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Learning tracks · Track 1 of 7

AI learning track: Curious about AI, no technical background

For anyone who uses or keeps hearing about AI and wants to understand it, without a technical background or a full course.

Start with step 1: AI vocabulary in plain English: 14 terms

After this track: You can explain what an AI assistant is doing, check what it tells you and decide what to share with it.

  • 11 steps
  • 28 min reading
  • 1 episode, 1 hr 2 min

The path

Follow these 11 steps in order, or return to the one you need for your current work. Reading times are estimates; listening times cover the full episode.

  1. Step 1: Glossary

    AI vocabulary in plain English: 14 terms

    Start with 14 everyday AI terms in plain English, so the words people use stop being a barrier.

  2. Step 2: Explainer About 4 min reading

    How do large language models actually work?

    Learn what is happening when a chatbot answers, and why its reply can sound right without anyone having checked it.

  3. Step 3: Explainer About 3 min reading

    Why do LLMs hallucinate?

    See why a confident answer can still be wrong before relying on one for something that matters.

  4. Step 4: Explainer About 3 min reading

    How do you check whether an AI answer is supported?

    Practice checking an answer against its sources, scope and dates once you know why mistakes happen.

  6. Step 6: Explainer About 3 min reading

    How do you give an AI assistant a useful brief?

    Get better results by saying what you want, what to work from and what the assistant should not do.

  7. Step 7: Explainer About 2 min reading

    What makes an AI agent different from an LLM?

    Tell an assistant that answers apart from an agent that takes actions for you, a difference most headlines skip.

  8. Step 8: Explainer About 4 min reading

    Can an AI agent actually run your workday?

    See what an agent running one person’s day really does, failures included, before believing the boldest claims.

  9. Step 9: Explainer About 3 min reading

    Is using AI bad for the environment?

    Weigh a question many people ask, starting from what a single prompt actually costs.

  10. Step 10: Explainer About 3 min reading

    Is AI taking software engineering jobs?

    Look at what one hiring dataset shows about AI and jobs, rather than the loudest prediction.

  12. Take it into your work. You can explain what an AI assistant is doing, check what it tells you and decide what to share with it.

Choose another track or continue through the five-level pathway.