I’m eager to learn about artificial intelligence, and always excited to try out new AI tools and products so I can provide you with honest feedback about whether they’re worth your time and money. But I needed to dig deeper into the basics of AI, where it came from and how to integrate the software into my day-to-day life in practical ways.
After I kept seeing ads online — I assume from my AI-related internet searches — I gave in and watched the three-part Achieve More with GenAI series from MasterClass to educate myself on AI beyond the companies and platforms that promote and sell its capabilities to the masses.
What is the AI MasterClass?
I wanted to learn from experts in the field in a digestible, concise format. I was introduced to Ethan Mollick, Allie K. Miller, Don Allen Stevenson III and Manuel Sansily, who virtually taught me how AI can navigate work and the world.
The three-episode original series produced for the MasterClass platform lets you learn across three modules: generative AI to unlock productivity, generative AI to help unleash creativity and AI ethics and the future.
How much does the AI MasterClass cost?
A MasterClass subscription costs between $120 and $240 per year. It comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee included with membership. If another monthly bill doesn’t seem economical, two-week guest passes pop up in chat threads, which can give you more opportunities to try the learning and education platform without commitment.
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Unlocking productivity with AI
Miller and Mollick (who pop in throughout each episode) kicked off the series with the history and context of AI (did you know it was first explored in the 1950s?) and the ways that it can be an asset for work. Mollick used the example of AI for improving writing from conception to feedback which, as someone watching the series then writing about it, felt supportive yet slightly ironic.
Miller led us through how to use AI to develop a business plan:
1. Brainstorm
2. Evaluate
3. Enhance your idea
4. Bring the idea to life
5. Use AI for feedback
I have used AI for feedback on issues in my personal life, but I never considered using it for professional purposes. But when Miller introduced me to Yoodli, an AI-powered communication coach, to illustrate how AI can provide feedback, analytics and tips on your work, and Mollick shared real-time feedback from AI-powered assistant Claude on his presentation, I considered the possibility.
The first episode of the MasterClass series taught me that AI can be incredibly helpful for understanding, organizing and regurgitating information into different contexts, and that there are countless AI-powered tools that support the same approach when working in a particular medium or needing specific feedback or assistance.
Unleashing your creativity with AI
Next, we received a thorough breakdown of AI prompting techniques, AI-assisted business planning and AI for visual design. The second episode in the series was led by Stevenson, a creative technologist fascinated by the fusion of art and technology.
Stevenson defined and demonstrated how to use AI set around communication and clarity for business planning, logo design, storyboard creation and music generation, using Dall-E, an image generator, and Udio, an AI music generator. A throughline in his messaging was how to use AI as a collaborator and how the conversation between you and your large language model can help produce better results.
By the end of the episode, I created imagery using Stevenson’s guidance to draft a concept I’ve been toying with for the past few weeks. By delegating to ChatGPT, I learned how challenging it is to get something out of your brain and into words that will guide someone else. While I wasn’t as efficient as Stevenson in building out a brand identity kit (in less than 5 minutes), I did churn out color schemes, images and typography that pleasantly surprised me and inspired me to keep creating for my brand.
The future of AI and ethics
In the last episode I met Sansily, a futurist and advocate for the responsible use of AI, who shared how to automate and optimize routine tasks with the help of an “AI twin” creation. (You need ChatGPT’s $20 per month Plus plan for this.)
An AI twin is a digital creation based on your knowledge, work experience and values. Similar to ChatGPT, it stores memory and continues to learn you and your habits the more you interact with it. Once created, your AI twin — which looks eerily similar to a Memoji — can act as your personal assistant or a digital tool that others can interact with and use.
Sansily shared how a digital representation of the custom ChatGPT brain lets you input information to guide the “brain” through a seven-step system, including designing your twin and giving it context, instructions and values. You then test, publish and monitor your AI twin, which can be instrumental in tracking your own growth, as well as sharing it with others and downloading it for use.
To close the series out, Mollick shared four scenarios around AI and its potential. He challenges humans to look at positive examples of AI related to Amara’s Law, where humans underestimate change in the short term and overestimate change in the long term. Is the fear valid or based on a lack of understanding? For me, what was most fascinating was how overwhelmed I’ve been by AI’s amazing abilities and where that’s taking us. As a reporter and consumer, I have so much more to learn.
According to Mollick, AI’s growth is doubling or tripling the pace of Moore’s Law, which observes the power of computers doubles every two years. In short, AI is moving faster than our brain’s ability to respond. But not forever. At some point, he said, AI will settle into a more graspable pace of evolution. In the meantime, I will be sifting through and learning every new AI-powered and GPT model available. Not to mention, using artificial intelligence to make my dreams of having a twin come true, all in a matter of a few clicks.
Is an AI MasterClass worth the money?
I tried the MasterClass series to better understand where AI is headed and how it may affect my life. As a result, I now have more knowledge to inform my decisions and opinions, rather than rely on others to make them for me.
This was my first MasterClass, and I was quote impressed. From the camera quality to the on-air personalities of the experts to how digestible the content was, I would recommend the series, especially to those who are afraid of AI, overwhelmed by its many uses or who have questions about what artificial intelligence means on its own and in the world with humans.
While you may consider yourself adept at all things tech, I’d advocate spending 90 minutes of your day on this series, if for no other reason than to brush up on artificial intelligence-specific definitions and metaphors. At most, you will gain an increase in awareness for how something with such rampant growth operates as a system, collaborator and — in some scenarios — a mentor, personal trainer and twin.
