AI Jumpstart
Give me two hours to change your world.
What This Is
This is a short, self-paced course that teaches you how to use AI assistants through hands-on practice. No lectures. No theory. You open a tool, type a prompt, and see what happens.
You’ll work with whichever AI assistant you prefer — Claude, ChatGPT, or Google Gemini. Every exercise includes instructions for all three.
What This Is Not
This is not a sales pitch for AI. Some of these exercises will impress you. Some won’t. The point is for you to see what these tools can actually do right now so you can decide for yourself whether they’re useful to you.
AI assistants get things wrong sometimes. They make stuff up occasionally. They’re tools with real limitations. This course will show you how to use them well and how to spot when they’re off.
How the Course Works
Seven modules. Each one is a self-contained exercise you can finish in 10–20 minutes. Do them in order or skip to whatever interests you — but start with “Before You Start” to get your tool set up.
Before You Start
5 minutes
Pick your platform, set it up, and lock down your privacy settings.
Module 1: Your First Conversation
10 minutes
Plan a week of dinners and a grocery list. See how the AI handles changes to your plan in real time.
Module 2: The Email You’ve Been Putting Off
10 minutes
Draft a difficult email in under a minute. Then ask for a different version with a different tone.
Module 3: Learn Something New
15 minutes
Pick any topic you’ve been meaning to learn. Get an explanation tailored to what you already know, with a hands-on exercise.
Module 4: Tame the Chaos
15 minutes
Turn a messy pile of notes into a structured document. Direct the AI like an editor: “more here, less there.”
Module 5: Think It Through
15 minutes
Bring a real decision you’re weighing. Use the AI as a thinking partner to map out options and tradeoffs.
Module 6: Level Up
20 minutes
Advanced features, iteration techniques, and how to make the AI dramatically more useful over time.
Module 7: Before You React
15 minutes
Paste a heated exchange into AI and see the mechanics underneath — the fallacies, biases, and escalation patterns invisible when you’re in the middle of it.
Total Time: About 105 Minutes
You don’t need to do it all at once. Each module stands alone. But the course is designed so that each one builds a little on the skills you practiced in the last.
What You’ll Need
- A computer or phone with a web browser
- An account on one (or more) of these platforms:
- Claude — by Anthropic
- ChatGPT — by OpenAI
- Google Gemini — by Google
- About 10–20 minutes per module
- Willingness to try something and see what happens
Free accounts will technically get you through every exercise. But here’s the honest truth: free tiers run older, smaller models with shorter limits. Judging AI from a free tier is like judging smartphones by using a flip phone — you’ll see something, but you’ll miss what actually makes the technology useful. If you’re investing two hours to learn what AI can do, spend the $20 for one month of a paid plan. You can cancel anytime. The difference in quality is not subtle.
Ready? Start with setup →
