What changed
This is the single log for the course. Newest release first. Each page also lists its own history at the bottom. Machine-readable copies: changelog.json and Atom feed.
November 3, 2026Release 2026.11.03dFull content check: corrections8 changes
Every page added or changed since the demand research was read against its sources. No factual errors were found. The corrections below are wording and consistency.
Updated (6)
- UpdatedModule 23: memory policy and code comment
The memory policy table now says that its consent and deletion rows become test cases, a note explains that memory about a person is personal data under GDPR and LGPD, and the comment in the code example now matches what the code does.
- UpdatedModule 24: what to grade
The section title said three things but its table lists five. It now reads "What to grade, and at what level". The wording on simulated users is softened to "often" and "tend to", because that behavior varies.
- UpdatedGuide: Messaging and WhatsApp, wording
The caution about the Brazil status is now neutral text instead of first person, and the message-template rule states the usual 24-hour window.
- UpdatedGuia (português): WhatsApp, redação
A mesma cautela sobre o Brasil agora está em texto neutro, e a sugestão de módulos virou links ("Comece pelos módulos 3, 19 e 18").
- UpdatedFAQ: simulated users
The answer now says simulated users tend to be more cooperative than real ones.
- UpdatedGlossary: simulated user
Now says "often kinder than real users".
Notes (2)
- NoteWhat was checked
The two new modules and their quizzes, the 48 FAQ answers, the regulation tracker, the messaging and Portuguese guides, the explainer, career and human-handoff guides, five cheat sheets, both new case studies, the new sections in modules 8, 17, 18 and 19, and the 25 new glossary terms. The note that MCP became stateless (specification of 28 July 2026) was confirmed against the MCP project's own release post, and the GitHub case study against Simon Willison's original article.
- NoteWhat was not re-read
Modules 1 to 22 as they stood before the demand research, and the eight earlier case studies, were not read again in this pass.
November 3, 2026Release 2026.11.03cLiability, human handoff and a Portuguese starting point6 changes
The last items of the demand research: what courts and lawmakers now say about who owns a chatbot's words, a plain list of what should stay with a person, and a Portuguese page that maps the course.
New (3)
- NewCase study: A clinic's chatbot invented medical titles
A German appeals court (Higher Regional Court Hamm, 12 May 2026) held a company responsible for false answers its website chatbot gave about its doctors' titles. What the court said, what it did not, and how to design so a bot cannot make claims about your organization. Not final.
- NewGuide: What should stay with a person
A list of ten situations an AI agent should not handle alone, what the assistant does instead, four questions to ask before automating a task, how to hand off well and what to test.
- NewGuia (português): Design de IA conversacional, por onde começar
A map of the course in Portuguese, answers to three common questions (chatbot, assistente ou agente; aviso de IA; quem responde por um erro) and a pointer to the WhatsApp guide.
Updated (2)
- UpdatedModule 18: liability watch
Adds a dated box with the Hamm ruling and California AB 316, which stops a defendant from arguing that the AI acted autonomously, and a pointer to the guide on what stays with a person.
- UpdatedFAQ: two answers updated, two new (48 in total)
The answers on which calls an agent should never handle alone and on liability now point to the new guide and case study. New questions: whether an "AI can make mistakes" disclaimer protects a company, and what California AB 316 changes.
Notes (1)
- NoteBoth legal items were checked against primary sources
The Hamm ruling against the court's own press release and the published full text; AB 316 against the enacted bill (Chapter 672, Statutes of 2025). Both pages say these are summaries, not legal advice, and that the Hamm ruling is not final.
November 3, 2026Release 2026.11.03bFollow-up: fact check3 changes
A second pass on the same day: the new pages were spot-checked against the research sources.
Notes (3)
- NoteFact check: regulation tracker
The Article 50 dates, the Digital Omnibus postponement and the 2 December 2026 marking grace were re-checked against several law-firm summaries and found consistent. The California and FCC references rest on earlier, widely documented rulings and were not re-researched. No change to the text was needed.
- NoteFact check: messaging guide
The guide already says that reports disagree on the Brazil status and that it was not checked against Meta's own terms. That caution was kept.
- NoteWhat was not re-checked
Pages not named in this release were not independently re-verified in this pass, and no vendor statistics were added.
November 3, 2026Release 2026.11.03Demand-driven update: rules, agent security, evaluation, memory and messaging27 changes
A research pass on what people search for around conversational design, AI bots and agentic support found gaps in regulation, agent evaluation, context and memory, agent security, support metrics and messaging channels. This release fills them and adds guides for the most common questions.
New (15)
- NewModule 23: Context engineering and memory
What goes into a model's context, how long conversations fail, and how to design memory for support (what to remember, what never to, consent, forgetting, memory poisoning).
- NewModule 24: Evaluating agents
Trajectory, tool-use and state checks, multi-turn quality, calibrating LLM judges, simulated users, a 50-example starter set and evals in CI.
- NewGuide: Chatbot, assistant, agent or copilot?
A plain-English comparison and an autonomy ladder, for the most common beginner question.
- NewGuide: AI disclosure and chatbot regulation tracker
EU AI Act Article 50 (applicable since 2 August 2026), what the Digital Omnibus delayed and did not, and a design checklist. Dated, with sources, not legal advice.
- NewGuide: Frequently asked questions (46 answers)
Short answers grouped by topic, each linking to the page with the detail.
- NewGuide: Becoming a conversation designer
What the role asks for in 2026 job ads, how the modules map to the skills, and how to build a portfolio from the capstone.
- NewGuide: Messaging and WhatsApp for support
WhatsApp's 2026 policy on general-purpose bots, voice notes, consent, handoff continuity and what to verify.
- NewGuia (português): Agentes de IA no WhatsApp
Versão curta do guia de mensageria, escrita em português para o público brasileiro.
- NewCase study: One tool, three legs
How a single MCP tool combined private data, untrusted content and an outbound channel, and what it teaches about support agents.
- NewCheat sheet: Lethal trifecta test (10 minutes)
Three questions to ask about every agent, and how to break one leg.
- NewCheat sheet: Agent evaluation checklist
Datasets, graders, trajectory and state checks, and release gates.
- NewCheat sheet: Resolution, deflection, ROI and pricing
Definitions that cannot be gamed, a cost-per-resolution formula and red flags in vendor benchmarks.
- NewCheat sheet: Agent protocol map
MCP, A2A and the commerce protocols as layers, with a note on what is still changing.
- NewCheat sheet: Voice go-live checklist
Latency, barge-in, entity accuracy, consent, escalation and cost checks before a voice agent takes real calls.
- NewGlossary: 25 new terms (70 in total)
Context engineering, trajectory, lethal trifecta, tool poisoning, deflection rate, resolution rate, memory types, end-of-turn detection and more.
Updated (10)
- UpdatedModule 18: lethal trifecta, indirect injection, tool poisoning, policy promises
New sections on the three-capability test, attacks that arrive through tickets and forms, tool-description poisoning, and why a bot must not invent commitments. Adds one quiz question and three sources.
- UpdatedModule 8: protocol map and tool poisoning
New section placing MCP, A2A and the commerce protocols in layers, plus a tool-poisoning note in the security section. Adds one quiz question.
- UpdatedModule 17: resolution, deflection, cost per resolution, ROI, pricing
New sections on metrics that cannot be gamed and on outcome-based versus per-conversation pricing. Adds one quiz question.
- UpdatedModule 19: entity accuracy and unit economics
New sections on getting names, numbers and codes right and on what a minute of voice really costs. Adds one quiz question.
- UpdatedModule 1: link to the chatbot, assistant, agent and copilot guide
One pointer added.
- UpdatedModule 9: pointer to the context engineering module
One pointer added after the memory and state section.
- UpdatedModule 14: pointer to the agent evaluation module
One pointer added.
- UpdatedModule 13: pointer to the messaging guide
One pointer added.
- UpdatedModule 22: next steps now include modules 23 and 24 and the guides
The capstone's closing section lists where to go next.
- UpdatedCheat sheet: pre-launch safety checklist now covers launch and incident readiness
Added a kill switch, rollback, human override, incident log and an owner for every policy.
Notes (2)
- NoteFacts that move fast carry a "last verified" date
The regulation tracker, the messaging guide and the protocol sections say when they were checked and against what.
- NoteWhat was left out
Vendor statistics (resolution rates, ROI, salaries) and one list of incidents that could not be confirmed elsewhere were not used. Rulings and policies that rest on a single secondary source were kept out or marked to verify.
October 27, 2026Release 2026.10.27Rebuild since the first edition5 changes
The field moved fast. This rebuild reflects it, and each fast-moving page is dated.