I'm a newcomer to artificial intelligence, but an eager explorer: I am always excited to try out a new AI-powered tool or product and provide honest feedback about it.
But I'd like to dig deeper, too, into what AI actually is, and where it came from, as I attempt to integrate the software into my day-to-day.
After paid ads continued to flag the course to me (I assume because of my AI-related internet searches), I watched MasterClass's three-part Achieve More with GenAI series to educate myself on artificial intelligence beyond the numerous companies and platforms that promote and sell its capabilities to the masses.
I wanted to learn from experts in the field in a digestible, concise format, and I was introduced to Ethan Mollick, Allie K. Miller, Don Allen Stevenson III and Manuel Sansily, who virtually taught me how AI can navigate work and the world — in order to unlock productivity and unleash creativity, in support of ethics and the future.
GenAI to unlock productivity
Miller and Mollick (who pop in throughout each episode) kicked off the series with history and context of AI — did you know it was first explored in the 1950s? — and the ways that it can be an asset for work. Mollick used the example of AI for improving writing from conception to feedback — which as someone watching the series to then write about it felt both supportive and slightly ironic.
Miller led us through how to use AI to develop a business plan: 1. Brainstorm, 2. Evaluation, 3. Enhance Your Idea, 4. Bringing it to Life and 5. Using AI for Feedback.
I have used AI for feedback on issues in my personal life but hadn't considered utilizing it for professional purposes. But when Miller introduced me to Yoodli, an AI-powered communication coach, to illustrate how AI can provide feedback, analytics and tips on your work, and Mollick shared real-time feedback from AI-powered assistant Claude on his presentation, I considered the possibility.
The first episode of the GenAI series taught me that AI can be incredibly helpful for understanding, organizing and regurgitating information into different contexts — and there are countless AI-powered tools that support the same approach when working in a specific medium or needing specific feedback or help.
GenAI to unleash creativity
Next, I received a thorough breakdown of AI prompting techniques, AI-assisted business planning and AI for visual design. The second class in the series was led by Stevenson, a creative technologist fascinated by the fusion of art and technology.
Stevenson defined and demonstrated how to use AI set around communication and clarity for business planning, logo design, storyboard creation and music generation, using tools like Dall-E, an image generator, and Udio, an AI music generator.
A throughline in Stevenson's messaging was how to use AI as a collaborator, and how the conversation between you and your large language model can help facilitate better results.
By the end of the class, I had created imagery of my own using Stevenson's guidance to draft up a concept I've been toying with for the past couple of weeks. By delegating to ChatGPT, I learned how challenging it is to get something out of your brain and into words that will guide someone else.
While I wasn't as efficient as Stevenson in building out a brand identity kit (in less than 5 minutes), I did churn out color schemes, images and typography that pleasantly surprised me and inspired me to keep creating for my brand.
GenAI for ethics and the future
In the last episode, I met Sansily, a futurist, multidisciplinary and advocate for the responsible use of AI, who shares how to automate and optimize routine tasks with the help of an "AI twin" creation. (This requires ChatGPT's $20 per month Plus plan.)
An AI twin is a digital creation based on your knowledge, work experience and values. Similar to ChatGPT, it stores memory and continues to learn you and your habits the more you interact with it. Once created, your AI twin — which looks eerily similar to a Memoji — can act as your personal assistant or a digital tool that others can interact with and utilize.
Sansily shares how a digital representation of the custom ChatGPT brain allows you to input information to guide the GPT's "brain," through a seven-step system, including designing your twin and giving it context, instructions and values. You then test, publish and monitor your AI twin, which can be instrumental in tracking your own growth, as well as sharing it with others and downloading it for use.
To close the series out, Mollick shared four scenarios around AI and its potential. He challenges humans to look at positive examples of AI related to Amara's Law — where humans underestimate change in the short term and overestimate change in the long term. Is the fear valid, or based on a lack of understanding?
For me, what was most fascinating was how overwhelmed I've been by AI's amazing abilities and where that's taking us. As a reporter and consumer, I have so much more to learn.
According to Mollick, AI's growth is doubling or tripling the pace of Moore's Law, the observation that the power of computers doubles every two years. In short: AI is moving faster than our brain's ability to respond. But not forever: At some point, he says, AI will settle into a more graspable pace of evolution.
In the meantime, I will be sifting through and learning every new AI-powered and GPT model available. Not to mention, using artificial intelligence to make my dreams of having a twin come true — all in a matter of a few clicks.
Should you watch MasterClass's GenAI series?
I tried MasterClass's GenAI series to better understand where AI is headed, and how it impacts my life. As a result, I have more knowledge to inform my decisions and opinions, rather than rely on others to make them for me.
This was my first MasterClass, and I was impressed. From the camera quality to the experts' on-air personalities, to how digestible the content was, I would recommend this series — particularly to those afraid of AI, overwhelmed by its many uses or have questions around what artificial intelligence means on its own and in the world with humans.
A MasterClass subscription costs between $120 and $240 per year, but there is a 30-day money-back guarantee included with membership. If another monthly bill doesn't seem economical, two-week guest passes pop up in chat threads, which can give you more opportunities to try the learning and education platform without commitment.
So hear me out: While you may consider yourself adept at all things tech, I'd advocate spending 90 minutes of your day on this series, if for no other reason than for a brushup on artificial intelligence-specific definitions and metaphors.
At the most, an increase in awareness for how something with such rampant growth operates as a system, collaborator — and in some scenarios, a mentor, personal trainer and twin.