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Level 4 · Advanced

How AI Really Works

An intuitive model of LLMs, no code.

  • 10 lessons
  • About 1 h 36 min
  • Free

Free. Sign in with Google, then start with the first lesson.

What you will learn

  • Describe an LLM as autocomplete at a huge scale
  • Explain what a token is
  • Describe sampling as a weighted pick
  • Put pretraining, fine-tuning and human feedback in order
  • Explain an embedding in one sentence
  • Say why an AI invents facts
  • Describe a tool call in plain words
  • Walk through the six steps of an answer

Lessons

10 lessons · About 1 h 36 minHas a videoHas a hands-on task

Inside the Chat

  1. Enrol free to open every lesson. Your progress is saved.

  2. Lesson 2: Tokens: How AI Reads Text

    Explain what a token is and guess how many a text will use.

    8 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

  3. Lesson 3: Context Window: Short-Term Memory

    Explain why a long chat forgets and what to do about it.

    9 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

  4. Lesson 4: Temperature: Same Prompt, Different Answers

    Explain why one prompt can give different answers each time.

    9 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

How It Learns

  1. Lesson 5: Training in Plain Words

    Describe the three stages of training and what each one adds.

    10 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

  2. Lesson 6: Embeddings: Meaning as a Map

    Explain how an AI measures that two pieces of text are similar.

    9 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

  3. Lesson 7: Why It Makes Things Up

    Explain why an AI makes things up and how grounding helps.

    11 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

Using It Wisely

  1. Lesson 8: Big vs Small, Open vs Closed

    Choose a model for a job by weighing cost, speed and quality.

    9 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

  2. Lesson 9: Tools and Search: How Chat Apps Do More

    Describe how a chat app uses tools to go beyond its training.

    10 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

  3. Lesson 10: Explain It Back

    Explain in your own words how an LLM turns your message into a reply.

    12 minHas a videoHas a hands-on taskUnlocks when you enrol

What you need

  • A phone with a browser. A computer works too.
  • A free Google account, to save your progress.
  • No tech background. Every new word is explained.

AI apps you can use

Every task works with the free plan of any of these apps.

  • Gemini
  • ChatGPT
  • Claude

Start this module

Course: AI Beginner's Course

Free. Sign in with Google, then start with the first lesson.