This course trains a single reflex, catching your AI when it flatters you or folds the second you push back. There are four quests of about an hour each and a finale, they work with whichever AI you already use, and the whole thing is free.
Leading a team? We run this as live training, with your people practicing on their own work.
Ask about team training →Choose the assistant you'll use for Quests 2 through 4. If you don't have one yet, pick any of these; every one has a free plan that covers the basics.
Quest 1 uses Google's free notebook tool no matter what you pick. Quests 2 through 4 work in any of these, and the steps rewrite themselves for your choice. You can switch any time from the bar at the top.
Bring a Google account for Quest 1 and an hour you can protect from your inbox (headphones help too). Every quest is broken into small steps with a progress bar, so you can stop at any step and come back later. This browser remembers where you left off. Nobody else sees it, and there's no login.
Each quest opens with a guided Level 1 (click here, type this, notice what happens), then a miniboss that tests the skill, then a short spoken reflection. Quest 1 builds the notebook that collects those reflections, which is why it goes first.
Build a notebook that holds your reflections and a second one stuffed with two centuries of stories about made minds. Then argue with a podcast about them. Start here
Bring a retired late-night TV character back from the dead using nothing but written instructions, then break him on purpose. Not started
Ask one question two opposite ways and watch the AI cheer for both sides. Then try it on a decision of your own. Not started
Turn a spreadsheet into a chart you can click by describing it, then find what a pickle company's staff survey is hiding. Not started
Explain what you learned to a panel of AI interviewers, grade the panel, and walk out with a Field Report we'll read and answer. Not started
Prompt tricks expire with every app update, so we built Bootcamp around a skill with a fancy name, metacognition, which means noticing your own thinking while you work. With AI that comes down to knowing what you want before you ask, and pushing back when an answer sounds great but doesn't match what you know.
Each quest also leaves you with hands-on time in a real tool, so the next time someone at work asks "can't we just use AI for this?", you'll have done it yourself.
After every quest, record yourself answering the same three questions. Talking works better than typing here because it's harder to tidy up your thinking while you say it.
How often: two recordings a week is the floor, six in total. If you get hooked, record after any session with an AI tool, quest or not. The recordings are private unless you choose to share them.
Every step has a Stuck? note with the usual fix. If that doesn't do it, describe the problem to your AI the way you'd describe it to a patient friend: what you were trying to do, where it went sideways, what you already tried. Push back on its first answer. Getting unstuck this way counts as practice.
Still stuck? Bring it to Show Me Something Cool With AI, our free monthly virtual show-and-tell. Half-finished experiments are welcome there, and so are questions.
Bootcamp is the do-it-yourself version of what we run for organizations. In the live version your people practice these habits on their own work, with us in the room and each other to compare notes with.
Massachusetts employers: our team training is an approved course under the state's Express Program, which can reimburse up to 100% of the cost. Here's how the grant works.
Ask about team training →Tell us what's going on with AI where you work and we'll point you at the right first step, even if it isn't one of ours.
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