AI Fundamentals · Free

AI Fundamentals

Understand what today's AI tools are, what they are good at and where they go wrong.

1. Lesson 1 · 8 min

   What today's AI actually is

   Learn

   Most AI tools you will use are large language models: systems trained on huge amounts of text that predict useful next words. They are very good at drafting, summarising, explaining and reshaping information.

   They do not 'know' things the way a person does. They can sound confident and still be wrong, so you stay responsible for checking the result.

   Practise This

   Ask any AI chat tool to explain a topic you already know well. Note one thing it got right and one thing that was vague or wrong.

   Build With What You Learned

   Write down three everyday tasks in your life or work where a drafting or summarising assistant could save you time.

2. Lesson 2 · 10 min

   Strengths, limits and checking the work

   Learn

   AI is strongest at first drafts, rewording, brainstorming and structuring messy notes. It is weakest at exact facts, recent events, maths without tools and anything it cannot see.

   A simple habit: treat every answer as a draft from a fast but careless assistant. Verify names, numbers, quotes and links against a real source.

   Practise This

   Ask an AI tool for five facts about your town or industry. Check each against a trusted source and mark which were accurate.

   Build With What You Learned

   Create a personal checklist of what you will always verify before using AI output.

3. Lesson 3 · 8 min

   Using AI safely and responsibly

   Learn

   Avoid pasting passwords, private customer data or confidential documents into tools unless you understand how that provider stores data.

   Be open about AI use where it matters, respect copyright, and never present AI output as verified fact without checking it.

   Practise This

   Open the privacy or data settings of an AI tool you use and find out whether your chats are used for training.

   Build With What You Learned

   Write a two-line personal policy for how you will use AI in your work.