# Why should you learn about AI now?

Date: 2023-05-22 · Author: Robert Scales · https://guidetoartificialintelligence.com/en/learn/learn-about-ai/

**Answer:** Because AI tools that write, summarize and explain are already free or cheap, are arriving inside the apps people use at work, and employers say their staff will need new skills to use them. A few hours of hands-on practice now teaches you what these tools do well, where they fail and how to check them.

Six months ago most people had never typed a question into a chatbot. Today ChatGPT, Bing and Bard answer questions in plain conversation, and Microsoft describes AI as a copilot that will sit inside everyday work software. You no longer need a technical background to use these tools. You do need a little practice to use them well.

Learning about AI now is less about understanding the mathematics and more about building three habits: knowing which tasks to give a tool, knowing how to ask clearly, and knowing how to check what comes back. Those habits take days, not years, to start.

## What employers and workers are saying

Microsoft's 2023 Work Trend Index, based on a survey of 31,000 workers in 31 countries this winter, puts some numbers on the mood. About half of respondents (49%) fear losing their jobs to AI. A larger share, 70%, would gladly pass AI as much of their workload as it can take. And 82% of business leaders said their employees will need new skills as AI spreads.

The same report lists what those leaders mean by new skills: knowing when to use AI, writing good prompts, judging the quality of what it produces and checking it for bias. None of that requires programming. LinkedIn data cited in the report shows job postings in the United States that mention GPT rose 79% over the past year, as of March.

Keep in mind that Microsoft sells AI products, so its framing is optimistic. The useful part is the survey detail: many workers feel overloaded, and many expect these tools to show up in their jobs whether they seek them out or not.

## Everyday tasks where AI already helps

The best reason to learn is that the tools are useful for ordinary jobs right now. A chat assistant such as ChatGPT can:

- **Draft** a polite reply to a difficult email, which you then edit.
- **Summarize** a long article or meeting notes into five bullet points.
- **Explain** a confusing term, a tax form instruction or a medical leaflet in plain words.
- **Plan** a week of meals around what is in your fridge, or a study schedule before an exam.
- **Brainstorm** names, headlines or gift ideas when you are stuck.

Each of these has the same weakness: the assistant can make errors and even invent details, then state them in a confident tone. Checking names, numbers and sources is part of what you are learning. Use AI for first drafts and ideas, and keep the final judgment yourself.

## A one-week starter plan

You can build real familiarity in about 20 minutes a day. Here is a plan that uses only a free ChatGPT account (or Bing or Bard) and tasks from your own life.

| Day | Task | What you learn |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ask it to explain something you already know well. | How it sounds when it is right, and where it oversimplifies or slips. |
| 2 | Have it draft an email you actually need to send, then rewrite it in your voice. | Drafting is fast; the editing is still yours. |
| 3 | Ask the same question twice: once in one line, once with your role, audience and desired format. | How much context changes the answer. |
| 4 | Paste a long article and ask for a five-point summary, then compare it with the original. | Summaries can drop or bend details. |
| 5 | Ask for three facts with sources on a topic, then look each one up. | Why you verify names, numbers and references. |
| 6 | Have a back-and-forth: ask, then refine with "shorter", "for a 12-year-old" or "as a table". | Follow-up prompts are where the quality comes from. |
| 7 | Pick one weekly chore it could help with and write the prompt you will reuse. | Turning experiments into a habit. |

Day 3 is the heart of it. A prompt is simply the instruction you type, and a vague prompt gets a generic answer. Here is the kind of comparison to try:

```prompt
Simple: Give me dinner ideas.

Detailed: You are a practical home cook. I have chicken thighs, rice, spinach and canned tomatoes, 30 minutes on a weeknight, and two children who dislike spicy food. Suggest three dinners, each with a short ingredient list and five steps or fewer.
```

The second version names a role, describes the situation and sets the format. You will almost always get something more usable.

> **Try it:** Do Day 3 tonight. Write a one-line question about a real task, run it, then rewrite it with your role, your audience and the format you want. Save both answers side by side and note three differences.

## Where do you start if you're not technical?

Start with the tools themselves, not with theory. Open a free ChatGPT account and follow the week above, using tasks you already do. Practice beats reading here, because the skill is learning how a tool responds to you.

If you want some background next, Elements of AI is a free online course from the University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn written for non-experts. Its first part, Introduction to AI, explains what AI is and what it can and cannot do with no complicated math or programming, and you work through it at your own pace. More than 950,000 people have signed up. A second part, Building AI, goes into algorithms and suggests some basic Python, so leave it for later if code is not your goal.

Finally, keep a short list of what worked: prompts that gave good results, tasks where the tool saved time, and mistakes you caught. That list becomes your personal guide, and it tells you where AI fits in your work and where it does not.

## Sources

- A Beginner's Guide to ChatGPT: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BZRRPXZW
- Will AI Fix Work? (2023 Work Trend Index Annual Report): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/will-ai-fix-work
- Elements of AI: a free online introduction to artificial intelligence for non-experts: https://www.elementsofai.com/