ZD 24.05: Learn AI Like A Pro

Software is eating the world. Might as well keep up with it.

Wyatt Barnett

Feb 27, 2024

The Distilled Spirit

Culture is stuck in a dopamine loop.

The high cost of promoting home ownership.

How to dodge taxes with art, booze and cars.
[Consult a tax advisor before doing this please.]

Zugzwang is a terrifying place.

Tracking AI

It has been a huge couple of weeks for AI products. Gemini Pro is a legitimate looking competitor to GPT4. You can get Copilot in Office 365 and Gemini in Google Workspace. Everything in the space is moving very fast. Here are a few of my favorite free publications that will position you to be the AI guy at your next cocktail party.

The Dailies

Ben’s Bites and The Rundown cover very similar AI-focused ground. They also feature lists of AI tools that are often worth a look. Worth the very quick daily reads if you really want to stay on top of the field.

TLDR AI is the best one-stop shop for AI news headlines out there if you want one thing that is a bit broader than the two listed above.

I like having all three in my inbox to juxtapose the headlines. There are interesting things in the similarities and the differences.

The Weeklies

If you read one thing, read MIT’s The Algorithm. They have the key stories of the week without fail.

Leading technologist and AI guru Andrew Ng curates The Batch. If you are looking to get a bit deeper into LLMs this should be in your inbox.

Going Deeper

Guide to AI is a monthly publication that has a very good summary and goes deep just deep enough into the research end of AI to give one a peek around the corner.

Ethan Mollick’s One Useful Thing really helps contextualize AI in the workplace and in society. Subscribe especially if you are figuring out how to apply AI in your enterprise.

If you want one publication to take you very, very deep into the world of AI you should check out Don’t Worry About the Vase. Expect a weekly in-depth update covering all sides of AI with occasional out of band updates.

Bonus Videos: Things to Try

If you are more of the video type. Or if you are just getting started and need to get more of an idea about what AI can do I suggest watching these two videos to get a sense of what some of the tools can do in 2024.