AI basics · Prompting
AI Fundamentals for Everyday Work
A plain-language, self-paced course for people new to AI. About five hours, no technical background needed.
- Estimated time
- about 5 hours to finish the required lessons
- Length
- 7 modules
- Pacing
- self-paced: start any time and go at your own pace
- Level
- Beginner
Start using AI at work, one clear step at a time.
AI tools arrived at work quickly, often without much of an introduction. If you've barely used them, tried one and weren't sure what to make of the answer, or feel a little behind, this course is a good place to start. It's written in plain language, it assumes no technical background, and you take it at your own pace.
What you'll learn
You'll start with why AI seems to have appeared so suddenly and what these tools are doing when they write an answer. From there you'll learn the ideas that carry across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot, and the tools that come next, so your skills don't depend on one product's menus. You'll practice asking for what you need in full sentences, improving the answer over a few rounds, and checking it before you rely on it. You'll also learn what not to paste into an AI tool, and you'll get straight answers to common worries about jobs, data, fairness, and whether you can trust what AI tells you.
The course has seven modules:
- Why now: a short history of knowledge work
- What AI actually is
- Core ideas that work in every tool
- Talking to AI well
- Where it fits in your day
- Using it safely, and the fears
- Your first week, plus the final exam
Who it's for
This course is for people whose work is mostly reading, writing, planning, analyzing, and communicating, in roles like operations, marketing, finance, HR, sales, and administration. It suits people who are new to AI or uneasy about it. If you already use AI every day for complex work, much of it will be review.
What you get
- 22 short lessons, about five hours in total, with short videos from established educational and product channels
- Hands-on exercises built for the free versions of popular AI tools, using made-up or public information
- A practice quiz at the end of each module that you can retake as often as you like
- A 15-question final exam with three attempts; score 80% or higher to pass
- A certificate of completion you can share, with a code anyone can use to verify it
By the end, you'll have tried AI on one real task from your own job and made a simple plan for your first five days after the course.