Learn AI, in plain language

Actually understand how AI works

Most explanations of AI are either too technical to follow or too vague to be useful. Our course takes you from "what even is a token" to confidently spotting AI-generated content, in six plain-language modules with diagrams and quizzes. Everything is sourced so you can check it.

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The course

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Six modules, each ending with a short quiz, plus a final exam. Built from the same research as our articles, but structured so each idea builds on the last.

MODULE 01

Foundations

What AI actually is, how the terms fit together, and what's really happening when you talk to a chatbot.

MODULE 02

The Machine's Limits

Why AI confidently makes things up, where bias comes from, and when to trust its output.

MODULE 03

Using AI Well

How to prompt effectively, what to delegate to AI, and how to build it into your work without losing quality.

MODULE 04

Using AI Ethically

Disclosure, honesty, other people's work, and knowing when not to use AI at all.

MODULE 05

Spotting AI Content

How to recognise AI text, images, and video with your own eyes, and what detection tools can and can't do.

MODULE 06

The Costs of AI

Energy and water, jobs, and the flood of synthetic content, the real downsides, sized honestly.

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How does AI actually work?

What's really happening when you chat with an AI like ChatGPT. A clear, jargon-light explanation, from tokens to next-word prediction.

Explainer

Why has AI improved so fast?

In a few years AI went from a curiosity to writing essays and code. What actually drove that leap.

Explainer

How does AI generate videos?

AI can turn a sentence into a video. A plain-English explanation of how, from random noise to moving pictures.

More reading
How to spot AI-generated writingWhy is AI detection so difficult?How to tell if an image is AI-generatedHow Wikipedia's editors became the best AI detectorsAre AI detectors actually reliable?AI detectors compared: what each is good at
About

Why Telltale?

A telltale is the small thing that gives someone away. AI has telltales too, and understanding them starts with understanding how the technology works underneath.

Most explanations of AI are either too technical to follow or too vague to be useful. The aim here is the middle ground: explain how these systems actually work, in ordinary language, and point to the research so you don't have to take our word for it.

If you want to understand what AI is doing without wading through a maths paper or a press release, that's what this is for.