A free educational project

Understand AI from zero to the frontier—and know what to verify.

This is a plain-language, source-forward guide to what artificial intelligence is, how to use it, and how to review it in context. Build a learning route around your purpose, stakes, and time—without creating an account or handing over your email.

Named sources and visible freshness limits No sign-up, no paywall, no ads Written for complete beginners and working practitioners alike
What this is

Eleven sections, twenty pages—and a route shaped by your actual use.

Most "learn AI" content is either a sales funnel for a paid course or a wall of jargon with nothing to click through to. This project exists to be neither — a self-contained reference you can read once or come back to for years.

01 · Start Here

Not sure where to begin?

Answer what brought you here and how much time you have — this page routes you to the right pages, no guessing required.

Find your path →
02 · History

Where AI actually came from

A sourced timeline from Turing's 1950 paper through this year's frontier releases — 17 turning points, each with primary-source links.

Read the timeline →
03 · Concepts

How it actually works

The mechanics in plain English — neural networks, training, attention, tokens — plus a visual map of how AI, machine learning, and generative AI relate.

Explore the concepts →
04 · Techniques

How to actually use it well

The real working methods: prompt structure, image and video prompting, agent design, and the vibe-coding workflow — with worked examples.

See the techniques →
05 · Use Cases

Concrete tasks, worked examples

Research synthesis, meeting notes, drafting, code help, and more — each with a real example and a named human-review step.

See the use cases →
06 · Tools

Which AI tool should you use?

Ten pages: general assistants head-to-head, plus dedicated comparisons for research, meetings/knowledge, writing, marketing, automation, coding, images, video, and audio/voice tools — all sourced to official pricing and privacy pages.

Compare the tools →
07 · Playbooks

Full workflows, not just tasks

Ten complete playbooks — manual, semi-automated, and fully-implemented versions of each, with build steps, risks, and real KPIs.

See the playbooks →
08 · Templates

Prompts you paste, not forms you fill

Eighteen ready-to-run prompt templates across Strategy, Operations, Marketing, Client Work, and Governance — your AI tool does the drafting.

Get the templates →
09 · Frontier & AGI

Where things stand right now

Today's model landscape, the real numbers behind the hype, and the genuinely unresolved debate about artificial general intelligence.

See where we are →
10 · Library

237 free resources, sourced and searchable

Every resource this project draws from — official docs, papers, and tutorials — organized by topic and searchable by keyword.

Search the library →
11 · About

Who built this, and why

The sourcing standard this project holds itself to, and how to flag a broken link or an error.

Read the about page →
Why trust it

The standard this site holds itself to

Anyone can claim to be "fully sourced." Here's what that actually means in practice, and where to check it for yourself.

Every claim links to a named source

A company's own announcement, a peer-reviewed paper, or an established outlet's reporting — not a vague "studies show." See the sourcing standard in full.

No account, no data collection, no ads

Nothing here is gated behind an email address, and nothing tracks you to sell you something later. That's not a marketing line — check the About page for the actual policy.

Disagreements are shown, not hidden

Where credentialed experts genuinely disagree — like whether current AI is close to AGI — this site presents both sides on the Frontier & AGI page instead of picking a winner.

Who this is for

Built for anyone starting from zero — no background assumed.

Total beginnerswho've never used AI and want the real story, not hype
Working professionalswho want to use AI well, not just talk about it
Students & educatorswho want a citable, accurate reference
Builders & founderswho want the actual techniques, not a sales pitch
By the numbers

What's actually here

76
years of history covered, start to today
17
sourced turning points on the timeline
237
free resources, every one verified and linked
$0
cost to read, use, or share any of it
How to use this site

Three ways to start

Read it front to back

History → Concepts → Techniques → Use Cases → Tools → Templates → Frontier & AGI, in order — about 60–75 minutes for the full picture.

Not sure? Let Start Here route you

Answer what brought you here and how much time you have, and Start Here points you to the right pages directly.

Bookmark and return

The model landscape moves fast. The Frontier page and Library are the pages most worth revisiting as things change.

Ready when you are

Start with where AI actually came from.

Turing, Dartmouth, two winters, and the transformer — the sourced history, in full.

Begin the timeline →
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