Heya! So, after a long time, I’m back on this website and ready to start a new chapter! One driven by my own study in Artificial Intelligence and how I think people should be learning it, in order to get ahead of the competition.
When I say ‘Artificial Intelligence’, I do not mean ChatGPT. I’m referring to the entire suite of AI Tools in the market that are present for various use-cases:
- For Design: Think tools like Midjourney, Krea AI, Leonardo and WonderDynamics
- AIl-in-One AI Suites: This includes ChatGPT, Google Gemini (formerly Bard), and Claude LLM
The reason I’m making a distinction between the two here is because you need to take a different mindset when approaching either category.
In this post, I’ll be sharing the Roadmap that I’ve created for myself; this is the EXACT Step-by-Step process that I’m following to learn AI in 2024 & beyond…
Things to Keep in Mind Before You approach AI:
Before we get started, it’s important to understand a few key points. I always value a ‘strong, focused mindset’ over a mindset that’s all over the place. Mindset is how the Turtle crossed the finish line before the Rabbit, even though the latter was faster. Mindset is what separates ‘great’ from the ‘good’!
- The Importance of Focus: When we’re learning new stuff especially challenging technical topics like AI, it’s quite easy to drift off and get distracted. Make sure you’re focused on this and if possible, break the learning into multiple halves.
- Time is Everything: Time is a precious commodity, especially when you’re in a space that’s increasingly getting more competition each & every day. As such, I want you to make sure you dedicate enough time. Failure to do so will allow thousands of other determined people to get ahead of you.
- Get into the technicalities: I understand that AI is technical, AGI is hard to understand and new technologies will only get more and complex. The point is, the fundamental principles will stay the same. The people who will lead the way will be those who not only understand AI from a practical, but also a theoretical & technical perspective.
Note: You don’t need to learn code to understand AI technically.
Artificial Intelligence is perhaps the biggest opportunity to get ahead in life, since the advent of the Internet. It will make or break your future for You!
The ‘Not-So-Ultimate’ Guide to Learning AI in 2024 & Beyond:
Do you see what I did there? I deliberately wrote the title that way. The reason being this is just the first version of a guide that I plan to change over & over again.
Change is the only constant in life. Leaves bud, bloom, and fall in endless cycles. Seasons come and go, people grow, and technology leaps forward. Staying in step with this evolution is the only thing expected of us.
Back to the point – I’ll show you the way to attain greatness & future-proof your skillset with AI.
The first thing, I’ll advise every one of you to start taking the ‘Generalist’ route. For example, in Digital Marketing, most people are split between all-around full-stack marketers, and those who have expertise only in singular facets i.e. Social Media Marketers, SEO Specialists, Content Marketers.
The industry has already shifted far and wide and now there’s a bigger need for Digital Marketers that can plan & implement a full-scale Marketing Strategy from inception to completion, and beyond. In order to thrive at this, we need to not only attain practical knowledge of every facet of Digital Marketing, but we need to work on understanding the overall Marketing Strategy & how it ties back to an organization’s long-term business strategy.
Understand this and you’re already ahead of 90% of the marketers who only have a one-dimensional skillset.
Now, let’s get to the fun part. ‘Bullet Points’ ahead 🚅:
- Get yourself a diary & a pen: I know Notion is cool (I use it myself), but a diary is what drives our imagination and note-taking is just on a different level when done manually.
- Figure out how much time you have: It doesn’t matter if you have an hour to spend or 30 minutes. The ‘realization’ that you’re in control of time is what matters, and the rest is down to pure dedication.
- Create Your ‘Buckets’: AI falls into multiple categories with the two most important ones being ‘Large-Language Models’ like ChatGPT & Text-to-Image tools like Midjourney & Krea. I advise learning both but if you don’t want to meddle with design too much, you can just focus on ChatGPT, Claude, and Bard (oh, and Grok if Elon gave you access).
- Split your time between ‘Deep Learning’, ‘Practice’, and ‘Implementation’: It’s never a good idea to learn a topic only to keep it in memory and never utilize it.
- Just commit to the schedule, and NEVER look back
Artificial Intelligence Concepts to Keep in Mind:
We’ve covered the planning phase. Now, it’s time to understand what topics we actually need to learn. I’ll keep it simple and list the important stuff that you should spend time on:
- Artificial Generative Intelligence (AGI): Previously, AI only used to be about models that could only use existing training data to provide responses. We’re now at an age where AI can generate and ideate on its own. Midjourney & Dall-E are best examples of ‘Generative AI’. The concepts below are just branches of AI.
- Machine Learning & Diffusion: Machine Learning is even higher in the hierarchy and encompasses all these other topics. But these two concepts will help you understand how Large-Language Models & Image Generation tools essentially function.
- Prompt Engineering: 100% of the effort in AI goes directly to prompting; that defines the output as well. Invest as much time in experimenting with different kinds of prompts, and you’ll get ahead of the 95% of the people who are using AI for simplistic responses.
- Analysis & Creativity: These aren’t related to AI but I personally believe it’s these intrinsic traits that will set the tone for our success. Everyone can type a prompt into ChatGPT or create an image with Midjourney. But it’s the people who invest time in exploring and honing their own talents, that will understand how to get the best out of AI.
Resources from Yours Kindly:
I’m not just going to leave you hanging there now! I’ll list some resources below that I personally read & learn from each & every day. These WILL make you a great leader in AI, now.
- Ruben Hassid: He has a great newsletter where he covers news about AI; If you’re serious, you can also buy his course. In my opinion, however, you should not be looking for paid courses until you already understand the fundamentals of AI.
- Bot Eats Brain: If you want to be up-to-date with the latest AI News & Trends, this is my go-to newsletter.
- AI Marketers: For my Digital Marketing buddies, this newsletter also covers AI, but from the POV of Marketing, so it’s specific to that domain.
And lastly, if you find value in my content, you can also follow the content that I share here. I post bi-weekly on this blog and almost everyday on my LinkedIn Profile.
I also have an experimental Instagram Account where I post daily content centered around Midjourney. You can check it out here: