AI Fundamentals

You can understand artificial intelligence without a computer science degree, but you need to read in a sensible order. This page is that order: four paths, a handful of articles each, arranged so that every step builds on the previous one.

You do not have to go through all of it. Pick the path that answers the question you have today.

Path 1. Where artificial intelligence came from

Start here if you want to know why everyone is talking about it now.

The Dartmouth Conference — where the name itself was invented in 1956.
From ELIZA to ChatGPT — sixty years of trying to talk to a machine.
AI Winter — why enthusiasm has collapsed before, and what that says about today.
The Turing Test — the question asked at the very beginning and still not closed.

Path 2. How it actually works

Start here if you want to understand what happens on the other side of the chat window.

Introduction to AI — from the first steps to generative artificial intelligence.
Machine learning — how a computer learns from examples instead of following instructions.
Generative AI vs general AI — two things that conversations routinely confuse.
The Moravec paradox — why chess is easier for a machine than tying a shoelace.

Path 3. The craft of talking to a model

Start here if you already have the tool and the results disappoint you.

Prompt Master in one day — the whole approach in brief.
The anatomy of a masterful prompt — four ingredients whose absence usually ruins the answer.
Think step by step — the technique that removes errors from multi-stage tasks.
I stopped explaining, I started showing — a worked template instead of a description.
Prompt chaining — how to run a project that one question cannot cover.

Path 4. AI at work

Documented in most depth for law firms so far, because that is where most questions come from.

AI in the law firm — three rules worth starting with.
AI is lying? No, it is your mistake — five principles of prompting for lawyers.
KIRP recommendations — how to adopt AI without professional risk.
Five AI tools worth knowing in a law firm.

What next

I publish new articles regularly, and the easiest way to follow them is the RSS feed. There is also a Newsletter page if you prefer them by e-mail.