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AI Resources for Product Managers

Most resources for learning about AI and LLMs either go too shallow ("just prompt ChatGPT") or too deep (math-heavy research papers). Here's a curated progression organized by depth and time commitment.

Shortcut Resources — High Leverage, Low Time

  1. Intro to Large Language Models (1 hour) — A concise overview of what LLMs are, their importance, and how they're trained
  2. Generative AI for Everyone (2 hours) — A non-technical course in plain language, ideal for PMs without coding experience
  3. How I Use LLMs — Andrej Karpathy (2 hours) — Practical insights from an AI director on personal LLM usage patterns
  4. Deep Dive into LLMs like ChatGPT — Andrej Karpathy (3 hours) — Technical explanation of how these models function

Building on Top of LLMs (Free)

  1. Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) (1 hour) — Connecting LLMs with external data sources
  2. Vibe Coding 101 with Replit (2 hours) — AI-native coding approaches for engineers and non-technical users alike
  3. Evaluating AI Agents (2 hours) — Testing and validation methods for AI systems

Going Deeper: Foundations of Machine Learning

  1. Machine Learning Specialization — Andrew Ng (7-day free trial) — Fundamentals of data, models, and mathematical principles
  2. Deep Learning Specialization — Andrew Ng (7-day free trial) — Neural networks and the scaling principles behind GPT
  3. Stanford CS336: Language Modeling from Scratch — Academic exploration of modern LLM development

Which Path Is Right for You?

Pick based on what you're trying to do:

  • General PM fluency: Start with the shortcut resources, stop there
  • Building and shipping AI features: Go through the "Building on Top of LLMs" section too
  • Need engineer-level depth: Go all the way through the ML foundations