AI Associate — Companion Textbook
Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Anthropic or any course, certification body, or AI vendor. See About these books.
This book is being written. The chapter list below is the planned structure; chapters fill in over time. Follow the changelog for updates.
This book is a plain-language companion for the AI Associate track — the everyday professional skills for using AI well in real work.
An AI Associate is a professional who can independently apply AI to everyday work, evaluate its results, use it responsibly, and recognize when human or technical expertise is required.
What this book covers
The Associate track is organized around seven competencies, one chapter each:
- Prompting and task execution
- Output evaluation and validation
- Product and model selection
- Workflow integration and solution design
- Configuration and knowledge management
- Governance, risk, and responsible use
- Troubleshooting and optimization
No coding is required. If you want the conceptual groundwork first, read AI Fundamentals.
How chapters are structured
Plain explanation → worked example → "explain it back" → self-check → key terms.