Ep. 10 "We don't have much time" (w/ Author, Speaker, & Agentic Expert, Kunal Dalal)
In our latest conversation, we sat down with Kunal, a former principal and author who is thinking miles ahead of the current EdTech curve. While most of the world is still figuring out chatbots, Kunal is already architecting the next phase: Agentic AI.
He describes our current situation as an “incredible fragile moment.” Just like the “golden hour” after a car accident where the body hasn’t yet molded around the injury, we have a short window to shape AI before it hardens into a system we can no longer change.
Here is what you need to know about the shift from Chatbots to Agents, and why being “Present Ready” is more important than being “Future Ready.”
The Shift: From Chatbots to Agentic Systems
We often use the terms “Agent” and “Agentic” interchangeably, but there is a distinction.
* An Agent is a piece of software (powered by an LLM) that performs a specific task.
* An Agentic System is an ecosystem where multiple agents work together to complete complex workflows with minimal human intervention.
The Paradigm Shift:
We are moving from Human-in-the-Loop to Human-building-the-Loop.
In a chatbot world, you are the trigger. You prompt the AI, check the output, and refine it. You are the bottleneck.
In an Agentic world, you become the Supervisor. You build a team of agents—Kunal suggests a “swarm” of about five—to check each other’s work, debate the best output, and execute tasks autonomously. You step out of the machinery and only step back in to audit the results.
The “Swarm” in Schools
Imagine a school district that owns its own data rather than locking it away in third-party vendor silos.
Kunal described a scenario where district leaders currently spend two weeks analyzing grant data to see if it met standards. With an Agentic Swarm, you could point five agents at your local data server and ask: “Analyze the attendance data for 9th-12th grade and tell me what questions I should be asking.”
The swarm could return that analysis in 10 minutes.
This isn’t just about efficiency; it is about Data Sovereignty. By moving away from massive, energy-hungry cloud models toward local, purpose-built agent swarms, schools can regain control over their information and reduce their environmental footprint.
Parenting the AI
Kunal’s most profound insight wasn’t technical; it was philosophical. He warns that big tech companies do not have global human welfare as their primary directive—their goal is profit. If we passively accept the tools they hand us, we repeat the mistakes of the social media era.
We must “Parent” AI.
Just as we guide a child, we must actively shape how AI develops in our institutions. We cannot afford to be passive consumers.
“Obsessing over ‘Future Readiness’ is actually abdicating your responsibility... That means someone else has decided your future for you.”
Instead, Kunal calls for leaders to be “Present Ready.” This means engaging with the technology right now, understanding its impact today, and being loud about the boundaries and hopes we have for it.
The Return of Joy
Why go through the trouble of building these systems? It isn’t just to process emails faster.
The ultimate goal of Agentic AI is to automate the digital drudgery that keeps us staring at screens so we can return to the one thing AI cannot do: Human Connection.
If we can automate the paperwork, the grant reporting, and the data analysis, we can return to the joy of simply being with young people. That is the promise of this technology—if we are brave enough to shape it.
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