Understand AI before it makes decisions for you
The essential crash course for everyday adults navigating an AI-powered world — no tech background required. Learn to evaluate, question, and use AI tools wisely, safely, and ethically.
"You don't need to understand how the engine is built — you just need to know how to drive safely and where the brakes are."— Carla Paton
What you'll learn
What you'll be able to do
- Distinguish what AI systems can genuinely do from what they cannot, so you can set realistic expectations and avoid costly mistakes.
- Spot AI hallucinations and critically evaluate AI-generated answers before acting on them, in any context from work to healthcare.
- Protect your personal data and privacy when using AI tools, knowing exactly what information you should — and should never — share.
- Identify AI-generated deepfakes, scams, and disinformation in the wild, and know the immediate steps to take when you encounter them.
- Understand your rights around copyright and responsible use so you can use AI-created content confidently and ethically.
- Make informed decisions about AI in high-stakes settings — education, healthcare, and the workplace — as a savvy participant, not a passive bystander.
How it works
A school that adapts to you
This isn't a set of static videos. Every lesson is generated live and tuned to where you actually are.
We learn your level
A quick placement check tailors your starting point so you're never bored or lost.
Lessons adapt as you go
Each lesson is written for your pace and your goal, adjusting as your skills grow.
Your AI coach keeps you moving
Checkpoints, feedback, and gentle nudges turn progress into a real result.
The curriculum
What's inside your school
6 modules · 15 lessons
Understanding AI: What It Is and What It Isn't
Establishes the essential foundation for the entire course. Before learners can spot hallucinations, evaluate answers, or protect their privacy, they need a clear, jargon-free mental model of how AI systems actually work and what they are — and are not — capable of. Without this module, every subsequent lesson risks being misunderstood.
- 1.1How AI Actually Works (Plain English Edition)Included
- 1.2What AI Can and Cannot DoIncluded
Spotting and Evaluating AI-Generated Content
Addresses the single most actionable skill set in the course: critically assessing what AI produces before acting on it. Sequenced immediately after the foundation module so learners apply their new mental model right away. Covers hallucinations, answer evaluation, deepfakes, and AI-powered scams in one cohesive unit because they all share the same root skill — healthy, structured scepticism.
- 2.1Recognising AI HallucinationsIncluded
- 2.2Evaluating AI Answers Like a ProIncluded
- 2.3Deepfakes and AI DisinformationIncluded
- 2.4AI Scams: Recognising and Resisting ThemIncluded
Privacy and Personal Data in the Age of AI
Sequenced after the content-evaluation module because learners now understand AI well enough to appreciate the data risks concretely. Covers both the knowledge layer (what AI tools collect and why) and the behaviour layer (specific, actionable privacy habits). Directly delivers the outcome around protecting personal data and knowing what never to share.
- 3.1What AI Tools Know About YouIncluded
- 3.2Protecting Your Privacy: Practical Rules and HabitsIncluded
Copyright, Ownership, and Responsible Use
Placed after privacy because both modules address rights and ethics, creating a natural thematic arc. Covers the unsettled but practically important questions around who owns AI-generated content, what you can legally and ethically use, and what responsible, ethical AI use looks like as a citizen and professional. Delivers the course outcome around confident, ethical use of AI-created content.
- 4.1Copyright and AI-Generated ContentIncluded
- 4.2Responsible and Ethical Use of AIIncluded
AI in High-Stakes Settings: Education, Healthcare, and Work
Applies the full skill set from previous modules to the three domains where AI decisions carry the most real-world consequence for adult learners. The original draft covered education and healthcare; the workplace has been added because it is a primary high-stakes AI context for adults and is essential to delivering the 'savvy participant, not passive bystander' outcome. Sequenced near the end so learners bring their full critical toolkit to these complex domains.
- 5.1AI in Education: What Parents, Teachers, and Learners Need to KnowIncluded
- 5.2AI in Healthcare: Being an Informed PatientIncluded
- 5.3AI in the Workplace: Staying Relevant and In ControlIncluded
Putting It All Together: Your AI Literacy in Practice
The capstone module. Synthesises every skill and framework from the course into a personal, portable, and updatable AI literacy practice. The two lessons — building a personal toolkit and staying current — are correctly sequenced and well-conceived in the original draft; this version deepens each with richer descriptions and activities that genuinely integrate prior learning rather than merely summarising it.
- 6.1Your Personal AI ToolkitIncluded
- 6.2Staying Current in a Fast-Moving FieldIncluded
Who it's for
Is this you?
Concerned parents
You want to understand what AI is doing in your child's classroom and how to have an informed conversation about it at home.
Busy professionals
AI tools are appearing in your workplace and you want to use them wisely, protect your data, and stay relevant — without becoming a tech expert.
Educators and teachers
You're navigating AI in your school every day and need a clear, grounded understanding to guide both your students and your own practice.
Retirees and lifelong learners
You're curious, engaged with the world, and want to understand this technology clearly — especially the scams, privacy risks, and media disinformation it enables.
Healthcare patients and advocates
AI is entering the healthcare system and you want to be an informed patient who knows the right questions to ask.
Skeptical late adopters
You're not sure AI is for you at all — and that's exactly why this course is: it gives you the honest picture, hype-free, so you can make up your own mind.
Questions
Frequently asked
Your teacher
A note from your teacher
Carla Paton
If you've ever closed a news article about AI feeling more confused than when you opened it — or quietly wondered whether you're the only one who doesn't quite understand what's actually going on — I want you to know: that feeling is completely understandable, and it is not your fault.
AI is being discussed everywhere, but almost always in one of two ways: breathless hype that makes it sound like magic, or dire warnings that make it sound like a threat. Very rarely does anyone sit down and explain it the way a trusted friend would — clearly, calmly, and with you specifically in mind. That's the gap AI Literacy Lab exists to fill.
This course grew out of a simple conviction: that you don't need to become a programmer or a data scientist to navigate an AI-powered world wisely. What you need is a reliable map. You need to understand what AI systems genuinely can and cannot do, so you're not fooled by overconfident outputs or overstated promises. You need to know how to look at an AI-generated answer and ask the right questions before you act on it. You need to know what's happening to your personal data, what your rights are around AI-created content, and how to protect yourself from the scams and disinformation that are already proliferating. And if AI is touching your work, your children's education, or your healthcare — which it almost certainly is — you deserve to engage with it as an informed participant, not a passive bystander.
Every lesson in this course is built around one question: so what does this mean for me? The explanations are plain. The examples are real. The takeaways are immediate. I won't talk down to you, and I won't drown you in technical detail that doesn't serve you. What I will do is give you the clearest, most honest picture I can — and send you away more confident and more capable than when you arrived.
If you're ready to stop feeling like AI is something happening to you, and start feeling like someone who genuinely understands it, I'd love to have you in the Lab.
— Carla Paton
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- 6 modules, 15 lessons
- AI-adaptive lessons tuned to your level
- Quizzes & checkpoints to lock in progress
- Your own AI learning coach
- Learn on any device, at your pace
- Full access for as long as you're subscribed