How to use AI Tools

a high-level framework for learning what AI tools are available and how to use them???????????????????????

Problem

No matter what our level of expertise in AI, the nature of our work is transforming rapidly as a result of the evolution of AI:

• AI can already – or soon will be able to – do parts of our job better than we can.
• It’s not immediately obvious what changes are coming or how to make good use of the latest AI tools.
• It takes time and effort to learn how to use and adopt new ways of working.

So how can we find time to learn what we need to know in order to adapt to the intimidating challenges we are facing in the age of AI?

Solution

Here’s a simple, pragmatic, forward-thinking approach that anyone can use and adapt to their needs, regardless of their current level of expertise in AI:

• Assess the situation: face the current adversity and evaluate the opportunities and threats.
• Examine the possibilities: what would be a reasonable long-term strategy?
• Determine an achievable short-term objective: establish a daily practice that will result in an immediate and satisfying gain.
• Reflect on progress: determine a frequency, perhaps weekly, to review where you are and celebrate your accomplishments.
• Iterate: employ learning cycles and feedback loops to determine the next step.

For context and inspiration, I’ve found it helpful to start with a few well-chosen articles on AI and listen to a small number of carefully selected podcasts and YouTube videos.

Some Concrete Possibilities

Some possible starting points, depending on your current level of expertise:

• Experiment with using ChatGPT or Perplexity to replace Google search:
• Invest in a subscription to a premium AI-based service (e.g. ChatGPT):
• Test and adjust your workflow until you feel you’re getting some concrete benefits.
• Observe what others are doing, and adjust.

Useful Principles

Possible principles in relation to AI:

• HITL: Keep “human in the loop” – AI should serve as an aid to human decision-making rather than a replacement (Note: HITL is a general-purpose principle that originated in the 1960s in the field of computer systems design).
• Pay attention to ethics: Do not use AI to plagiarize work or take unethical or ineffective shortcuts.
• Collaborate: Treat AI like a person. This may be counter-intuitive, but it’s helpful to be polite, treat AI as a valued assistant and converse as you would with a person in order to get the most out of the interaction and gain the most benefit. (This is a principle emphasized by both Reid Hoffman and Ethan Mollick in the references below).
• Iterate and adapt: Customize and simplify. Examine many alternative points of view. Verify all sources. Examine biases.

Based on these principles, some use cases to be avoided:

• AI-generated images that are generic and meaningless.
• Automated posts and documents (especially resumés).
• Over-reliance on AI-generated content for first, or final drafts.

Helpful Resources

TheAIAdvantage YouTube: The ChatGPT Voice Update We Have Been Waiting For (September 2024) – introduces ChatGPT's new Advanced Voice Mode, highlighting its human-like interaction, versatile applications, and practical presets for enhancing productivity across various professions

TheAIGRID YouTube: Microsoft’s Wave 2 AI Just Changed Work Forever - (Copilot Agents) (September 2024) – Copilot agents work in the background and can now connect to and reason over data sources just like a colleague would.

OpenAI Article: Learning to Reason with LLMs (September 2024) – OpenAI introduces a stunning new model, o1, that adds thinking to LLMs so that they can exceed most human experts in reasoning power.

Ethan Mollick, Book: ?Co-Intelligence: Living and working with AI, (April 2024): A summary of the technology and current state of AI that thoughtfully addresses questions of how to live and work with AI. Mollick also has an excellent newsletter: One Useful Thing. See, in particular,? Working with AI: Two paths to prompting (Nov, 2023), a great introduction to creating prompts; and What OpenAI Did (May, 2024), on OpenAI’s recent release of the AI model, ChatGPT 4o.

Sal Khan, Book: Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing), (May, 2024). Sal Khan left a career in finance to found a non-profit organization that provides a free K-12 education to anyone who can log into the Khan Academy website.

MIT Sloan School, Article: How generative AI can boost highly skilled workers’ productivity | MIT Sloan (October, 2023): This study on the impact of generative AI on highly skilled workers found that “when artificial intelligence is used within the boundary of its capabilities, it can improve a worker’s performance by as much as 40% compared with workers who don’t use it.” Other studies have found similar results.?

Reid Hoffman, Podcast, Possible: A podcast series by the founder of LinkedIn, venture capitalist Reid Hoffman. Note especially the episode Reflections on AI and Season 2 of Possible (January 2024).?

Kevin Scott, Podcast, Behind the Tech: Scott (CTO of Microsoft) interviews leading thinkers in AI including Reid Hoffman, Sam Altman, Mira Murati, Bill Gates, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and others. An interview with Ethan Mollick (June 2024) is particularly relevant.

Kevin Roose & Casey Newton, Podcast: Hard Fork. Uniformly excellent; note in particular Is A.I. Already Taking Jobs? +A Filmmaker Tries Sora + The XZ Backdoor Caper (April 2024).

Joseph Rosenbaum, Professor Synapse YouTube Channel: Meta-Prompting with SCRIBE and? Super Synapse Update (Telemetry!): Videos that teach methods for creating effective prompts. Consider supplementing the free material with the Synthminds course, ChatGPT and Beyond: Advanced Prompt Engineering on Uplimit, for a thorough grounding in ChatGPT prompting techniques and design, and to participate in an online community of people pursuing similar goals.

Matt Wolfe, YouTube Channel: ChatGPT’s Amazing New Model Feels Human (and it's Free) (May 2024): Provides a balanced review of the latest AI developments and tools. Note Apple’s Huge AI Unveiling, a summary of the announcements and implications of Apple’s June 2024 World Wide Developer Conference.

Matthew Berman, YouTube channel: "VoT" Gives LLMs Spatial Reasoning AND Open-Source "Large Action Model" (May 2024): Offers a deep technical review of the latest models and research papers. Also? ? provides analysis and commentary on news such as Microsoft’s May 2024 announcements,Microsoft MASSIVE Announcements: GPT-5, Copilot+ PC, Phi-3, Devin Partnership+PC.

Wes Roth, YouTube Channel: OpenAI's 'OMNI' STUNNING New Abilities... a 'slice' of AGI.(May, 2024): Conversational videos providing training and commentary.?

TheAIGRID, YouTube Channel:Googles New PROJECT ASTRA Just CHANGED THE GAME! (All New Google AI Updates) (May 2024): AI news, views and updates. Noteworthy: AIGRID’s summary of ?Google’s I/O ‘24 developer conference..

The AI Advantage, YouTube Channel:? Improve Your GPT Building Skills (June 2024): Igor Pogany breaks down a Custom GPT Builder GPT and demonstrates how to create a GPT from scratch using simple building blocks.

Dan Shipper, AI&I YouTube Channel: Is NotebookLM—Google’s Research Assistant—the Ultimate Tool for Thought? - Ep.22 with Steven Johnson (June, 2024): The CEO of Every hosts conversations and demos with leading thinkers in AI. In this episode, best-selling author Steven Johnson demonstrates how to use Google’s NotebookLM as a research assistant and note-taking tool.

Pooja Jain, Google Workspace YouTube Channel:Unlock the Power of Generative AI in Google Workspace: Best Practices for Effective Prompting(May, 2024): An overview of prompt-writing with examples created using Gemini and Google Workspace.?

Ezra Klein, Podcast: The Ezra Klein Show: What if Dario Amodei Is Right About A.I.?, (April, 2024): A conversation with Anthropic’s co-founder and C.E.O. on the current state and future of AI. (transcript)?

OpenAI, Website: ChatGPT 4o announcement and demos (May, 2024): An overview with demos of the latest ChatGPT-4o features.

Henrik Kniberg YouTube video: Generative AI in a Nutshell - how to survive and thrive in the age of AI (January, 2024) – This provides a visual summary explaining Generative AI in a clear, compelling and succinct fashion. This Would provide an excellent starter point for someone wanting to understand what it is all about?

Vitalik Buterin, Website article: My Techno-Optimism (November, 2023): An introduction to web 3.0, techno-optimism, and thoughts on the future of human civilization.

Ian Hunter, Website article: Deming 101: Theory of Knowledge and the PDSA Improvement and Learning Cycle (December, 2013): This blog post explains the theory behind the PDSA cycle (learning loop). (See also Keys to the Effective Use of the PDSA Improvement Cycle)

UC Improvement Academy, YouTube Channel:PDSA (Plan Do Study Act) cycles // Testing BEFORE Implementing (July, 2022): Shows the use of PDSA cycles for creating a learning environment in the US healthcare system. See also the UK National Health Horizons website: Improvement Method Olympics Semi Final 1 – NHS Horizons.

Chet Richards on applying the principles of John Boyd, OODA and the OODAloop to business decisions: Operating inside the OODA Loop (2021): Points out the dangers of the simplistic view of the model Observe ->Orient->Decide->Act, and calls for an understanding of multiple feedback loops (and feed forward loops) in real-life situations.?

Brian Rivera, No Way Out AGTX YouTube Channel: OODA Loop Explained: Connections: Free Energy Principle, Active Inference, and the Constructal Law (2023): A detailed explanation of the origin and application of the OODA loop.