AI is here to stay, whether you like it or not. It's also a contradiction:- a brilliant new technology that can (and will) revolutionise your life at work or at home, but one that can make mistakes. It can hallucinate, it flatters to deceive and it'll dive deep into unknown, unnecessary rabbit holes if you don't know how to drive it properly.
And that's before we get to the apparent world ending apocalyptic stuff...
This book was created by Harry Lang, founder of The Oxford AI School, and in it you'll get a 'warts and all' introduction to the what, where, when, why and how of AI, from what it can (and can't) do to how you can use it in a more ethical, responsoible and sustainable way. You'll also get to understand the tactics, strategies and methodologies of using tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and Perplexity safely, effectively and practically.
Before we get to the contents, a brief note from Harry...
Hello, potential book buyer!
This book was, perhaps unsurprisingly, written in collaboration with Claude, ChatGPT and Perplexity with cover art done by Google Gemini’s Nano Banana 2. I usually write everything I put my name to (outside of SEO and GEO inducing blog posts) but for this book, I experimented with a full AI collaboration.
The result is, objectively, credible, useful and relevant, but as I really didn’t commit a huge amount of time to crafting every word, I’ll be giving all proceeds from the book's sales to local charities here in Oxfordshire.
So if you’re angry that I used AI to write a book about learning basic AI, just don’t buy it, and have a good day.
Thank you,
Harry
Introduction: The Age of AI (And Why You're Not Too Late To Get On The AI Bus)
We look at the what, where, when, why and how of AI and explore the skills gap that's growing. Plus, why are Large Language Models (LLMs) so obsessed with the mythical em — dash?!
PART ONE - BASIC / Getting Your Head Around AI
- What AI Actually Is (And What It Isn't)
- How It Works, With No Maths
- Meet the Big Five - honest roundup: Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Perplexity, and which to start with
- Your First Proper Conversation - getting past using it like Google
- Will It Take My Job? The honest, evidence-based answer (fear cleared early)
PART TWO - INTERMEDIATE / Getting Good At AI
6. How to Write a Good Prompt - the 10 Rules
7. Getting It to Question You Back - the 5 Ways to Interrogate Better
8. Context Is Everything - the 10 Suggestions for Managing Context
9. How to Tell When It's Lying - spotting hallucinations and checking accuracy
10. AI at Work - emails, proposals, research, data, meetings, the real Tuesday-morning tasks
11. AI at Home - meal plans, holidays, household admin, kids' homework, letters and money (your one strong home chapter)
PART THREE - ADVANCED / Getting Ahead With AI
12. Building Systems, Not One-Off Queries - custom instructions, projects, reusable workflows
13. What's an Agent, Anyway? - agents and automation explained in plain terms, nothing technical
14. Doing It Safely - data, privacy, GDPR, what you never paste in
15. Doing It Well - ethics, a simple AI policy, and how not to drown everyone in Doc Diarrhoea
Epilogue - Ten Lessons For Your Wall
What are the key things you need to get from this book?
We also look at the downsides of AI:-
Data risks, the HUGE volumes of power and water AI server farms drink (and will continue to drink in ever increasing amounts), the ecological bill, the power of the few at the top of Big AI, and the choices every reader has to make
