You Need AI Skills, Do You Know Where to Start?

You likely won't lose your job to AI but rather someone else using AI

Author

Mark Hinkle
May 10, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 14 minutes

Do you want to remain competitive in the era of AI? If you want free information on how to do so, this issue is for you.

I know you may want many different types of AI information, so I am constantly improving this format. Here’s the latest iteration.

In the future, every newsletter will have the following content:

  • Sentiment Analysis - A small item every week that I thought was especially interesting

  • AI TL;DR - AI Too Long ; Didn’t Read is a section for tools, tips, and advice from around the internet on Generative AI.

  • Feature Story - A long-form article on an important trend or deep-dive into a Generative AI concept that will help your business.

  • Prompt of the Week - A prompt for helping you solve a common business problem.

  • The AI Boost - A bonus piece of content I thought was well worth your time in adding to your skills and knowledge.

Thank you for subscribing; it means a lot to me. Here’s this week’s edition. Enjoy!

Sentiment Analysis

Sam Altman’s Interview at Stanford University In a video snippet from a Q&A at Stanford University, Sam Altman denounces ChatGPT and GPT-4, calling ChatGPT “mildly embarrassing at best” and stating that GPT-4 is “the dumbest model that any of you will ever have to use again by a lot.”

Sam Altman’s Interview at Stanford University

AI TL;DR

Generative AI News, Tips, and Apps

  • Mysterious AI surfaces online — was it ChatGPT’s successor? - A chatbot named 'gpt2-chatbot' briefly appeared on the LMSYS Chatbot Arena website for benchmarking but later disappeared.

  • Taskade - AI agents can significantly enhance business productivity by automating repetitive tasks in a customizable and scalable way. I'm researching Taskade, which seems to be a simple option.

  • The Convergence of Consciousness - My friend Joseph Enochs tackles how scientists and deep thinkers try to understand consciousness and how it relates to computers and robots.

Feature Story

You Need to Add AI Skills, Do You Know Where to Start?

As Generative AI creeps into today’s workplace, the capacity to adjust and acquire new skills is extremely important. Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a far-off idea; it's a vital tool in various industries and will only get more involved. Therefore, obtaining AI skills to keep up with the competition has become necessary. However, the question is, how do you begin?

Introduction to AI Skills

AI technology is changing how we work, offering efficiencies in processing data, creating documents, automating routine tasks, and making complex decisions. Gaining AI skills is a smart move for anyone looking to boost their career or enhance their company's operations. Here’s a simple blueprint.

How to Begin Your AI Learning Journey

  1. Self-Learning through Online Platforms: Platforms like LinkedIn Learning offer courses covering various aspects of AI, from beginner to advanced levels. These courses are designed to fit your schedule and are often led by industry experts. (Skip to the bottom of this email to see some of my favorites).

  2. Engagement on Community Forums: Participating in discussions on forums such as Reddit can provide practical insights and real-world applications of AI from a community of enthusiasts and professionals. I like this subreddit on Prompt Engineering and the Open AI Developer’s Forum (there’s something for everyone here, not just developers.

  3. Subscription to AI Newsletters: Keeping up with the latest trends and breakthroughs in AI is crucial. Newsletters like "The Artificially Intelligent Enterprise" can be an excellent resource for the latest AI advancements, offering news and in-depth analysis. There are hundreds of newsletters that offer daily news, but if you want to learn about AI, here are a few that I like:

    • AI TL;DR: Get smarter about AI in 5 minutes. The most important AI, ML, and data science news in a free daily email.

    • SemiAnalysis: Bridging the gap between the world's most important semiconductors industry and business.

    • Artificial Intelligence Made Simple: Turning complex ideas in AI Research, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Data Science into actionable insights.

    • AI Rewind: The latest AI developments and tools have been delivered to your inbox. This newsletter is written by Shubham Saboo, an AI product manager from Tenstorrent, which builds AI hardware.

Practical Tips to Embed AI Skills into Your Workflow

  • Start Small: Use AI tools to automate simple tasks at work to experience the potential of AI firsthand. I would start with ChatGPT (or Microsoft Copilot), Claude.ai (for copywriting), and Perplexity.ai (for research)

  • Project-Based Learning: Apply what you learn in real-world projects, whether at work or personal side projects, to deepen your understanding.

  • Network with AI Professionals: Join AI groups and attend meetups or webinars to connect with professionals who can provide guidance and mentorship.

To that end, I invite you to attend a free online event on Generative AI that I am organizing on May 21st, The Artificially Intelligent Enterprise Online. This event will include experts from throughout the field.

Here are some of the sessions I am looking forward to:

Find the whole agenda here, it’s packed with top-notch speakers

Embarking on a journey to acquire AI skills can open numerous doors for professional growth and innovation within your company. You're well-equipped to start with resources like LinkedIn, Reddit, and specialized newsletters. Remember, the future belongs to those prepared to adapt and innovate—begin your AI learning journey today!

Prompt of the Week

Directing ChatGPT Using Memory Prompts

On April 29th, OpenAI introduced the "Memory" feature for all ChatGPT Plus subscribers. They announced this on X. ChatGPT Plus is OpenAI's AI chatbot service, requiring a monthly subscription starting at $20.

The ChatGPT Plus memory feature will enhance as usage increases, allowing you to retain specific details or allow it to gather information automatically. With regular usage, you will observe improvements in the chatbot's memory.

If you want ChatGPT to forget something, let it know, and it will delete the information. You can also manage your memories by viewing and deleting specific ones or by clearing all memories through the settings menu (Settings > Personalization > Manage Memory). ChatGPT's memories grow and evolve with your interactions and are not tied to any particular conversation.

Previously, you may have defined your writing style in custom instructions. However, custom instructions had a limited length, and to truly get that custom experience, memory allows you to do this via

Remember, you should decide if you want to use memory for privacy reasons, and you may want to understand the repercussions.

Also, if you convert this to a ChatGPT Team or Enterprise account, as I did, you may lose the memory option.

Prompt 1: Have ChatGPT Mimic a Writing-Style

Take a piece of writing you want to mimic and paste it along with the following prompt. If you wanted to mimic his blog posts, this could be your writing or someone else’s, for example, your company’s CEO. This prompt is written in Markup. If you are unfamiliar with Markup, you can find an overview in this free MarkUp Guide. I use Markup to help structure the prompts and improve the outputs from ChatGPT. 

**Task:** 

Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the provided writing sample to accurately identify and replicate its unique style for future content creation.

**Detailed Instructions:**

- **Assess Tone and Voice:**

  - Determine the overall tone of the sample, such as formal, informal, serious, or humorous.
  - Identify the narrative voice, noting whether it is authoritative, conversational, or professional.

- **Examine Sentence Structure:**

  - Analyze the lengths and complexities of sentences, classifying them as simple, compound, or complex.
  - Observe patterns and variations in sentence construction.

- **Evaluate Vocabulary Usage:**

  - Document the level of vocabulary used, whether simple, intermediate, or advanced.
  - Note any specialized terms or jargon relevant to the subject matter.

- **Identify Rhetorical Devices:**

  - Identify literary techniques such as metaphors, similes, analogies, and personification.
  - Assess how these devices influence the style and tone of the writing.

- **Review Pacing and Rhythm:**

  - Analyze the flow of the text, focusing on paragraph length and structure.
  - Evaluate how ideas are introduced, elaborated, and concluded.

- **Summarize Style Characteristics:**

  - Provide a succinct summary of key style elements identified in the sample.

**Output Requirement:**

- Present the analysis in a bullet-point format under each category for clarity and ease of understanding.

[Insert your content here]

Once you get the analysis of the writing, you can commit it to memory with this prompt: 

Commit this to memory. From this point forward, you will always write based on this stored memory.

Prompt 2: Banning “AI Speak”

If you use ChatGPT to write text for you, you will inevitably have it use some words that probably aren’t in your voice. That’s where this prompt comes in. As I mentioned, there’s limited space in your custom instructions to do this, so I’d use the following prompt. You can customize your dictionary by adding the terms you want surrounded by quotes. 

Every time you respond to any prompt, avoid using the following words or phrases and Keep the language simple and direct.

“As an AI language model”, “delve”, “realm”, “unleash”, "tapestry”, "sail into the future”, “holistic”, “synthesize”, “substantiate”, “paramount”, “empirical”, “transcend”, “pivotal”, "paradigm", 

Commit this to memory.
A Personal Note

Last week, I attended Ryan Sager's Newsletter Conference in NYC. I got many tips from folks who work on The Hustle, Morning Brew, 1440, The NY Times, The Washington Post, and many others. This is a tweaked version of what you have seen on improving my newsletter's quality. So, this is a bit of an update.

I intend to build this newsletter as the trusted source for Generative AI in business for the industry. If you like this newsletter, please forward it and recommend it to as many people as you can. That will help me ensure I can continue to improve it.

I appreciate your support.

Mark R. Hinkle

Your AI Sherpa,

Mark R. Hinkle
Editor-in-Chief
Connect with me On LinkedIn 
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BONUS CONTENT: The AI Boost 

Free GenAI Classes to Take Right Now

Education has never been as accessible as it is today. In the Academy Award-winning Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon’s character makes this point to a Harvard grad student, “You dropped $150,000 on an education you could have gotten for $1.50 in late charges at the public library.”

His point was that education was very accessible even without a degree. As fast as AI moves, I can’t imagine embarking on a degree program, especially in AI. I don’t think there’s any problem with a degree if you make the decision based on something other than purely financial motives. But I don’t think it’s the best investment in generative AI.

That’s why I recommend free or very inexpensive online learning developed recently, which gives you the most bang for your buck or, more importantly, your time.

These classes require an 18-hour investment but could yield huge results. What’s half your work week pay you? What if you read my newsletter every week for 15 minutes and then took this class?

That’s 31 hours in a year.

What if it doubled your productivity?

Gave you a leg up for a new job?

Is it worth your time?

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