Title: Working with AI Agents: From Chatbox to a Capable Colleague
Speaker: Dr. Muhammad Imran Mustafa bin Abu Khudus
Date: Monday September 7th 2026
Time: 9:30 AM - 11:00 AM
AI agents can now read your files, run commands, and carry real work from start to finish. This hands-on workshop shows how to move from casual chatbot use to working with an agent as a capable colleague, and it is built on one principle. You are the editor, the AI is the production engine, and you bring the judgment.
The session opens with the model landscape, from cloud APIs to local models served with Ollama, and with the text-first file formats, such as Markdown, LaTeX, and TikZ, that let an agent read, edit, and produce your work reliably. It then covers setting up an agent with memory, skills, and sensible security boundaries, together with the communication habits that separate frustration from results, including context anchoring, calibrating how much verification a task deserves, and reporting errors precisely. The second half turns to practice, with production workflows built on a PROGRESS.md file and parallel subagents, research workflows running from literature review to proposal drafting, and everyday office tasks from email and meeting minutes to reports and spreadsheets. Live worked examples carry a raw meeting recording through to formatted minutes, and the workshop closes with the anti-patterns to avoid and a checklist to pin above your desk. Participants are encouraged to bring a current project and apply the framework live.
Thank you.
