Build the notebook that collects your reflections, then make two centuries of science fiction talk back to you. Eleven short steps.
Leading a team? We run this as live training, with your people practicing on their own work.
Ask about team training →Whole quest: 60–90 minutes
This quest builds the workshop you'll use for the rest of Bootcamp. It runs on Gemini Notebook, Google's free research tool (it was called NotebookLM until July 2026, and the old address at notebooklm.google.com still works). It answers questions using only the sources you hand it, so you can question a long read instead of slogging through it.
You'll leave with two notebooks you keep using:
You'll need a Google account and headphones if you have them. About 30 minutes of this quest is listening, so pick a stretch of time you can protect. Coffee or wine optional.
About 3 minutes
If you land on a marketing page instead of the app, look for a Try it or Sign in button in the top corner. A work or school Google account may have it switched off by an admin; a personal Gmail account always works.
About 2 minutes
When it asks for a source, choose Copied text and paste this in. It tells the notebook what these recordings are for, so it reads them the right way at the end.
Every reflection I record during AI Bootcamp lives in this notebook. After each quest I record a spoken reflection answering three questions. 1: What was I trying to do, and what did I want out of it? 2: Where did the AI surprise me? 3: What do I know now that I didn't know 30 minutes ago? I upload each recording as a source. At the end of Bootcamp I'll ask this notebook what it noticed about me across all of them.
About 5 minutes
Most people find talking to their phone awkward the first time. So start with a practice round where nothing is at stake.
If the upload fails, check the file format: mp3, m4a, and wav all work. If you're on a phone, emailing the file to yourself and uploading from a computer is the slow but reliable route.
That's the whole ritual. After each quest you'll do the same thing, with the three reflection questions instead of a warm-up.
About 10 minutes
Now a second notebook, this time as a thinking tool. Go back to the home screen, create another notebook, and name it AI Through The Ages. Then add two free classics. For each one, open the link, download the Plain Text UTF-8 file, and upload it as a source.
Pasting the Gutenberg page's web address as a source also works if downloading is a hassle. If a source shows an error, delete it and try the other method.
About 10 minutes
Add a recent voice and the two old books have someone to argue with.
Our favorite is Ted Chiang's novella The Lifecycle of Software Objects (2010), about people raising AI beings over many years. It's collected in Exhalation, which most public libraries carry, often as an ebook you can borrow tonight.
No copy handy? Let the notebook find something. Click Add source, use the web search option, and describe what you want, for example:
A recent essay by a novelist or journalist about what today's AI chatbots are and aren't
Pick one result that looks substantial and add it.
10–20 minutes, mostly listening
The notebook does the reading for you.
Two synthetic voices discussing writers who imagined synthetic minds. Mary Shelley would have had notes.
About 10 minutes
Type a question into the notebook's chat box. Skip the one you think you're supposed to ask and go with the one you'd ask a friend who'd read all three. If you want a seed:
Click at least one citation and read the original passage. Does the answer represent it fairly?
About 10 minutes
Find one thing the notebook said that you don't fully buy. Maybe it felt too tidy, or it agreed a little too neatly with whatever you walked in believing. Tell it so, in your own words, and see what it does next.
Watch for three possible reactions. It might fold instantly and agree with you, dig in and defend itself, or take your point and think it through with you. Notice which one you got, and how it felt.
You'll push back on an AI in every quest from here on, so notice what worked.
About 5 minutes
Same routine as the warm-up. Open your recorder and answer the three questions out loud:
Upload it to Bootcamp Reflections and title it "Quest 1 Reflection." Matching titles make the finale easier.
Hate the sound of your own voice? Typing is better than skipping, but try talking twice before you switch.
You've built the workshop, and you've already pushed back on an AI once. One use for Gemini Notebook worth stealing: when you finish a long report or deck, have it make an Audio Overview of it. The people who'll never read the deck will listen to it on the drive home.
Two kinds of source trip people up. Paywalled articles load as blank, and podcasts without transcripts won't load at all. Printing a web page to PDF gets around the first problem, and uploading the audio file itself gets around the second. If you do Level 2, record a second reflection.
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. Tell us a little about your team and we'll write back.
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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