Get Good at AI
What to learn first, where to learn it, and a 42-minute place to start
Hey smarties 👋
Most of us learned AI the messy way: a prompt here, a tutorial there, and plenty of guessing. There’s a faster route, and it’s free: short courses you can finish in an evening or a weekend, several ending with a certificate. This week, we’re exploring how to go from guessing to genuinely good at AI, and which first step fits the way you learn.
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01 / WHY NOW
Learn From Famous companies
The people who make ChatGPT, Claude and Copilot now run their own free classrooms. OpenAI Academy is open to anyone with a ChatGPT account, anywhere in the world. Anthropic, Microsoft and LinkedIn have free courses too. Elements of AI, from the University of Helsinki, has graduates from 170 countries.
What You’ll Actually Learn
The six courses below cover the skills that make AI useful in everyday work:
How AI tools work, and where they tend to go wrong
How to ask clearly, so you get a useful answer the first time
How to check what AI gives you before you rely on it
How to use it on real tasks like emails, documents, research and planning
What You Walk Away With
A badge or completion record from four of the six, ready for your LinkedIn profile
Hours, not months: four of the six take about four hours or less
Confidence with the tools you already have, whether that’s ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot
Pick one this week. The next section shows each course, matched to the kind of learner it suits.
02 / THE SHORTLIST
Six AI Courses, Matched to You
Find the line that sounds like you, then start that course.
Torn between two? Let ChatGPT ask you four quick questions and pick with you.
Help me pick one AI course to start this week. Ask me these four questions one at a time and wait for each answer: my job, how many hours a week I can give it, the language I learn best in, and which AI tool I use at work (if any).
Then pick ONE course from this list only, give me three short reasons it fits me, and copy its link exactly as written below. Don't search the web for links.
- AI Foundations (OpenAI Academy): academy.openai.com
- AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations (Anthropic): anthropic.skilljar.com/ai-fluency-framework-foundations
- Elements of AI (University of Helsinki): elementsofai.com
- Career Essentials in Generative AI (LinkedIn and Microsoft): opportunity.linkedin.com/skills-for-jobs
- Generative AI for Everyone (DeepLearning.AI): deeplearning.ai/courses/generative-ai-for-everyone
- Work Smarter with AI (Microsoft Learn): learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/work-smarter-with-ai
- For teachers, AI Fluency for Educators (Anthropic): anthropic.skilljar.com/ai-fluency-for-educators
- For small business owners, AI Fluency for Small Businesses (Anthropic): anthropic.skilljar.com/ai-fluency-for-small-businesses
- For managers, AI Leadership (OpenAI Academy): academy.openai.com
- For students, AI Fluency for Students (Anthropic): anthropic.skilljar.com/ai-fluency-for-students
End with a simple two-week plan in short sessions that fit my hours.Example 01
“I use ChatGPT most days, but I’m only scratching the surface.”
AI Foundations, Applied AI Foundations, Agents and Workflows (OpenAI Academy)
Time: About 4 hours, across three short courses
How it’s taught: Self-paced activities, with a short test at the end of each course
What you get: A badge for each course when you score 80% or more, plus one for finishing all three
You’ll need: A ChatGPT account
Example 02
“I want one way of working that fits any chatbot.”
AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations (Anthropic)
Time: 4 hours, in 14 lessons and one quiz
How it’s taught: Self-paced lessons built around four habits Anthropic calls the 4Ds: Delegation, Description, Discernment and Diligence
What you get: A completion record you can share
Example 03
“I’d like to understand how AI actually works, in plain words.”
Introduction to AI (Elements of AI)
Time: Six chapters at your own pace. The course suggests finishing within six weeks.
How it’s taught: Text lessons with exercises, from the University of Helsinki and MinnaLearn. No math or coding.
What you get: Proof of completion once you finish 90% of the exercises and get at least half right
Good to know: Many countries have their own version, so check the country menu for your language
Example 04
“I want something on my LinkedIn profile soon.”
Career Essentials in Generative AI (LinkedIn and Microsoft)
Time: About 4 hours, in five short courses, including Microsoft 365 Copilot and AI ethics
How it’s taught: Video courses on LinkedIn Learning
What you get: A completion record you can add to your LinkedIn profile
Good to know: Start from LinkedIn’s Skills for Jobs page, where it’s free through 2027. LinkedIn updates this path on 16 November and suggests finishing before then, so this week is a good week to start.
Example 05
“I learn best by watching, not reading.”
Generative AI for Everyone (DeepLearning.AI)
Time: About 5 hours, in 32 short videos
How it’s taught: Video lessons from Andrew Ng, one of the best-known teachers in AI, with no coding
What you get: Every video lesson, free to watch, updated in late October
Example 06
“My day is Word, Excel and Outlook, and I have less than an hour.”
Work Smarter with AI (Microsoft Learn)
Time: About 42 minutes, in nine short units
How it’s taught: Short online lessons on using AI at work, including how AI agents can help and how to check what AI gives you
What you get: Your progress saved on your Microsoft Learn profile when you sign in
Teacher, business owner, manager or student? Section 03 has a course made for your job.
03 / FOR YOUR JOB
Courses Built for Teachers, Small Businesses and Managers
The same companies also make shorter courses for specific jobs. If one of these is you, it can be a better first step than a general course.
Teachers
Generative AI for Educators with Gemini (Google): A two-hour, self-paced course for middle and high school teachers. Currently in English.
AI Fluency for educators (Anthropic): 1.5 hours. Take AI Fluency: Framework & Foundations first.
AI for Educators (OpenAI Academy): 45 minutes, with a badge.
Small Business Owners
AI Fluency for Small Businesses (Anthropic): 3.5 hours. You can practice with whichever AI chatbot you already use.
Make AI Work for You (Google): A YouTube video series on using AI to run and grow a small business.
Managers and Team Leads
AI Leadership (OpenAI Academy): 3 hours on AI strategy and bringing AI into your team, with a badge.
AI for Managers (LinkedIn): One of the free paths on LinkedIn’s Skills for Jobs page. Some paths there finish with a short exam.
Students
AI Fluency for students (Anthropic): 3 hours.
AI for College Students (OpenAI Academy): 45 minutes, with a badge.
04 / OPTIONAL UPGRADES
If an Employer Wants Official Proof
Everything above is free. A paid certificate only makes sense if an employer or client asks for a specific name on your CV. If that’s you, these are the options.
Google AI Essentials (on Coursera): Google says under five hours; Coursera says under ten. It’s part of a Coursera subscription, $49 a month in the US and Canada and less in some countries. The first seven days aren’t billed, so one focused week can be enough. If you don’t plan to continue, cancel before the week ends. Coursera also has financial aid.
Google AI Professional Certificate (on Coursera): Eight short courses, about 13 hours in total, on the same subscription. US small businesses with 500 or fewer employees can get it at no cost through Google if they sign up by 15 December.
DeepLearning.AI Pro: Adds quizzes, practice labs and official completion proof to Generative AI for Everyone and their other courses, from $25 a month.
Elements of AI: Building AI: The follow-up course costs nothing to take, but its official record costs €50, and it expects some basic Python.
Microsoft Certified: AI Business Professional (exam AB-730): A 45-minute exam for business users, with no coding. The price depends on your country, and there’s a practice test you can take first.
Note: Coursera no longer has an “audit” option, but most courses let you preview the first module before deciding.
05 / READER POLL
Last Edition’s Poll Results
Thank you to everyone who voted. Here’s how you rated the last MonDive.
Amazing, very clear
50%
Good, but a few parts were tricky
38%
Not impressive, it still felt overwhelming
12%
How did you feel about today’s MonDive?
FROM SMARTER WITH AI
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Thanks for reading. See you next Monday.
