Thread by @tyler_agg

everything you need to master AI in 30 days (even if you're not technical):

most people tell you to start by learning how LLMs work under the hood

complete waste of time for beginners

that's like learning how a car engine works before you can drive

this roadmap takes you from zero to actually using AI in your business without drowning in technical nonsense

start with prompt engineering

this is how you talk to AI to get exactly what you want

think of it like giving directions to someone - the clearer
you are, the better they perform

good prompts include:
> what role you want AI to play
> specific context about your situation
> examples of what good looks like
> exact format you want back

here's a basic demo that shows the impact of a good prompt

open ChatGPT, try both of these and you will see the difference:

PROMPT 1:

Write landing page copy for a product that helps people learn faster

PROMPT 2:

"You're a direct-response copywriter.

Write landing page copy for 'FocusBoost' - a web app helping busy professionals learn 2x faster.

Target: mid-career tech/marketing people who want career growth but lack time.

Include: headline, subheading, 3 benefits, call-to-action. "

next: learn how AI connects to your actual business data

this is called APIs and integrations

instead of AI living in a chat window, it can read your:

> customer support tickets
> google sheets
> slack messages
> calendar
> email

this moves the AI from a demo to an actual business tool

understand embeddings (without the tech stuff)

embeddings turn text into numbers that capture meaning

"how do I change my credit card?" and "how can I update my payment info?" are different words but mean the same

embeddings help an AI see they're identical requests

this prevents the AI from treating similar questions like completely different problems

vector databases store millions of these embeddings

when someone asks "tell me about our sales process" the database finds every document, email, or note related to sales

it's like having a perfect assistant who instantly remembers everything relevant from your entire company knowledge base

this is how AI becomes smart about YOUR specific business

function calling makes AI actually DO things instead of just talk

without it: AI writes a response about booking a meeting

with it: AI actually books the meeting on your calendar

examples:
> sends email replies automatically
> updates your CRM
> creates calendar appointments
> processes support tickets

RAG puts everything together into one system

when someone says "book me a call tomorrow at 8am"
here's what happens:

> converts request into meaning (embeddings)
> searches your data for relevant info (vector database)
> figures out the right action (your prompts + context)
> sets the meeting on your calendar (function calling)

and now you have an AI that is fulfilling a manual task

literally master these in order:

> prompting (talk to AI clearly)
> integrations (connect your data)
> embeddings (meaning understanding)
> vector search (smart retrieval)
> function calling (taking action)
> RAG (putting it all together)

and the best part is each step builds on top of each other

the biggest mistake I see people make is trying to build complex AI systems before mastering simple prompts

start with getting consistent outputs from ChatGPT

then connect it to one piece of your business

and then add simple actions around it