Welcome to the AI Primer Series

A special curriculum from The New Career Playbook newsletter by ReRev Labs

In 2023, I decided to exit the AI news rat race. This started me on a new deep learning path meant to answer the question: how can I use AI for my greatest benefit? The AI Primer Series is the result of this journey - a sequential curriculum designed to help you build understanding that matters in your daily life and work.

What Is The AI Primer Series?

The AI Primer Series will build your foundation for understanding how artificial intelligence works and how it's reshaping our world. Available to all subscribers (including free tier), this curriculum examines AI's impact at both macro and micro levels - taking both a bird's-eye and frog's-eye view of the technology.

Note: While the AI Primer Series is free for all subscribers, the technical tutorials on applying AI and automation to solve specific business problems are reserved for paid subscribers.

This is another AI newsletter... but one that actually matters. Instead of chasing the latest headlines, this series focuses on developing a grounded, practical understanding through straightforward explanations, case studies, and real-world examples.

What You'll Learn

The AI Primer Series will help you:

• Develop a contextual working knowledge of AI that's grounded in real problems you encounter in the workplace
• Understand how AI affects you personally, as a citizen, and in your professional life
• Build a foundational, interdisciplinary understanding of how AI is being used to solve different acute business problems
• Learn to creatively apply your understanding to solve new problems with greater efficiency
• Create opportunities for deeper engagement with customers and colleagues

Throughout this year-long journey, we'll explore everything from data privacy and security implications to practical applications across personal, business, and governmental contexts.

The Approach

All content is deliberately designed to be beginner-friendly. The AI Primer Series examines AI from multiple perspectives, helping you develop tools to navigate this rapidly evolving landscape.

This curriculum will hold your hand and guide you through the building blocks of what AI actually is, so you can exit the news cycle and instead develop practical knowledge you can actually use to solve problems and create wondrous, new opportunities.

What I Expect From You

As a teacher at heart, I believe learning is active, not passive. This isn't content you can just skim and forget. To get the most out of this series, I expect you to:

• Read each installment thoroughly
• Complete the occasional quizzes to test your understanding
• Leave questions in the comments when something isn't clear
• Apply what you're learning to your own situations and share your experiences

Fair warning: I notice who engages and who doesn't. If you sign up but don't participate, expect a personal email from me. Think of it as being called on in class - I'm invested in your learning journey and will check in if you're falling behind.

This is a community for learners, not lurkers. If you remain inactive for two newsletters in a row, you will be unsubscribed. This policy helps maintain an engaged community of people who are genuinely interested in learning and applying these concepts.

When you leave a question in public, it improves learning outcomes for everyone. Your questions allow the entire community to deepen its understanding together. What might seem basic to you could be exactly what someone else needed to hear. This collaborative learning environment is what makes this newsletter different from just consuming content on your own.

Throughout the entire AI Primer Series, all claims will be supported by data with proper citations and sources. I encourage you to check these sources yourself - in fact, I expect you to. Critical thinking is an essential skill in the AI landscape, and verifying information is part of the learning process.