Welcome, Class 2: 2,000 learners from 70 countries
TL;DR: On Monday 2 November, Class 2 of Introduction to AI and LLMs started with 2,000 learners from 70 countries. That is twice the size of Class 1, which started seven weeks earlier. Here is the video we made to welcome them, what they will learn, and why it matters.
2,000 people. 70 countries. Same course, same session, same day, and it costs them nothing.
Class 1 started on 14 September with 1,005 learners from 51 countries. We filled its 1,000 seats in less than 24 hours, and the learners rated it 4.8 out of 5. Seven weeks later, Class 2 is twice as big. It is our biggest class so far, and I couldn’t be happier.
Four weeks, no code
Four sessions of 90 minutes a week, then a fifth day for the weekly quiz and catching up. Over the next four weeks, Class 2 will:
- Install a free AI model on their own phone or computer, and run it with the internet off.
- Open the boxes, and find the hidden instructions behind the AI apps they use every day.
- Learn to ask clearly: task, context, format, audience.
- Spot when the AI makes things up, test which way of asking wins, and keep their own judgment.
By the end, AI stops being a slot machine and becomes a tool they control.
Why it matters
Two reasons. The first is jobs. Will AI take yours? Maybe one day; nobody honestly knows. What is certain today is smaller: the person who takes your job will be someone who uses AI better than you do.
It is no longer only what I believe. It is what the data shows. 71% of business leaders would rather hire someone with less experience and AI skills than someone with more experience and none. Jobs that ask for AI skills pay 62% more on average.
The second reason matters even more to me. Too many people use AI in a way that makes them worse: they stop thinking. In a 2025 MIT Media Lab study, most people who wrote an essay with ChatGPT could not correctly quote a sentence from it right after.
That is brain rot. We teach both sides: get more out of the machine, and never let it think for you.
Built as a team
This is the first class we did not fill alone. We now have 22 education partners: universities, student tech clubs, non-profits and companies. They hold free places in our classes for their people, from refugees in Kalobeyei, in northern Kenya, to aviation professionals across Africa, teachers in Kilifi and a volunteer engineering community in Pakistan.
At least nine of these partnerships are led or championed by people I taught at ALX. Three came from graduates of our own Class 1. The learners are now bringing the learners. That is the part I love most.
Next stop: 1,000,000
Our first milestone is 1,000,000 learners by 2030. Two classes in, we are at about 3,000, or 0.3% of the way there. Good. We like hard things.
To Class 2: welcome. To our partners: thank you. Cheers to us all.
Sources
- Microsoft and LinkedIn, “AI at Work Is Here. Now Comes the Hard Part” (2024 Work Trend Index), 8 May 2024.
- PwC, “2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer”, 15 June 2026.
- Nataliya Kosmyna et al., MIT Media Lab, “Your Brain on ChatGPT”, 2025.
Read what the video says
- 第二期 始動 (Class 2 begins). Class 2, Day 1. Introduction to AI and LLMs. Starts today, Monday 2 November 2026.
- 2,000 learners from 70 countries. One class, one start day.
- The flags of all 70 countries. One class.
- What you’ll learn: 4 weeks. Free. No code. 16 sessions of 90 minutes, with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Grok.
- Week 1, Two machines: run AI offline, on your own phone.
- Week 2, Opening the boxes: find the hidden instructions.
- Week 3, Asking clearly: task, context, format, audience.
- Week 4, Your own judgment: spot when AI makes things up. Keep your own mind.
- Why? 71% of business leaders would hire someone with AI skills over someone with more experience (Microsoft and LinkedIn, Work Trend Index 2024).
- 62% more pay for jobs that ask for AI skills (PwC, Global AI Jobs Barometer 2026).
- 自分で考えろ (think for yourself). Use AI. Don’t let it think for you. No brain rot.
- 仲間と、一緒に (together, as a team). Built as a team, with our 22 education partners, their logos one by one. Free seats for their learners. Thank you.
- The impact is spreading. 百万人へ (towards a million): 1,000,000 learners by 2030. Class 1, September 2026: 1,005. Class 2, today: 2,000 more. Every learner counts. Let’s go.
- Welcome, Class 2. Cyberiad Labs. Understand AI. Stay human. Free, at cyberiadlabs.com.