Navigating AI Learning: From Chaos - Confusion to Clarity & Confidence
beyond the hype....de-mystifying learning Gen AI with 5D framework
Guess what?! I have been blessed with prescient powers. You don’t believe me, let me prove it to you. You have had a conversation around AI with your friends, colleagues, while catching up on tea/coffee at the cafeteria or post lunch walk, evening tea, in the office lift, at the recent review. In the recent review meeting, your supervisor has also warned you that if you don’t learn to use AI, then ……. If this was not enough during the Senior Leadership meeting, the IT Head spread enough scare and more confusion leading your CEO to call for consultants to navigate this impending Tsunami!
Do you now believe me?! I have built my own Crystal ball AI agent that gives me a glimpse into both past and future events😊
Okay enough of serious stuff, now let me tell you the fun stuff! Take a deep breath, clear your head and focus…
Like everyone else, I too have been reading/having casual to serious discussions across digital drawing rooms on AI and its impact on individual, jobs, economy and more. There are opinions ranging from ridiculous to sublime. Sample these:
Ab jeene ka koi fayda nahin, AI will soon take over (ok, exaggerating for impact!)
Boss, you don’t use ChatGPT, I use ChatGPT for everything from how to deal with my spouse to how to deal with my boss. My thinking has really improved 😊
I couldn’t attend my alumni meet, guess what I inserted my pic in the group photo, aint it cool?
You still have your own pic on your WA profile, Sis: time to move to AVATAARS & more. Office conversations are even more hilarious, could write a book on those, thus skipping for now.
Amidst this glut of information & dis-information, what do we do? who do we believe in? which influencer to follow? which course to do? Hai Raheem!! ab kya hoga, kya karoon mein? ….Iss office – ghar ke chakravuyh se nikle toh kuch soch payenge. It is ok to feel overwhelmed.
In this write-up, I have attempted a blueprint that might come in handy to:
1) Aid in navigating your AI learning and adoption journey
2) Demystify points about AI
TG for Write-up: Harried People who are termed as “BUSINESS TEAM” by other departments and typically belong to Marketing, Sales, Finance and similar such functions
CAVEAT:
Ø NO expertise of teaching AI as I am neither an expert, nor an aficionado.
Ø Just sharing my learning journey and would like to hear about yours and in the process learn together.
Ø For consumption of non-analytics, non-IT & non-coding folks. You all should & will be miles ahead!
Here goes the Outline of 5D framework:
DEFINE: Definition of AI
DEVELOP: Perspective on AI | Outlook towards AI | Impact on Work
DEVISE: Action Plan: What needs to be done| Expectations from:
· Individual
· Organisation
DO: Execute the action plan
D’ASSESS: (Ignore the D 😊) Review progress & Modify
Providing a 30k feet view, just as a backdrop for understanding
(kindly point out if anything is incorrect/mis-represented)
DEFINE
Definition of AI: While there are many definitions, very simply put, it is a technique of programming a computer to respond to data in the same way as an intelligent being does.
Difference b/w traditional programming (TP) &AI
TP: formulate explicit rules for computer application to follow
AI: train computer application as you would train an intelligent being by giving examples and enabling it to recognise patterns
Thus, DATA & Unified data warehouse is very critical, as the AI models feed on data & learn (this point was drilled into me by my ex-colleague, friend and Analytics wizard)
Remember Computers only recognize (0,1) thus whatever is typed/pasted/ spoken to is converted to (0,1). At the backend it works by generating predictions. IT IS PURE MATH!
Types of AI
ANI: Artificial Narrow Intelligence: AI applications that do one thing like smart speaker, AI in web-search, smart car etc
Generative AI: e.g., Chat GPT, Claude, Gemini, Mid-Journey, DALL-e etc
AGI: Artificial General Intelligence: do anything humans can do (far from this stage)
LLMs: Large Language Models: this is the Global heartthrob currently😊
How do they work? By completing or predicting the next set of words when given a short sentence(prompt)
LLMs are built by supervised/ unsupervised, self-supervised & reinforced learning from human feedback
Besides these, there are zillions of concepts like machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, supervised, unsupervised learning, Learning rate, Gradient Descent and more, if you are interested dig deeper, but will not help you to use AI better or make it an enabler.
DEVELOP
The buzz around AI, especially Generative AI (think ChatGPT, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion), isn't just hype; it's a fundamental shift, much like the internet, computers or smartphones before it. It promises to reshape how we work, create, and even think. But amid all the excitement, chaos & confusion, how do we—as individuals and as organisations—actually embrace this change?
It is extremely important to form a viewpoint on AI by reading blog posts, articles, YT videos from well-recognized sources and not charlatans.
If Gartner’s Hype Cycle (Tech trigger ---- Peak of Inflated expectations----Trough of Disillusionment----Slope of Enlightenment----Plateau of productivity) is to be believed, we are at the “Peak of Inflated Expectations”, in simple words, public is over enthu and believes “AI ke saath sab possible hai”
To understand this feeling: just try to remember when you fell in love for the first time or the time you joined your dream company ….yes! give me a cheer 😊, bilkul, wahi waali feeling. Endless possibilities!!
With this example it would be very clear, however great this phase is, it is time-bound and then life happens!
So how do we view this? What perspective do we form?
For some sectors like Technology, Coding and the likes it is truly serious. You would be reading about layoffs and there is clear and present danger.
SIDENOTE: Reminds me of a Bengali adage “Bishe bishakhoy” meaning, one poison is an antidote to another. For years, Business teams have been held hostile by IT, Analytics on timely delivery of projects etc & look at nature’s justice, those are the first teams to now get impacted and that too by tech! BE NICE TO PEOPLE!
As an Individual, driving NPI, existing product management, customer life cycle management, loyalty, engagement or similar such functions, you need to understand the objective is not to become an AI specialist, objective is to:
1) Prepare yourself to harness the potential of AI in whichever field / function you are operating
2) Hold your own in discussions with Consultant and Transformation teams that may be formed to navigate AI in your organisations
3) Discuss Training plans with L&D team
You would have seen a lot of insta reels and YT videos screaming ‘AI Generalist’. That is precisely what it means. Do not, I repeat, do not, get swayed by acronyms, codes, crazy applications and useless ‘gyaan’ spewed and sprayed by most. Be like a race horse with blinders on, be very clear on what you need to do.
As a Business person belonging to any of the functions like Sales, Marketing, Finance etc it is important to understand and appreciate AI. Often you will be the neck moving the head, thus, be very clear on your expectations / requirements from AI. For the same you need to first learn and be in a position to ask/guide the teams within the organisation. Typically, till now, AI has been used for automation of recurring processes, for reporting & monitoring dashboards, for forecasting, credit underwriting, fraud prevention models to campaign management. Couple of big deterrents that might come in the way of Organisational adoption (specifically in BFSI) of AI is:
Ø Data protection & Security
Ø Lack of clean data and unified data warehouse
CISO and L&D leaders are either your biggest foes or friends in this journey.
In case they are acting as foes, I suggest creating a big hue & cry, kick up a shindy (more than what you would do if you didn’t get a promotion/ expected increment & rating). This could prove to be a make-or-break in your learning journey. You may use personal agency learn all about AI that you need to, ultimately you would need to practise/use it in workplace to get conversant. THIS is CRITICAL.
DEVISE
Once you have developed the perspective, it is now time to devise an action plan, the actual acquisition of knowledge, training.
AI training is a journey and not a destination. It is an intensely dynamic environment with rapid changes, thus do not try to learn it all at once…..not happening and not feasible. Prioritise incisively.
In the recent past while everyone was just coming up the learning curve, there is ‘RAG”, ‘AI Agents’, ‘MCP’ and much more that is bandied about. Don’t get distracted. Stay the course.
SIDENOTE: one of my Bosses used to give a wonderful example of prioritization: If your ground floor is on fire, you cannot afford to discuss the paint colour of the first floor…remember this…
Pick up the basics first, have a conceptual understanding, broadly know how AI works
How is it different from current state? What are organisations & Individuals doing across the globe?
Identify few Influencers (2 – 3) and a few organizations that you would like to follow.
A word of caution, avoid self-styled experts, go to established authorities like Andrew Ng, Laurence Moroney and the likes.
For training programs: Again, companies and institutions like Google, Microsoft, MIT labs etc are good
MOOCs: Massive Open Online courses and lot of free / low fee online courses are available on popular online learning platforms like Udemy, Coursera, edX and the likes
TIP: First do couple of free, either self-paced or ILT (Instructor Led Training) courses, to check your commitment levels. Then spend your hard-earned money for a paid course. Don’t try to do the course for displaying it in your LinkedIn profile or bragging rights 😊
This is at an Individual level, at an Org level, get behind your L&D Team and ask them to design Introductory AI courses….just don’t go for the learning excel, PowerPoint, analytics or digital courses….they are a waste of time and effort. The training needs need to keep pace with the changes and need to incorporate AI. This is par for the course. If push comes to shove, will go the extent of recommending, forsaking the measly increments of 5% to 10% and asking for more budgets for L&D.
CISO, IT infrastructure team are the other important stakeholders. Their conservative approach and non-availability and non-accessibility of AI tools due to Infosec policies may be a huge impediment to using AI @workplace.
SIDENOTE: an anecdote, I have worked in different companies, some required hard numbers on the slide and some required the slides to be attractive..content was secondary😊. I was reasonably good at weaving the overall narrative but was mortified with actually preparing the slides. I was fortunate to have team members who could translate the thought into Dali paintings on slides…always in awe of them😊 Now with AI, people like me can also make passable presentations 😉
The Evolving Workplace – How Gen AI is Reshaping Key Functions
The noise of jobs disappearing is a generalization, for some functions this might be true, yet for some, it might not be. It's more about these tasks / functions transforming. The roles will get smarter, more strategic, and more creative. Here’s a quick look at how different functions are changing and what skills will be needed to thrive.
Digital Marketing & Content Creation:
Old Way: Manually researching keywords, writing every piece of ad copy, creating and resizing every image.
New Way: Using AI Agents to generate a dozen ad variations in seconds, drafting email newsletters, brainstorming viral content ideas, and summarizing customer feedback. Your role becomes a strategist and a human touchpoint.
AI Resources to Leverage:
ChatGPT / Claude: For brainstorming ideas, drafting content, and summarizing long articles.
Midjourney / DALL-E: For quickly generating unique visuals for social media posts or blog headers.
Jasper / Copy.ai: Tools specifically designed for marketing professionals to create high-quality ad copy, blog posts, and product descriptions at scale.
SurferSEO: AI-powered SEO tool that helps in optimizing articles for better search engine ranking.
Critical to note that while Content agencies might be doing this in some form and manner, Organisations utilising their services should push them to adopt more and in the process bargain for quicker TAT, lesser budgets. Final creative call, tone and tenor need to be supervised and cannot be left to AI to decide
Finance & Accounting:
Old Way: Manual / Partially automated data entry, reconciling accounts, and crunching numbers for hours or through legacy reports that have been coded aeons back and any changes or modifications are again given timelines by IT folks that makes even people with steely resolve think twice on the requirement
New Way: Using AI to automate repetitive tasks like invoice processing, flag fraudulent transactions, and generate real-time financial reports. The job shifts to high-level analysis, strategic forecasting, and providing business insights.
AI Resources to Leverage:
Microsoft Copilot: Integrates into Excel to help with data analysis and creating financial models.
Notion AI: Can help organize financial data, create meeting notes, and summarize reports.
UiPath / Automation Anywhere: RPA (Robotic Process Automation) tools that can be configured to automate repetitive tasks like data entry and report generation.
Daily Work & Productivity:
Old Way: Switching between countless apps, manually scheduling meetings, and taking notes in every meeting.
New Way: AI acts as your "second brain," summarizing meetings, drafting follow-up emails, and organizing your calendar. It frees up your mental energy for more important work.
AI Resources to Leverage:
Otter.ai / Fireflies.ai: To transcribe and summarize meetings automatically.
Google Gemini: Integrated into Google Workspace to help with summarizing emails, creating content, and analyzing data in Google Sheets.
Microsoft Copilot: The AI assistant that works across Microsoft Office apps to help with everything from drafting emails to creating presentations.
Above-mentioned are just some illustrative examples to give readers a sense, the possibilities are infinite!
DO
Prior to the executing the action plan, it is important to understand and appreciate a few points:
Cultivating an AI-Ready Mindset: Forget labels such as "I'm not a tech person." With Gen AI, it's about being a curious person / learner.
Focus on Augmentation, Not Replacement
Embrace the Beginner's Mindset
Learn by Doing (Play!) Be fearless: if possible, form a group of like-minded colleagues/friends and share learning. This is a quicker way to learn as onus is not on any one individual
Navigating the Ocean of Resources (Separating the Grain from Chaff)
Look for Reputable Sources: Established tech companies (Google, Microsoft, IBM, OpenAI), online learning platforms and well-known tech journalists & Influencers often provide reliable information.
Prioritise Clarity over Hype: If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Stay away from sensationalisation.
Focus on Practical Applications: For individuals, understanding how AI can help with daily tasks (writing emails, organizing notes, learning a new skill) is often more immediately valuable than diving deep into neural network architectures.
Free vs. Paid: covered earlier in the write up. Start with free then move on to investing in a paid course.
Starting Small, Dreaming Big: Practical Steps for Individuals
Identify a Pain Point: Where do you spend too much time? Writing reports? Brainstorming content? Summarizing lengthy articles? Pick one area where AI could assist.
Choose a Tool: Start with user-friendly Generative AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT for text, Midjourney/DALL-E for images).
Practice Writing Prompts: Learning to "talk" to AI effectively (crafting clear, detailed prompts) is a skill in itself. This is by far the most important point. Try getting the same information with a structured prompt and an unstructured prompt and you will be surprised by the output! Remember “GIGO”. Yes, applies to AI too😊
D’ASSESS: (Ignore the D 😊)
As we discussed earlier learning AI is a journey and not a destination. Rest assured, you will not be able to keep pace with the changes and that is fine. Few points for consideration:
Ø Be ready for continuous learning.
Ø Periodic updation/refresh of acquired skills.
Ø Subscription to a couple of Influencers or AI thought leaders will help you stay abreast with the latest happenings.
Ø It is imperative to work your plan, check on learning milestones that you have set for yourself.
Ø Practice what you learn, use it in your work
Busting the Myths & Clearing the Air
In this section I have attempted to address some of the most common questions and misconceptions that cause all the jitters.
Myth #1: "AI is going to take all our jobs."
Reality: This is the biggest fear and largely a misunderstanding. History shows that technology automates tasks, not entire jobs. Just as the spreadsheet didn't eliminate accountants but made them more strategic, AI will automate the mundane parts of our roles, freeing us to focus on what humans do best: critical thinking, creativity, and emotional intelligence. The demand for "AI-literate" professionals is bound to boom!
Myth #2: "AI is perfect and always right."
Reality: Far from it! AI can and does hallucinate, be biased, and provide inaccurate information because its output is based on the data it was trained on. Humans are crucial for fact-checking, providing context, and ensuring ethical outcomes. Think of it as a brilliant but sometimes unreliable intern who needs human oversight.
Myth #3: "You need a computer science degree to understand AI."
Reality: Absolutely not! While the technical side is complex, the user-facing side is becoming incredibly simple and intuitive. The real skill is not in building the AI, but in knowing how to use it effectively.
Myth #4: "AI is a passing fad."
Reality: Believe this at your own peril. The investment, research, and widespread adoption across every major industry prove this is a permanent and transformative technology.
Closing Thoughts: An Era of Possibility
The future of work isn't about humans vs. machines. It's about humans with machines, working together to achieve incredible things. The most successful individuals and organisations will be those who embrace this change with courage, curiosity, and a commitment to lifelong learning. So, let’s stop worrying about the wave and get ready to dive into a smarter, more creative, and more productive future!
& Even if machines take over, it will not be more whimsical than HUMANS, perhaps that’s what we deserve!