Exercises and gates

edit_noteThe degree's exercises

1. Your tasks and machine limitsUnit 1 · A world that learns without youschedule1 h 5 minexpand_more

   Unit 1 · A world that learns without you

   1 — Thinkschedule15 min

   Write down three tasks you carry out weekly that take more than an hour. Against each one put: is it essentially knowledge, judgement, or relationship?

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   Task one: screening CVs for open posts — three hours a week — essentially knowledge. Task two: final interviews with candidates — two hours — essentially judgement. Task three: the follow-up session with new starters — an hour and a half — essentially relationship. What I took from it: the first is what will change first; the third no AI system will take from me.

   2 — Try it on the toolschedule20 min

   Ask an AI system to explain a subject you know thoroughly. Record: what it got right, what it got wrong, and what looked right and was wrong.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   The subject: storing vaccines in the cold chain at the pharmacy where I work. What it got right: the need for a daily temperature log, and never keeping vaccines in the fridge door. What it got wrong: it said a vaccine frozen by mistake can be used once it thaws. What looked right and was wrong: it gave one shelf life for an opened vial across all vaccines, when it differs by each vaccine's leaflet — and it wrote it so confidently I nearly copied it.

   3 — Apply it in your fieldschedule30 min

   Find a documented case where AI failed in your profession. Where was the point of failure: in the tool, or in whoever trusted it?

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   My profession: a journalist on the business news desk. The case: a technology news site published dozens of articles written by an AI tool, then had to correct many of them after readers found errors in the figures and calculations. The point of failure: whoever trusted it. The tool makes arithmetic errors, as expected; the real failure was editors publishing without review. What I will do: no figure goes out under my name before I have opened its source myself.

2. Your myths and data ruleUnit 2 · Seven myths holding you backschedule30 minexpand_more

   Unit 2 · Seven myths holding you back

   1 — Thinkschedule5 min

   Put a mark against the myth you used to believe. If you find none, read it again.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   The myth I used to believe: the fourth, "what I type into it stays private". The evidence: last month I pasted my whole class's marks sheet, with the pupils' names, to ask for an analysis of their results. What I will change: I replace the names with numbers before any analysis, or do it in a spreadsheet on my own computer.

   2 — Try it on the toolschedule15 min

   Ask for a specific academic reference in your speciality, with author and year, then check whether it exists at all.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   What I asked for: an academic reference on the prevalence of diabetes among older people in Egypt, with author and year. What it gave me: three references, each with an author, a year and a journal. What I found in the hospital library's database: the first exists; the second has a real author but no such paper; the third has no trace at all. The result: one correct reference out of three, and all three written with the same confidence.

   3 — Apply it in your fieldschedule10 min

   Write one rule beginning "I will never put in…", named to the kind of data your profession handles.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   My profession: an accountant at an audit firm. My rule: I will never put clients' account statements, their bank account numbers or their financial statements before publication into any public AI system — not even with the names removed. Why "not even with the names removed": in a small market the figures alone are enough to identify the client.

3. Your diagnosis, checked by othersUnit 3 · Where do you stand? The diagnosticschedule55 minexpand_more

   Unit 3 · Where do you stand? The diagnostic

   1 — For the gateschedule20 min

   Colour the matrix honestly, and write today's date underneath it. It is half of this degree's gate.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   I coloured the matrix in pen in my work notebook, stopping at the first description that honestly applied to me. People: 2 — knowledge: 3 — system: 1 — impact: 1. The date underneath: 12 October 2026. My note: I know the terms better than I build anything with them — I am a maintenance engineer, not a programmer, and it shows.

   2 — Try it on the toolschedule20 min

   Ask an AI system to test you on the terms you claimed to know — with applied questions, not definitions. Correct your estimate.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   The terms I claimed to know: hallucination, the context window, and tokens. I asked it for five applied questions from my work in marketing, not definitions. The result: I got hallucination right, and got two questions on the context window wrong — I assumed the system remembers last month's campaigns from an old conversation. My corrected estimate: knowledge down from 3 to 2.

   3 — Apply it in your fieldschedule15 min

   Ask a colleague who knows your work to rate you on "system" and "impact". The gap between their rating and yours is the most useful piece of information in this degree.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   Whom I asked: Sara, who has coordinated programmes with me at the charity for three years. My own rating: system 3, impact 2. Her rating of me: system 1, impact 2. Her reason: "You use the tools well, but you haven't built anything anyone else uses." The most useful thing I learnt: a two-degree gap on system, and that is where I start.

4. Your route, scope and contractUnit 4 · Your plan: from the map to the climbschedule40 minexpand_more

   Unit 4 · Your plan: from the map to the climb

   1 — Thinkschedule15 min

   Look at the weakest dimension you coloured in your matrix, and from the routes in "How to use this programme" pick the one that starts from it. Write down, by number, the first three units you will read.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   The weakest dimension I coloured: knowledge (1). The route I picked: the non-technical professional — 1 → 2 → 3 → my field's unit → 4.4 → 5 — because it goes through the foundation first. The first three units I will read: 2.1, then 2.2, then 2.3. My profession: an emergency department nurse; I read a unit every two days after my shift.

   2 — Apply it in your fieldschedule15 min

   Name the scope you lead, where you will work the gates of degrees four, five and six: your team, department or project. Write its name, how many people are in it, and who holds authority over it. If you lead nothing at work yet, a volunteer or community initiative you lead is a scope of leadership too.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   The scope I lead: the mathematics department at the secondary school where I am deputy head. How many people are in it: nine teachers and one administrator. Who holds authority over it: the head teacher, Mr Ahmed — and I have told him I will work the gates of degrees 4, 5 and 6 with the department.

   3 — For the gateschedule10 min

   Fill in the contract in this degree's gate, then send the date to the person you named — today, not tomorrow.

   lightbulbAn example

   One possible answer, to show what a good one looks like; write yours from your own work.

   My weakest dimension is: knowledge. I will start at degree 2, unit 1. I will finish its gate before: 30 November. The person I will show the output to is: Dr Khaled, head of the civil engineering department. I sent him this today at four o'clock: "I'll show you my page on how a machine learns before 30 November."