Understanding AI: A Practical Guide

by Stephen Wu, a retired engineering manager, spent several years building AI workflows for his teams and now trying to make AI something everyone can understand and use successfully

You've heard about ChatGPT, Claude, and other AI tools. Maybe you've tried them once or twice, or maybe you're just curious about what they can actually do. Either way, you want to understand how AI might fit into your daily life, without the hype, without the technical jargon, just practical information about what works and what doesn't.

What This Guide Covers

AI tools are conversation partners that help you think through problems, understand information, and get things done. We'll walk you through what AI can actually do for you, how to use it effectively, and what limitations you need to understand.

You'll learn practical skills: how to start using AI if you've never tried it, how to decide when AI will help versus when doing something yourself is faster, and how to tell when AI's giving you good information versus when you need to double-check or look elsewhere.

How to Use This Guide

We've organized this guide into three main areas:

Getting Started with AI If you're new to AI or have only tried it a few times, start here. We'll show you what AI is actually good at, how to get started, and how people use AI in their daily lives.

Common Use Cases Once you understand the basics, explore specific ways AI can help you: writing and communication, learning new things, solving problems, and saving time on routine tasks.

Understanding AI's Limitations AI has real limitations. We'll explain when AI gives wrong answers, what risks to be aware of, and what AI simply can't do (even though you might expect it to).

Who This Is For

You don't need any special knowledge or experience. You don't need to understand how AI works technically. You just need to be willing to try something new and learn what's useful for you.

Getting Started

The best way to understand AI is to use it for something real. Pick one task you're working on this week. Maybe you need to write an email, understand something confusing, plan a project, or learn about a topic. Try using AI to help. See what happens. Adjust based on what works.

You'll develop intuition through practice, not by reading about it. This guide gives you the framework, but you'll learn what actually helps by trying it yourself.

A Practical Approach

We focus on what actually works in practice, not what's theoretically possible or what might happen in the future. This guide is based on how real people use AI tools today: for work, for learning, for personal tasks, and for creative projects.

You won't find hype about AI replacing jobs or changing everything. We'll give you concrete examples, specific prompts you can adapt, and honest explanations of what AI does well and what it struggles with. The goal is to help you make informed decisions about when and how to use AI in your own life.