Courses & Learning

AI Fundamentals

Flavio Copes' free 31-lesson course on how language models work, writing prompts and project rules, curating context, agents and tools, verifying AI output, and using AI safely.

Curriculum

6 modules · 31 lessons

1

Understand AI models

Build a useful mental model of generation, tokens, capabilities, and limits.
1. 01 What AI is useful for
2. 02 What a language model does
3. 03 Tokens and the context window
4. 04 Capabilities and limits
5. 05 AI glossary
6. 06 Check your understanding: AI models
2

Choose and access a model

Compare models by task, speed, cost, access method, and privacy needs.
1. 07 Compare models by the task
2. 08 Model names will change
3. 09 Subscription or API key
4. 10 Cloud or local models
5. 11 Check your understanding: choosing a model
3

Prompts, rules, and context

Give AI a clear task, durable instructions, and only the context it needs.
1. 12 Prompts, rules, and context
2. 13 Write a useful prompt
3. 14 Use project rules
4. 15 Curate the context
5. 16 Check your understanding: prompts and context
4

Agents and tools

Understand the agent loop, tool calls, permissions, skills, and MCP.
1. 17 Chatbots and agents
2. 18 The agent loop
3. 19 Tools and permissions
4. 20 Skills and MCP
5. 21 Check your understanding: agents and tools
5

Verify the work

Work in small steps and use inspection, tests, and evidence as feedback.
1. 22 Work in small steps
2. 23 Inspect before changing
3. 24 Use tests as feedback
4. 25 Verify the result
5. 26 Check your understanding: verification
6

Use AI safely

Handle uncertainty, private data, secrets, permissions, and generated code responsibly.
1. 27 Hallucinations and uncertainty
2. 28 Protect data and secrets
3. 29 Review generated code for security
4. 30 Complete your first AI workflow
5. 31 Check your understanding: safe AI use