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🎄 December 24: Final Day! A Journey Through AI, Reflections, and Next Steps

🎯 Objective:

Celebrate your progress, reflect on your learning journey, and prepare for continued growth with AI tools.

🏆 Congratulations!

If you've made it through all 24 days, give yourself a huge pat on the back. You've developed a foundation in AI literacy that puts you ahead of most. Think of today as the closing ceremonies of our AI exploration journey—a time to reflect, celebrate, and look forward.

📝 Challenge: Set Your AI Journey Goals

Use this advent calendar as a launchpad for growth. Here's how to structure your planning:

Personal Development Goals

Brainstorm 3 goals focusing on:

  • Skills you want to develop
  • Areas you want to explore
  • Tools you want to master

Professional Integration Goals

Identify 3 ways to thoughtfully incorporate AI into:

  • Daily workflows
  • Project planning
  • Creative processes
  • Learning and development

Example Reflection Prompt

"I'd like to create a structured plan for integrating AI into my professional practice. Help me explore:

1. Current workflows where AI could add value
2. Skills I need to develop
3. Boundaries I should establish
4. Potential risks to mitigate
5. Success metrics to track

Consider my role as [your role] and my goal to [specific objective].Ask me additional questions to help you tailor your plan for me as you see fit."

✨ Reflections on AI & Societal Change

The development of AI is moving at a blistering pace - what was science fiction in 2022 is now available in consumer tools, and what's experimental today will likely be commonplace by next year. As humans, we tend to normalize these advances quickly, making it easy to miss the exponential nature of this growth. We're living through a fascinating period where tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are already matching or exceeding human performance in various domains, and we're all collectively figuring out what this means in real-time.

I like the analogy my colleague, Tim Lindgren, uses which is to think of AI as a 'bicycle for the mind.' Recently, given the rapid advancement in AI capabilities, I've started thinking of it more as a 'supercar for the mind'. The potential is extraordinary, but realizing that potential requires developing new skills and judgment. I believe that with the right intention and thoughtful approaches we can all learn to be better drivers of this technology.

Key Questions to Consider:

  1. What problems can AI help me solve?
    How can your domain expertise and unique insights help you ask better questions and build better systems?

  2. How can I build my AI muscle?
    Like any skill, using AI effectively requires practice, experimentation, and iteration.

  3. What role should AI play in my life?
    Everyone's relationship with AI is different. Whether it's an occasional assistant or a daily collaborator, find what works for you.

💡 My Biggest Tips & Takeaways

If you're still unsure about AI or struggling to see where it fits into your work, here's my most important advice: start by using AI to get feedback on your work. This is the lowest-hanging fruit that most people overlook. Even if you don't end up using AI's suggestions directly, asking for feedback with proper context will almost always spark ideas to move you in a helpful direction.

A few key takeaways from my AI journey:

  • AI isn't overhyped, but its value is deeply personal - shaped by your unique context, expertise, and goals. What makes AI transformative for one person might make it merely useful for another.
  • Your creativity and ingenuity in surfacing relevant knowledge, resources, and context for AI tools will set you apart. Think of yourself as an orchestrator, bringing together the right pieces for AI to work with.
  • The ability to curate and structure information for LLMs is, for now, a crucial skill. The difference between basic and exceptional AI use often lies in how well you can feed it the right context.
  • The real magic happens when you shift from seeking output to seeking input. Use AI to refine and challenge your ideas, not just generate content.
  • Build your AI intuition gradually. Start with small experiments, learn from the surprises (both good and bad), and keep iterating.
  • Scale your thinking. Instead of tweaking one email, generate dozens of variations. Rather than brainstorming a few ideas, explore hundreds of possibilities. LLMs thrive on scale—tap into their capacity to explore an entire universe of options quickly and effortlessly.
  • AI isn't a mindreader - the art of effective prompting is about clearly communicating your needs and requirements. The more specific you are about what you want, the better your results will be.
  • Don’t forget, AI can be fun! Embrace the playful side of AI. Try out different personas, write silly stories, or frame questions through the lens of your favorite characters. Often, the best explanations and insights come from these more creative, unconventional approaches.

🛠️ Building Your AI Toolkit

Getting Started with AI Tools

Freely Available Tools:

  • Google AI Studio (An incredible no-cost entry point with access to high token limits and cutting-edge models 🤯)
  • Claude (Free tier with strong reasoning capabilities)
  • ChatGPT (Free tier with broad functionality)
  • NotebookLM (An incredible no-cost research, writing, and study tool)
  • Perplexity (Free tier with real-time search integration)

Boston College Community Access:

Boston College Law School Access:

Premium Options to Consider: When you're ready to take your AI usage to the next level, consider investing in a premium tier of your preferred platform. For approximately $20/month, you can access:

  • Higher rate limits
  • Longer conversations
  • Advanced features like custom GPTs, projects, personalization, or advanced Voice with ChatGPT
  • Multimodal capabilities (files/image/code/data analysis)
  • Priority access during peak times

My recommendation? Start with the free tiers to discover which interface and capabilities best match your needs. Once you've identified your preferred platform and are consistently pushing against free tier limits, or find that free tier features are not meeting your needs, that's the time to consider a premium subscription. The productivity gains and quality of life improvements can far outweigh the cost for regular users.

🌟 Looking Forward

This isn't the end—it's a beginning. The tools, tips, and lessons you've explored over the past 24 days are just a fraction of what's possible. Remember:

  • Your judgment and creativity are more valuable than ever
  • The best AI use comes from thoughtful experimentation
  • Stay curious and keep learning
  • Focus on using AI to augment, not replace, your skills

Let's make the next year one of growth, curiosity, and creativity. Happy holidays, and may your journey with AI continue to inspire and empower you! 🎉

🎁 Special Parting Gift: AI Learning Resources

As a final gift, here's a curated collection from watching literally hundreds 😬 of hours of AI content. Heavy on AI literacy and productivity, with sprinkles of technical, educational, and legal insights. While not comprehensive, each resource here has earned its place by offering unique value in understanding AI capabilities, applications, and implications.

🧠 AI Working Knowledge & Insights

Deeper conversations about effective AI usage and capabilities:

💼 Professional Applications

Real-world implementations and business cases:

🎓 Industry Perspectives

Expert discussions and insights:

🔬 Technical Deep Dives

For those interested in the technical foundations:

📺 Recommended YouTube Channels

Regularly updated content sources:

🐦 Key Voices to Follow

Expert perspectives on AI developments:

🤔 Critical Perspectives

Important cautionary and analytical views:

📚 Additional Resources

  • Top Hat - Educational resources and implementation guides
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