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Zero → AI-augmented operator

For: Anyone who works in an office and has never seriously used AI for their job.

You will be able to: You can use AI confidently for your everyday work — research, writing, meetings, email — and you know when to trust it and when not to.

65 min total·8 guides·About 65 minutes of reading, ~4 weeks at 15 min/week if you space it.

Steps in order

  1. 01

    Getting started with AI: a 30-minute starter path

    A guided reading order if you are new to AI. What to learn first, what to skip, and the three habits that separate people who get value from AI from people who give up after a week.

    — Start here. The 30-minute orientation.

    6 min·/learn/ai/get-started
  2. 02

    How large language models work

    The mental model that fixes most prompting confusion — prediction, training, inference, why hallucinations happen, why prompt phrasing matters so much. For the operator who wants to understand the mechanism.

    — The mental model that fixes most "why did AI do that" moments.

    10 min·/learn/ai/foundations
  3. 03

    What AI is good at, and what it still gets wrong

    A blunt capability map. The categories of work where AI is reliable, the categories where it bluffs, and the in-between where it works if you verify.

    — Knowing where AI is reliable saves you from the predictable disappointments.

    7 min·/learn/ai/get-started
  4. 04

    How to verify AI output before you trust it

    AI is fluent enough to make wrong answers sound right. A practical checklist for catching hallucinations, broken facts, and silent drift — for code, copy, research, and analysis.

    — The habit that separates people who get value from AI from people who give up.

    7 min·/learn/ai/verify-and-trust
  5. 05

    What makes a prompt actually work

    The patterns that hold across every model — clarity, context, examples, format constraints. The "brilliant new employee" mental model, and why showing your prompt to a colleague is the test that catches most failures.

    — The foundations of prompt craft. Comes alive once you have the mental model.

    8 min·/learn/ai/prompt-craft
  6. 06

    How to use AI for research

    A 4-step model — map, find gaps, pressure-test, turn into output. With the failure modes (hallucinated sources, smeared comparisons, confident guesses) and how to verify before trusting.

    — First applied workflow. Pick this one because it transfers to almost any role.

    8 min·/learn/ai/productivity-playbooks
  7. 07

    How to use AI for meetings, notes, and follow-ups

    Capture is table stakes. The value is decision extraction, action items with owners, and same-hour follow-ups. A practical model and the prompts that turn transcripts into work.

    — Second applied workflow. Probably your biggest immediate time win.

    8 min·/learn/ai/productivity-playbooks
  8. 08

    AI at work: what is safe to share, what is not

    Customer data, source code, contracts, secrets. The practical rules for using AI without leaking what your employer cares about.

    — Read before you paste any company data into a chat. Short.

    6 min·/learn/ai/get-started

When you finish this path

You can use AI confidently for your everyday work — research, writing, meetings, email — and you know when to trust it and when not to. For the next step, browse other paths or the full library.