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AI foundations

Learn to ask AI for a useful draft, keep it within the information you provide, verify an important claim, and compare responses. Then complete one task of your own from start to finish.

BeginnerAbout 230 min10 lessons
Start course: See how AI turns the information you give it into a suggestion

After the course

  • Write a request that makes the task, context, format, and checkable constraints clear, then improve the response with a targeted follow-up.
  • Remove personal and confidential information from source material and transform it into a new format without adding invented details.
  • See which sources a response relies on and verify a key claim against the original source.
  • Compare two responses using criteria you wrote down in advance and make your own decision.

Who it's for

For anyone who has tried AI a little or not at all and wants to use it in everyday life, study, or work while knowing when a response can be trusted.

Course content

  1. 01

    See what AI does

    Try it for the first time and see why a fluent response can still include information you never provided.

    1. First experiment

      Try one task using the information provided. Separate what you supplied, what AI suggested, and what you decided.

    2. Why a fluent response can be wrong

      See how a language model generates text and why a confident-sounding response may include information that was not in the input.

    Do now

    1. First experiment

      Try the guide's backpack exercise and mark what came from you and what AI suggested.

      Check when you're done Point to one detail you supplied and one suggestion from AI, and write down your own decision.

    2. Why a fluent response can be wrong

      In the lesson practice, find two details in the response that are not in the request and decide what to do with them.

      Check when you're done Point out which details came from the input and which were added.

  2. 02

    Write requests you can evaluate

    Write a request that states the task, context, format, and constraints, then correct the response with one targeted follow-up.

    1. Task, context, format, and constraints

      Write a request that states the task, context, format, and checkable constraints, then correct the response with a follow-up.

    2. A targeted follow-up

      Fix one specific problem in the previous lesson's response while keeping everything else the same.

    Do now

    1. Task, context, format, and constraints

      Do the guide exercise. Then send your summary request and the practice material to an assistant, and save the request and response for the next lesson.

      Check when you're done Your request states the task, format, and limits, and you have saved the request and the assistant's response.

    2. A targeted follow-up

      Choose Continue with your own work in the prompt. Paste the previous lesson's request and response, then name one problem.

      Check when you're done You can explain what changed in the response and what stayed the same.

    Checkpoint

    Checkpoint A: request and follow-up

    Your association's autumn meeting is on Wednesday, October 14 at 6 p.m. in the library meeting room. The agenda includes the action plan, membership fee, and election of the board. Write a request for AI to draft an invitation to members. Try the request, then write one follow-up that changes one specific part of the response while keeping the rest the same.

    What to demonstrate
    • Your request, with the task, context, format, and constraints identified.
    • AI's first response.
    • Your follow-up and the improved response.
    Check before you continue
    1. Does your request say what AI should do and what information to use?
    2. Can you check from the response whether it followed the constraint you set?
    3. Does your follow-up name one specific change and keep the rest the same?
  3. 03

    Your own material

    Remove information AI does not need, then transform your material into a new format without inventing details.

    1. What you share with AI

      Remove personal and confidential information from source material while keeping the task possible.

    2. Transform material without inventing details

      Limit the output to the source material, trace each line, and keep missing information visible.

    Do now

    1. What you share with AI

      Do the lesson practice: mark the details in the fictional message, remove or replace them, and check that the task is still possible.

      Check when you're done The redacted message contains no identifying details and still makes the required task clear.

    2. Transform material without inventing details

      Do the choir-notes exercise: limit the request, find additions in the notice, and correct the open item.

      Check when you're done You found every addition in the notice, and the corrected sentence does not guess at the open item.

    Checkpoint

    Checkpoint B: use material without inventing details

    Open the practice material: notes for the housing association's yard clean-up and an AI-written notice based on them. Remove details from the notes that you would not give to AI. Write a sentence for your request that limits the notice to the notes and asks AI to flag missing information. Finally, mark every addition in the notice and every detail from the notes that the notice omits.

    What to demonstrate
    • The redacted notes.
    • A sentence that limits the notice to the notes.
    • A list of additions and missing details in the notice.
    Check before you continue
    1. Did you replace details that should not be shared while keeping the task possible?
    2. Does your request limit the output to the supplied material and ask AI to flag missing information?
    3. Did you find every detail absent from the notes and every note detail omitted from the notice or presented as decided?
  4. 04

    Current information and sources

    See which sources a response relies on and verify a key claim against the original source.

    1. Visible sources

      Ask for a current answer with sources, choose a source you can open, and keep disagreements visible.

    2. Verify a claim against the original source

      Separate out one claim, read the relevant passage in its source, and classify the claim.

    Do now

    1. Visible sources

      Do the guide exercise: choose a source about the swimming pool that you can open, then write a follow-up request about conflicting sources.

      Check when you're done You explain your source choice using its publisher and date, and your follow-up asks for source details separately.

    2. Verify a claim against the original source

      Do the wind-turbine explanation exercise in the guide: classify the claims and correct the partly supported point.

      Check when you're done Every classification is backed by a passage in the material, and your correction adds no outside information.

    Checkpoint

    Checkpoint C: sources and one claim

    Open the practice material: an AI response about the length of a day and year on Mars, and its two sources. Open source 1 and quote the passage that states the length of a Martian day. Then record who published each source and when, what the response attributes to each source, and what it inferred itself. Classify the claim about the length of a day and state whether you will use, correct, or leave it out, and what remains uncertain.

    What to demonstrate
    • One checkable claim written as a sentence, with a quotation from source 1.
    • An account of who published each source and when, what the response attributes to each source, and what it inferred itself.
    • The claim's classification, your decision, and what remains unresolved.
    Check before you continue
    1. Do you know who published the sources, and did you separate what they say from what the response added?
    2. Did you open the original source and find the passage relevant to the claim?
    3. Do you know whether the source fully supports, partly supports, or contradicts the claim, and what you will do with it?
  5. 05

    Compare and decide

    Compare two responses using criteria you wrote down in advance and make your own decision.

    1. Compare two responses using the same criteria

      Write down your criteria before reading the responses, assess each against them, and use them to choose.

    2. Weigh options and decide for yourself

      Ask for options before a recommendation, state what AI does not know, and write your decision using your own reasoning.

    Do now

    1. Compare two responses using the same criteria

      Do the lesson practice. Then write down three criteria and only after that send your Module 2 request to two assistants, or send two versions to one assistant. Compare the responses against your criteria.

      Check when you're done You wrote down the criteria before reading the responses, and your choice is based on them.

    2. Weigh options and decide for yourself

      Do the guide exercise: ask for options without a recommendation, then write your decision in your own words.

      Check when you're done Your reasons for the decision include at least one thing the AI did not know.

Final task: complete one task of your own

Final assignment

Choose a small task of your own whose result you can evaluate, such as a message based on notes, a comparison to support a decision, or a summary of a study topic. First write down three criteria for evaluating the response. Then write a request and send it to two assistants, or send two versions to one assistant. Compare the responses against your criteria, improve your chosen response with one follow-up, and record what you will use and why. If your task uses your own material or relies on a factual claim, also use the methods from Modules 3 and 4. Those methods are not assessed again here.

What to demonstrate

  • Comparison: criteria written before the request, the request, both responses, and observations for each response against every criterion.
  • Improvement: the follow-up, the improved response, and one sentence describing what changed.
  • Decision: what you will use, change, or leave out, and why, in your own words.

Check your work

  1. Did your request specify the response format, and does that format fit how you will use it?
  2. Do you know what your follow-up changed and whether the response improved?
  3. Did you write down the criteria before reading the responses, and did both receive the same task and information?
  4. Is your choice based on those criteria?
  5. Did you write your decision and reasons in your own words, separately from the AI response?

Course skills

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Practiced in assignments

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