • Are focused purely on prompt engineering rather than experience design and governance
  • Want a quick overview rather than a complete method
SKILLS

What you will learn

  • Understand how Conversational Capital compounds and collapses, and why agents that act put it at greater risk than systems that only answer
  • Distinguish bots, workflows, assistants and agents, and choose the right one for a use case
  • Scope agent use cases by value and risk to trust, and explicitly exclude what should never be automated
  • Research users for agentic contexts, including power dynamics, vulnerability and cognitive load
  • Select models and platforms on customer outcomes, not benchmarks
  • Write project-level guidelines and distinguish them from rules, constraints and policies
  • Map human and agent context with the Agentic Canvas and design for mentalizing
  • Define golden conversations that set the standard for intent, tone, resolution and dignity
  • Write an Agent Charter with role, scope, authority tiers and escalation criteria
  • Test designs with stakeholders, users and adversaries before a line of code is written
  • Diagnose test findings and fix the right layer: constraint or knowledge
  • Build knowledge architecture that resolves Content Debt at source
  • Specify tool contracts with inputs, outputs, side effects and reversibility
  • Launch through phased rollout with readiness gates, rollback and incident response
  • Monitor behavior and trust, not just containment, and prevent Responsibility Decay

What you will get

  • The complete 12-step CDI Method for Agentic Experience Design, taught across six modules
  • 60 video lessons, about 15-20 hours in total
  • 35 quizzes to check your understanding as you go
  • The Agentic Design Canvas 
  • A certificate of completion
  • A pathway to CDI's AXD certification
CONTENT

Course outline

MEET THE INSTRUCTOR

Hans Van Dam

CEO AND FOUNDER, CDI
In 2018, Hans co-founded the Conversation Design Institute to establish processes, techniques, and organizational standards to professionalize the role of conversation design within large enterprises.

Hans also sits upon the board of CDI Foundation, which is focused on undertaking research, education and industry development, along with providing scholarships to help people from underrepresented and disadvantaged backgrounds enter the CAI industry.  

Join students from 50+ countries, certified by CDI

Tjitske Lemstra

Stephen Lee

Tobias Ditzer

Lorraine Burrell

Austin Bedford

Matthew Smith

Marloes van der Stelt

Francesco Palma

David Berkley

Subscribe to the Course Plan to get access today

  Access to all CDI Fundamental Courses (Current & Future)
  Quizzes to test your knowledge
  12+ closed expert-led classes per year
  Regular new content
  Expert classes and webinars
  Access to recordings of events, classes and webinars
  More than 250 videos total
  Downloadable canvasses
  Discounts to global CDI events
  Access to the CDI Alumni Network
  Industry-wide recognized certification

Related courses

FAQs

How is this different from the Introduction to Agentic Experience Design?

The Introduction is a short overview of the 12-step CDI Method. This course teaches every step in full, from first principles to a live, monitored agent, and prepares you for the AXD certification exam.

Once I've subscribed, how does it work?

You get immediate access to all six modules and their quizzes with the Course Plan. Learn at your own pace and revisit lessons anytime. When you're ready, buy the AXD certification to sit the exam.

How long does the course take?

Six modules, 60 video lessons and 35 quizzes, about 15–20 hours to complete. It's self-paced, so you can start and stop whenever you like.

Do I need any experience before starting?

There are no entry requirements. If you're new to agentic design, the free Introduction to Agentic Experience Design gives you the shape of the method first.

How quickly can I start?

Immediately. Once your payment is processed, you'll receive access details by email and can begin right away.

Is the certification exam included in the course?

No. Course access doesn't include the exam. The AXD certification is purchased separately for $899 one-time, excluding VAT, and includes the exam and one free retake.

How do I get certified?

Buy the AXD certification, sit the exam, and pass it to earn the AXD certification from CDI. The exam covers the full course, so complete the modules first.

Who is the certification for?

CX leaders and product managers responsible for autonomous AI deployments, designers and strategists working on agentic systems in regulated or high-stakes contexts, and practitioners who want a recognized credential on top of course completion.