[DAY 1 – PREVIEW] Your AI Advantage Starts Here
You made it to Day 1. Let’s kick this off right.
Think you’re late to AI? Nah. You’re early, and already ahead by being here.
By the end of this 5-day challenge, you'll not only understand AI; you'll also know exactly how to use it to work smarter, stand out, and lead with confidence in your role.
This goes beyond learning features. You’re gaining leverage, and you’re doing it faster than most people will.
How This Course Works
- Each day, you'll go through 2–4 short mini-lessons (~5–10 min each).
- Interactive activities help reinforce key concepts (and keep it fun) as you go.
- Every day ends with a quick action to help you apply what you’ve learned.
- You’ll get a short email reminder each day—and if you miss one, no stress. The content will be here when you’re ready.
Tip: The more you engage and apply, the more this pays off.
See Where You're Starting From
Measure Your Growth
This Isn't Just Another AI Crash Course
No matter your starting point, you’ll find ideas here that shift how you think about AI.
Each day builds on the last. You'll get foundational knowledge, better strategies, and an upgraded mindset to apply AI to the work you already do.
Today’s Overview
Today’s Lesson
Contents: 3 mini-lessons
Estimated Time: 35 minutes
Course Progress
What You’ll Learn Today
- Why it’s important to learn AI now and why this isn't a passing tech trend
- How AI actually works (in simple, non-techy terms)
- How AI is shifting work and career paths (and how to get ahead)
- The mindset shift that separates power users from passive users
Stat of the Day
By 2030, over 55% of non-tech industries will adopt AI, fueling a surge in hybrid roles.
The advantage won’t go to the most technical, it’ll go to the most adaptable.
Mini Lessons
Today there are three lessons to cover:
Scroll below to watch short videos covering each topic.
#1: The AI Tipping Point
This is the wake-up call. AI isn’t coming, it’s already reshaping how we work, create, and compete. Here’s why now is the moment to lean in.
Key Takeaways
AI is a permanent shift in how we work, create, & make decisions.
- Tech adoption is accelerating (AI estimated to hit 1B users in just 3 years)
- AI is getting better, faster
- Already surpasses human intelligence in many domains
- Its ability to complete complex tasks is doubling every 7 months
- Why now? The perfect storm:
- More data, compute power, competition, access, formats, & investment
- We’re in the growth + integration phases
- AI is becoming more autonomous, embedded, & essential
- Its reach will touch every industry and every function
Sources
- 1B User Target (Yahoo! Tech, Yahoo! Finance)
- Test Scores of AI Systems Relative to Human Performance (Our World in Data)
- Lengths of Tasks AI Can Do (METR)
Interact
#2: How AI Really Works (LLMs Simplified)
You don’t need to know how to build a model, but you do need to know how it thinks. This lesson breaks down how AI works, so you can ask better questions and get better answers.
Key Takeaways
LLMs are prediction engines. Knowing that helps you guide their outputs & judge what to trust.
- LLM = Large Language Model — the core tech behind most AI tools today
- LLMs are trained to understand & generate human-like language
- Building an LLM happens in two key phases:
- Pre-Training (Expensive & Infrequent)
- Ingest billions of webpages, books,code
- Break text into “tokens” & condenses data
- Train a neural network to predict the next word
- Post-Training (Cheaper & More Frequent)
- Use human feedback to teach it how to behave like an assistant
- Train it on human Q&A data for clearer, more helpful responses
- Fine-tune for tasks, tone, & safety
- Pre-Training (Expensive & Infrequent)
- LLMs are prediction machines — every response is a best guess
- Output depends on: training data, model weights, prompt clarity, & the prediction engine behind the scenes
Sources
- OpenAI Tokenizer
- Looking Under the Hood of an LLM Example (Anthropic)
Interact
#3: How To Stay Relevant As Work Evolves
The workplace is already shifting. This lesson shows what separates passive users from the new leaders and how to start thinking like a Composer, not just a consumer.
Key Takeaways
While most will stay users, those who adopt the Composer mindset will lead the shift & have an edge.
- The AI shift is already underway in the workplace
- 78% of businesses now use AI in at least one function
- Job postings and skill requirements related to AI are rapidly growing
- The future belongs to the “Composers”
- Composers don’t just use AI, they orchestrate it
- They lead the shift by combining human insight with AI capabilities
- Core traits of a Composer:
- Strategic
- Systems-minded
- Discerning
- Creative
- Proactive
- Adaptable
- Curious
- We’ll go deeper into the Composer mindset in Day 5
Sources
- 1 in 4 Tech Jobs Seeking AI Skills (LinkedIn)
- The AI Shift is Already Happening (WSJ, McKinsey, SAP, Harvard Business School)
Interact
This Is Just the Start
Day 1 lays the groundwork. The next 4 days dive deeper into choosing the right AI tools, smart prompting, watch-outs, and applying it all to your work.
Your Turn
Take Action
You just learned how fast AI is accelerating and what sets power users apart. Now let’s apply it to your world.
-
Pick one AI tool to test:
Choose one below (or any you’re curious about). You’ll use it to explore what’s changing in your industry.
-
Ask AI to imagine your future:
“What are 5 unexpected ways AI might transform the [your industry] industry and my role in [your job] by 2027?” -
Run it again—but this time, give context:
Add details like:- What you do day-to-day
- The tools you use
- What your team or business values most
Notice how much better the second answer is? That’s the power of direction—the key to great prompting.
This is your first real prompt experiment. We’ll go deeper into prompting on Day 3.
Bonus Challenge
Already shared your role, tools, and team values above? Great, reuse them here.
Now push further and uncover:
-
Define Your Advantage:
Ask AI:
“Given what I do, how I work, and what my team values, what’s my personal AI advantage? Where can I gain the most leverage by 2027?” -
Identify Future-Focused Skills:
Follow up with:
“What are 3 skills that will become even more valuable in my role as AI evolves? For each, explain: – Why it matters – How AI can help me strengthen it – One small, practical step I can take to start”
This isn’t busywork, it’s clarity work. Most people never take the time to step back and see their edge. You just did.
Share Your Progress
What’s one insight or shift you had today?
Share your take, your perspective might help someone else.
Want More?
Curious what's next? Check out tomorrow's sneak peek.
What’s the difference between choosing any AI tool and choosing the right one?
- (Hint: Knowing who does what.) Tomorrow, you’ll learn to pick the perfect AI for the job.
Enjoying the Course?
Know someone who’s trying to make sense of AI or wants to stand out at work?
Share this with them and give them a head start.
Ready to Put AI to Work?
If you made it this far, you're not just curious. You're ready to put AI to work.
Join the full challenge to go from interested to unstoppable.