AI for beginners
You’ve heard about AI from the news, the family, or someone at the golf club who swears by it. You’d like to know what the fuss is about, but you don’t want to be sold to, and you’d rather not break anything or hand over your details to something you don’t understand.
That’s an entirely reasonable position, and it’s a good starting point. We’d work on your own computer or tablet, at your pace, on things you actually want to do.
- What it actually is. In plain English, with no mysticism. Why it sounds so confident, and why that confidence means nothing.
- Trying it safely. Setting it up without handing over more than you need to, and knowing what it keeps.
- Things worth using it for. Drafting an awkward letter, explaining a bill or a form, planning a trip, summarising something long and dull.
- Checking what it tells you. The single most useful habit, and the one almost nobody is taught. It will invent things, confidently, and you need to be able to catch it.
- What to keep well away from it. Medical, legal and money questions, and anything involving your personal details.
- Your questions, however basic. There is no such thing as a daft question here. If something hasn’t clicked, we go again.
Sessions are at your home or online, whichever suits you, and charged at my usual support rates. There’s no extra charge for the subject being fashionable.
How to spot AI scams
This is the part I’d encourage everyone to sit through, whether or not you ever intend to use AI yourself.
The same tools that draft a letter can clone a voice from a few seconds of audio, write a convincing email with no spelling mistakes left to notice, and put a familiar face in a video. The old advice about watching for clumsy grammar doesn’t help much any more, so it’s worth knowing what to check instead. None of this is cause for alarm. It’s just a few new habits.
- The phone call that sounds like family. How voice cloning works, why it’s convincing, and the one simple arrangement that defeats it.
- Emails and messages that look right. What to check now that the obvious errors have gone.
- Photos and videos. What can be faked, what still can’t, and how much to trust your own eyes.
- What to do if you think you’ve been caught. Who to ring, in what order, and why acting quickly matters more than feeling embarrassed.
I’ve delivered online safety sessions for pupils, parents and school staff. This is the same work, brought up to date.
AI for small businesses
You keep hearing that AI will save you hours, and you can’t tell whether that’s true for a business like yours or whether it’s people selling software. Fair enough.
I’ll sit down with you, look at how you actually spend your week, and give you a straight answer. Sometimes that answer is “two of these jobs, yes, and here’s how”. Sometimes it’s “not yet, and here’s why it would cost you more than it saves”.
- Where it would genuinely help. Usually quotes, routine emails, summarising documents and first drafts, rather than anything dramatic.
- Where it would not. Said plainly, with reasons, so you can stop wondering.
- The data rule. What must never go into these tools, particularly anything about your customers. This matters more than any trick I could show you.
- Getting your staff on the same page. A short, sensible set of ground rules rather than a policy nobody reads.
- A written summary. What we agreed, what to try first, and what to leave alone.
If it turns out there’s nothing worth doing, I’ll tell you that and we’ll leave it there.
I advise on sensible practice, not legal compliance. If your business handles sensitive personal data, take proper data protection advice as well.
Talks for local groups
If you run a library, community group, U3A, church or anything similar, I’m happy to come and talk to a room rather than one person. It’s a gentler way in for anyone who’d find booking a stranger into their home a bit much, and the questions are usually better in a group.
Spotting AI scams is the talk most groups ask for, but I’m happy to cover the basics as well. I teach during the week, so talks are evenings, weekends or half term. There’s a flat fee for the session, with the same travel arrangement as any other visit: nothing within 10 miles of Corsham. Get in touch to book and we’ll agree what would be most useful for your members.
Prices
- One to one, at your home. £50 for the first hour, then £25 per half hour.
- One to one, online. £40 for the first hour, then £20 per half hour.
- Small business review. 90 minutes with a short written summary afterwards, £75. That is the usual on-site rate, not a premium.
- Talks for local groups. A flat fee, agreed when you get in touch.
- Travel. No charge within 10 miles of Corsham, then 45p per mile each way.
These are my usual support rates, and no VAT is added. You pay after the session.
When I’ll tell you not to bother
Plenty of jobs are faster without AI, and some are actively worse with it. If what you want to do falls into that category, I’ll say so during the first conversation rather than after you’ve paid me for an afternoon.
I’m also not going to tell you it will change your life. It’s a useful tool with real limitations, rather like a spreadsheet, and understanding the limitations is most of the value.
