Learning AI- Where to start?

[F350]

Its humorous that I come to a bodybuilding forum to ask for input about the most random things however I have found the level of intelligence and mixed backgrounds over the years, I often get the best advice.

I want to begin learning AI for my business and everyday life as I see this being the future of literally everything. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good place to start learning for someone with basic computer skills but definitely not programming or IT skills.

I know You tube has a ton of great info which I can research to narrow down.

Are there any you tube channels anyone can recommend?

I just bought "Co- Intelligence" which is a beginners AI book. It seems to be more about the creation of AI versus how to use it but its interesting none the less.

Do you have any good books you could recommend?

Thanks for your help!

 

[pistonpump]

Don't know any books but you are familiar with chatGPT?

 

[jcc80]

"Talk" to it as if you were explaining a given situation to an impartial 3rd party consultant. Give it all the context that you would have to explain to a person. Tell it things like "ask me one question at a time to get more clarity" and prepare for a little back and forth dialogue.

"The AI Driven Leader" by Geoff Woods is good.

 

[F350]

Don't know any books but you are familiar with chatGPT?

yes, been using a while. I tried asking Grok and Chat both for recommendations. Got some info from them which is where I found the book I listed. There is somewhat limited info though. Alot of them keep giving me things about the history of AI. I'm looking more to learn about how to use proper prompts, how to ask questions for the most relevant answers, and any tricks or daily things it can help me do or that I can create once I understand how to navigate it. If that makes sense...

 

[F350]

"Talk" to it as if you were explaining a given situation to an impartial 3rd party consultant. Give it all the context that you would have to explain to a person. Tell it things like "ask me one question at a time to get more clarity" and prepare for a little back and forth dialogue.

"The AI Driven Leader" by Geoff Woods is good.

Thanks alot. I will check it out and try one question at a time.

 

[Maly]

Look into "AI prompt engineering" courses & guides

 

[Sectør]

Are you talking about how to learn to write code for AI? Or just how to use AI?

Python is where I’d start for coding. There’s plenty of free introductory courses as well as certifications

 

[OldManLogan]

"Talk" to it as if you were explaining a given situation to an impartial 3rd party consultant. Give it all the context that you would have to explain to a person. Tell it things like "ask me one question at a time to get more clarity" and prepare for a little back and forth dialogue.

"The AI Driven Leader" by Geoff Woods is good.

This right here. Also become familiar with prompt engineering structures and syntax.

This is unironically from ChatGPT:
Here are the Top 5 Most Common Prompt Engineering Query Templates people use when trying to get the best results from AI models like me:

⸻

1. “Act as a [Role/Expert] and help me [Task]”

Example:

Act as a world-class copywriter and help me write a viral tweet about biohacking.

Why it works:
It sets a clear context and persona for the AI to adopt, improving relevance and tone.

⸻

2. “Give me X examples of [Topic/Style/Format]”

Example:

Give me 10 examples of YouTube titles optimized for fitness and nerd culture.

Why it works:
It clearly defines quantity and style expectations, helping avoid generic results.

⸻

3. “Rewrite this to be more [Tone/Style/Goal]”

Example:

Rewrite this paragraph to sound more confident and edgy, like something Joe Rogan might say.

Why it works:
It focuses the AI on tone, audience, or voice adjustment without needing to rebuild from scratch.

⸻

4. “Summarize/Explain [Text or Concept] in [X words or style]”

Example:

Summarize this clinical study in 3 bullet points I can use on a podcast.

Why it works:
It forces the AI to compress info into useful, digestible formats — super handy for content creators and educators.

⸻

5. “Compare [Thing A] vs [Thing B] with pros and cons”

Example:

Compare BPC-157 vs TB-500 for injury healing with pros and cons.

Why it works:
Comparison prompts help distill decision-making into clear trade-offs — especially good for supplement, tech, or tool choices.

⸻

 

[gauge22-v2]

I know how to use it, but not much else.

AI is going to cause massive dumbing down/critical thinking impairment of the population. Quite a few studies are coming out. "Use it or lose it" applies to yer noggin, dont ya know....

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task​

Nataliya Kosmyna, Eugene Hauptmann, Ye Tong Yuan, Jessica Situ, Xian-Hao Liao, Ashly Vivian Beresnitzky, Iris Braunstein, Pattie Maes

This study explores the neural and behavioral consequences of LLM-assisted essay writing. Participants were divided into three groups: LLM, Search Engine, and Brain-only (no tools). Each completed three sessions under the same condition. In a fourth session, LLM users were reassigned to Brain-only group (LLM-to-Brain), and Brain-only users were reassigned to LLM condition (Brain-to-LLM). A total of 54 participants took part in Sessions 1-3, with 18 completing session 4. We used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cognitive load during essay writing, and analyzed essays using NLP, as well as scoring essays with the help from human teachers and an AI judge. Across groups, NERs, n-gram patterns, and topic ontology showed within-group homogeneity. EEG revealed significant differences in brain connectivity: Brain-only participants exhibited the strongest, most distributed networks; Search Engine users showed moderate engagement; and LLM users displayed the weakest connectivity. Cognitive activity scaled down in relation to external tool use. In session 4, LLM-to-Brain participants showed reduced alpha and beta connectivity, indicating under-engagement. Brain-to-LLM users exhibited higher memory recall and activation of occipito-parietal and prefrontal areas, similar to Search Engine users. Self-reported ownership of essays was the lowest in the LLM group and the highest in the Brain-only group. LLM users also struggled to accurately quote their own work. While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning.

 

[OldManLogan]

Yup

I know how to use it, but not much else.

AI is going to cause massive dumbing down/critical thinking impairment of the population. Quite a few studies are coming out. "Use it or lose it" applies to yer noggin, dont ya know....

Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task​

Nataliya Kosmyna, Eugene Hauptmann, Ye Tong Yuan, Jessica Situ, Xian-Hao Liao, Ashly Vivian Beresnitzky, Iris Braunstein, Pattie Maes

Remember the Wall-E levitation chairs the fatties used to move around in? This will be the same for the average person’s intellectual capacity. Stunted.

 

[pistonpump]

YouTube has some videos on how to better use AI models

 

[F350]

Are you talking about how to learn to write code for AI? Or just how to use AI?

Python is where I’d start for coding. There’s plenty of free introductory courses as well as certifications

Good question. Sorry I was not clear.
I do not want to know how to write code. I just want to know how to use its features and prompts correctly. Be able to navigate around it and when doing something at work identify a project or task AI could handle for me. It has tons of feature/benefits. I want to learn what they are so I can implement them. I would also like to know how I can use it in my daily life. I saw someone recently use it for a grocery list. They used it to save money and find identical products they could change out based on availablity, price, and to change things up.
I know the possibilities are endless so Im trying to find a good starting place and build off that which will take time me sometime and likely a good amnt of research.

 

[F350]

This right here. Also become familiar with prompt engineering structures and syntax.

This is unironically from ChatGPT:
Here are the Top 5 Most Common Prompt Engineering Query Templates people use when trying to get the best results from AI models like me:

⸻

1. “Act as a [Role/Expert] and help me [Task]”

Example:

Act as a world-class copywriter and help me write a viral tweet about biohacking.

Why it works:
It sets a clear context and persona for the AI to adopt, improving relevance and tone.

⸻

2. “Give me X examples of [Topic/Style/Format]”

Example:

Give me 10 examples of YouTube titles optimized for fitness and nerd culture.

Why it works:
It clearly defines quantity and style expectations, helping avoid generic results.

⸻

3. “Rewrite this to be more [Tone/Style/Goal]”

Example:

Rewrite this paragraph to sound more confident and edgy, like something Joe Rogan might say.

Why it works:
It focuses the AI on tone, audience, or voice adjustment without needing to rebuild from scratch.

⸻

4. “Summarize/Explain [Text or Concept] in [X words or style]”

Example:

Summarize this clinical study in 3 bullet points I can use on a podcast.

Why it works:
It forces the AI to compress info into useful, digestible formats — super handy for content creators and educators.

⸻

5. “Compare [Thing A] vs [Thing B] with pros and cons”

Example:

Compare BPC-157 vs TB-500 for injury healing with pros and cons.

Why it works:
Comparison prompts help distill decision-making into clear trade-offs — especially good for supplement, tech, or tool choices.

⸻

Great info. Thanks so much. Saving this now.

 

[F350]

"Talk" to it as if you were explaining a given situation to an impartial 3rd party consultant. Give it all the context that you would have to explain to a person. Tell it things like "ask me one question at a time to get more clarity" and prepare for a little back and forth dialogue.

"The AI Driven Leader" by Geoff Woods is good.

I looked into this book. Sounded very interesting. I ordered it and should have it tomorrow. I know what I'm doing this crazy 4th of July weekend.

 

[OldManLogan]

I looked into this book. Sounded very interesting. I ordered it and should have it tomorrow. I know what I'm doing this crazy 4th of July weekend.

Honestly, my advice to anyone getting started is be curious and play with it. Pretend it’s a very curious alien that you can talk to. Find out all kinds of cool and creative shit, it’s an amazing tool. It saves me so much time and effort for routine crap, and it can definitely give you ideas when you’re stumped, even for more creative endeavors like music, art, illustration etc.

 

[jcc80]

I looked into this book. Sounded very interesting. I ordered it and should have it tomorrow. I know what I'm doing this crazy 4th of July weekend.

Yeah. It's good. Maybe it's not the best resource, but it's the book my boss wanted me to read. It's geared a lot towards leaders who want to use AI to enhance and speed up their decision making process, AND get the rest of their team comfortable with using AI.

For personal use, I asked Perplexity today about how to get rid of a stubborn knot in my lower back. It gave me its answers, then I replied back "another factor is that I have scoliosis. How does that affect things?" Then it gave more relevant info. All about the context you give it.

For those who think it's just going to dumb down the general population: well... yeah. That's inevitable. My opinion? The trick is to use it to your advantage and enhance decision making, NOT to use it as a crutch.

 

[Muay Thai]

gronk

 

[UnholyAlliance]

Wait till you ask ChatGPT to set up a prep program for you along with diet training plan and cycle.

 

[bjjgear]

I recommend “AI for Everyone” on Coursera, and depending on how technical you want to get, “The Hundred Page Machine Learning Book”

Or the most meta answer… just ask ChatGPT

 

[bjjgear]

Btw it’s smart to see the writing on the wall. One of the first dominoes to fall will be online fitness coaching, once folks start to realize just how much easier an AI, especially a tuned model, is for coaching.

I’m already seeing influencers complain about how inaccurate AI is for coaching advice, which can only mean one thing.

Next up will be primary care physicians, attorneys, business consultants, and so forth. The finest in the field will be okay for a while, but once the general public starts getting comfortable using AI, only the absolute cream of the crop will have jobs supervising the output of AI. The rest will be finding other things to do. Five years