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Intro to AI: Practical AI for Professionals

Intro to AI is a full-day, hands-on AI training course for professionals, taught in person by edje in Seattle and throughout the Pacific Northwest. Participants go from installing an AI assistant to running their first working automation in a single day — 19 hands-on exercises, no technical background required.

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At a glance

Basic
level · prerequisites: None
1 day
In person, full day (8:30a–5:00p)
8.5
NASBA CPE credits (Group Live, Computer Software & Applications)
4 weeks
of office hours included after the course

About this course

A hands-on working session that takes professionals from first installation to working automation in one day. Participants install and configure an AI assistant on their own devices, learn a repeatable six-part prompt structure, connect the assistant to their real email, calendar, and files, direct browser and computer-control agents through multi-step tasks, and finish by packaging their own reusable skill and putting it on a schedule. Risk and governance content — prompt injection, data leakage, and the guardrails that mitigate them — is taught before any tools are connected, so participants adopt safe habits from the first exercise. The day closes with a capstone applying every technique to four recurring professional jobs: email triage, document review, presentations, and spreadsheets.

Instructor: Aaron Sparks, Founder, edje. Delivered in person, on-site at your office in Seattle and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

What you'll learn

  • Choose the right AI model tier for a business task based on complexity, cost, and stakes.
  • Recognize workplace AI risk patterns — prompt injection and the “lethal trifecta,” data leakage and shadow AI, excessive agency — and apply guardrails: least privilege, approval gates, sandboxing.
  • Install and configure an AI assistant on desktop and mobile with organization-appropriate data settings.
  • Build effective prompts with a six-part structure; improve results through iteration and meta-prompting.
  • Detect and defuse hallucinations with grounding, citations, and verification habits.
  • Connect AI to email, calendar, and files via MCP connectors inside draft-only, approval-gated boundaries.
  • Manage the context window: one task per conversation, curated input, summarize-and-restart.
  • Direct a browser/computer-control agent through multi-step tasks while keeping human approval over consequential actions.
  • Package a repeated workflow as a reusable skill and schedule it as your first automation.
  • Apply it all to email triage, document review, presentations, and spreadsheets.

The day at a glance

Welcome & AI landscape → Risks and guardrails → Setup that sticks (guided install) → Prompt engineering 101 → Connecting AI to your tools (MCP) → Context engineering → Computer & browser control → Skills → Memory → Scheduled tasks → Capstone: the final four jobs → Wrap-up. Two 15-minute breaks, 45-minute lunch.

Built for doing, not watching

26+ engagement elements: 19 hands-on exercises, 4 polled knowledge checks, a guided build-along, and facilitated discussions.

Logistics & what to bring

  • Laptop and smartphone with permission to install applications.
  • Active work email account.
  • Pre-training checklist completed (provided on registration).
  • Works across major AI platforms (Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, Google Gemini) — configured to your organization’s preferred platform.
  • Includes four weeks of weekly office hours after the course.

Frequently asked questions

Who is this course for?

Professionals with no AI experience required — accountants, consultants, operators, managers.

Is it really hands-on?

Yes — 19 exercises; you leave with a working automation built on your own device and accounts.

Do we earn CPE credits?

Yes — 8.5 NASBA CPE credits (Group Live, Computer Software & Applications, Non-Technical).

Where is the course offered?

On-site at your office in Seattle and throughout the Pacific Northwest (in-person only today).

What AI platform do you teach on?

Your organization’s preferred assistant — Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, or Gemini.

Also in the catalog

Intermediate AI: Hands-On AI Agents with Claude Code

Operate Claude Code on your own laptop, climb a graduated autonomy ladder, and complete two measured capstones — a 90%+-accuracy text classifier and a working personal CRM.

View course details →

Bring this course to your team

Tell us about your team — size, roles, and which AI platform you use (or want to). We'll reply within one business day.