Eight weeks of learning AI

Over the Christmas break, I wrapped up my 8-week course AI for Work and Life at the University of North Florida. Not in Florida (thankfully), but from my cozy sofa, via the internet.

I took it because I’m curious about AI and wanted a solid foundation. In the translation world, I keep hearing the same question: “Are you for or against AI?”

As if reality fits neatly into two boxes.

AI is already a part of our lives, and the real question isn’t “for or against”. It’s when, how, and with which checkpoints.

And that’s exactly what this course helped put into words.

Besides covering ethical topics like privacy, bias, and governance in high-impact areas like law, finance and healthcare, it also explored hands-on, practical use of AI tools in everyday life and work. These systems are only as good as the data you feed them and the prompts, rules and review steps you put around them. Garbage in, garbage out. Period.

For Swedish transcreation, AI is still a no from me. Sure, it can speed up certain steps, but it can’t replace human expertise, not when the work is intent, context, culture, and sounding like an actual person.

That boundary actually made me reflect on how AI is most useful to me: by supporting admin, structure, planning, quick summaries, getting unstuck, and stopping my brain from running 35 tabs at once. It frees up mental space and energy for the creative work.

And on that topic… I’m soon to launch a very creative project involving AI. (Mysterious wink)

More on that soon. Until then:

The course was genuinely interesting. I’d recommend it, and it’s free. Have a look here: AI for Work and Life Certificate.