Welcome to: A Common-Sense Guide to AI
Gain clarity into how AI works, and how you can, should, or should not use it.
AI can seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.
In the past two years or so, a deluge of news and info about Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been gushing forth from the media, the Internet, and the person sitting next to you on the bus. From what you’ve likely heard, AI sounds like some sci-fi futuristic reality that has suddenly come to be.
The sentiment that the “future has arrived” can be both exciting and, well, scary.
On the exciting side, we can ask, “What amazing new things can we accomplish with AI?” On a smaller scale, we wonder if AI can make our lives at least slightly easier, or make our work somewhat more productive.
On the scary side, we want to know if AI will take over the world. Or even if AI isn’t as insidious as that, can it take over my job?
Hype Vs. Reality
Another confusing about AI is that on one hand, there’s a lot of hype around it. “Nothing else besides AI is going to matter soon,” they say. On the other hand, there are plenty of naysayers and those who claim that the whole AI thing is just one big bubble that’s about to pop. So, which is true?
The powerful but unreliable tool
Tech blogger Simon Willison wrote something that struck a chord with me. He describes that the key skills of using language-based AI tools “is learning to work with tech that is both inherently unreliable and incredibly powerful at the same time. This is a decidedly non-obvious skill to acquire! There is so much space for helpful education content here.”
I’ve already seen firsthand how real value can be derived from AI, and how certain jobs and tasks are changing based on AI’s impact. My goal, then, is to dig out the gems from the mine - and demonstrate how you can stay ahead of the curve and get tangible value from AI. At the same time, I will bust certain myths and hype - and let you know which parts of AI you can ignore (for now, at least).
Who am I?
I’m Jay Wengrow, an educator and software engineer. I’m the author of the book series "A Common-Sense Guide to Data Structures and Algorithms" as well as the founder of the Actualize coding school.
I do not have a doctorate in machine learning or artificial intelligence. However, my strengths are in my ability to learn things deeply and communicate complex concepts in a way that is easy for others to understand.
I will personally be learning a lot of new things along this journey. I’m curious to learn about this mysterious world that is AI - and I’m excited to share my learnings with you.
I hope you’ll join me!
