The Book - Understanding AI
Make a PACT with AI.
A practical guide to learning how to work with AI.
Understanding AI is for people who want to do more than ask AI a question and accept the answer.
It explains what makes AI different, how to have useful conversations with it, how to use it to learn and think, and how to apply it to real problems and everyday life—while keeping your own judgment at the center.
What makes this book different?
Understanding AI isn't a catalog of AI tools or a collection of clever prompts. It is about learning how to work with AI.
The book starts with the basics, then builds practical habits for asking questions, having conversations, learning, researching, thinking through problems, making decisions, creating, and using AI in everyday life.
AI as a conversation
AI changes the way we can interact with information. You can ask a question, examine the answer, ask a follow-up, add context, challenge an assumption, and continue the conversation.
AI as a thinking partner
AI can help you examine alternatives, identify assumptions, explore different perspectives, and work through a problem before you decide what to do.
AI as a learning partner
AI can explain an idea at different levels, provide examples, ask questions, give feedback, and help you practice. You can shape the interaction around what you are trying to learn.
AI for real work
The book moves beyond individual questions into research, writing, planning, analysis, projects, creativity, organization, and everyday tasks.
Your judgment remains central
AI can provide an answer or recommendation. You decide whether it makes sense, what to verify, and what to do with it.
The AI provides an output. You provide judgment.
From the basics to practical use
Understanding AI takes you from the fundamentals of artificial intelligence to practical ways of using it in everyday life. The chapters build on one another, helping you move from understanding AI to working with it.
Start with the basics
What AI is, what makes it different, and why interacting with AI through conversation changes the way we can find information and learn.
Learn to work with AI
Questions, conversation, context, research, and decision-making—using AI as something you can question, refine, and redirect.
Learn, create, and get things done
Learning, writing, communication, creativity, projects, organization, and practical applications of AI.
Use AI thoughtfully
Everyday use, judgment, verification, responsibility, and the larger questions raised by increasingly capable AI.
The 23 Chapters
Understanding AI is organized in four Parts, moving from the fundamentals of AI through practical use and then into the larger questions that come with increasingly capable AI.
Part I — Getting Started
The First Step Is the Hardest
What Are We Actually Talking To?
Why AI Feels Different
The Prompt Myth
Asking Better Questions
Conversation Beats Prompting
Part II — Meeting the Assistants
Meet ChatGPT
Meet the AI Landscape
Gemini: My Next Stop
Claude: Building Something New
Part III — Becoming an Effective AI User
Getting Better Answers Through Better Conversations
Context Changes Everything
Organizing Your AI Work
Making Better Decisions
Learning Faster With AI
Creating With AI
Working With AI Every Day
Staying in Control of Your AI Use
Part IV — Looking Ahead
Where Do We Go From Here?
The Human Advantage
Living With AI
What Will You Do With It?
Knowing When AI Isn't Enough
And there's more.
Understanding AI includes eight appendices that take the ideas in the book a step further. They provide practical reference material, useful tools, prompts, projects, and a glossary of terms to help you continue working with AI.
The appendices are part of the book's practical toolkit.