A free 8-week curriculum to build real AI fluency — no coding required. Focused on business, entrepreneurship, and building a portfolio of real projects.
A practical, hands-on guide to building real AI fluency
Each week has a 1-hour lesson to work through, followed by 3–4 hours of hands-on exercises and a mini-project to complete independently. Weekends are for the project.
Every tool used in this curriculum is either free or has a free tier sufficient for the exercises. No paid subscriptions required. No coding required.
Each week produces a tangible deliverable — a market analysis, a business plan, a pitch deck, a website. By Week 8, you'll have a portfolio of 6+ real projects.
AI is a thinking partner, not a replacement for thinking. Every exercise emphasizes judgment, verification, and adding human insight on top of AI output. The goal is fluency, not dependency.
Write a one-page document (using an AI to help draft it, but with your own thinking and edits) that busts 5 common AI myths for your classmates. Examples: "AI is smarter than humans," "AI will take all jobs," "AI always tells the truth." For each myth, explain the reality. This becomes Portfolio Piece #1.
Build a Google Doc or Notion page with your "Top 10 Prompts" — reusable prompt templates for tasks you care about (homework help, brainstorming ideas, summarizing articles, writing emails, etc.). Each prompt should include the template, an example, and a note on why it works. This is a living document you'll keep expanding all summer.
Pick an industry or trend you're curious about (e.g., AI tutoring, sustainable fashion, esports, plant-based food). Use Perplexity and ChatGPT to research market size, key players, growth trends, and consumer demographics. Compile a 2-page "Market Opportunity Brief" — the kind a real startup founder would write before launching a product. Portfolio Piece #2.
Write a 600–800 word blog post about the market opportunity you researched last week. The catch: write the first draft entirely yourself. Then use AI to get feedback, improve it, and polish it. The final product should be clearly yours, but demonstrably better because of how you used AI in the process. Document your drafting process (before/after). Portfolio Piece #3.
Create a 10-slide pitch deck for a business idea (real or invented) using Gamma AI as a starting point, then customize in Canva or Google Slides. Include: problem, solution, market size, competition, business model, team, and a clear ask. This is the kind of deck real founders show to investors. Portfolio Piece #4.
Design and build a Notion-based "command center" for your hypothetical business. Include pages for: daily tasks, customer research notes (with AI summaries), a content calendar, and a competitive tracker. Set up at least one Zapier automation that feeds data into it. Portfolio Piece #5.
Choose one of these, or pitch your own idea:
Use AI to find a product opportunity, write copy, design branding in Canva, build a simple one-page site (Carrd.co or Lovable), and create a marketing plan. Go from idea to "ready to launch" in one week.
Research a niche topic, use AI to help write and edit 3 issues, design them in Canva or Substack, and send to friends/family. Build a real subscriber list.
Identify a genuine problem in your school or community. Use AI to research it, propose a solution, build a presentation, and pitch it to someone who could actually implement it (a teacher, local business owner, etc.).
Use Lovable or a similar AI app builder to create a functional web app that solves a problem you care about — a study group organizer, a local events finder, a personal finance tracker.
A live portfolio page with all your projects, an "about me" section, and your AI Journey essay. Share the link. This is the thing you'll put on applications — tangible proof that you understand AI, can use it effectively, and think critically about it. That puts you ahead of 99% of applicants your age.
You don't need to be an AI expert. This curriculum is designed to learn by doing. Many of the exercises work great with a study partner, but they're equally effective working solo — compare approaches with a friend, classmate, or parent if you can.
Focus on the discussions. The exercises build skills, but the discussion questions build judgment. AI fluency isn't just knowing which buttons to press — it's knowing when to trust the output, when to push back, and when to do the thinking yourself. Those conversations are the most valuable part.
Embrace the struggle. Resist the urge to give up when a prompt doesn't work. The process of trying, failing, and iterating is exactly how prompt engineering skill develops. A bad result is a learning opportunity, not a dead end.
Make it real. If the capstone project involves a real business idea, a real community problem, or a real audience — even a tiny one — the motivation and learning multiply dramatically. An email newsletter with 12 subscribers is infinitely more educational than a hypothetical one with none.
Free tools and references used throughout the curriculum