AI Literacy Foundations:
Understanding the Technology Behind AI

AI as the Design Enabler
Innovating for Meaningful and Sustainable Impact

AI is everywhere but most of what's written about it skips straight to the hype or retreats into jargon. These four short modules take a different approach: grounded, honest, and built for people who work alongside AI rather than build it.

From the first neural networks to today's autonomous agents, you will leave with a clear mental map of what AI actually is, how language models work under the hood, and what it means for the way you work.

What You Will Gain

  • Understand how AI developed from symbolic rule systems to today's large language models and why that shift matters
  • Build a working vocabulary for concepts you'll encounter in every AI conversation: hallucinations, agents, benchmarks, RLHF, alignment
  • Explain how language models actually generate text. Not magic, but measurable statistical reasoning
  • Recognise what AI agents are doing when they act autonomously, and what guardrails you should expect

Who This Course Is For

  • Anyone curious about what AI actually is (no technical background required)
  • Professionals who hear AI discussed at work and want to follow the conversation with confidence
  • Managers and team leads who need to make sense of AI before making decisions about it
  • Learners considering the full Introduction to AI Transformation for the Workplace programme who want a feel for the content first


Series Structure

Four self-contained modules designed to be completed in sequence or independently. Each takes approximately 10–15 minutes and combines a short animated video, one or two interactive activities, and a knowledge check.
Think of this as a taster. If these modules spark your interest, the full Introduction to AI Transformation for the Workplace programme is the next step.

Ready to go further? Continue your learning with the full AI Transformation programme.

These four modules give you the conceptual grounding. The full classroom programme is where you put it into practice. With guided instruction, peer discussion, and hands-on work using the actual AI tools reshaping your industry.
The full programme covers:
  • AI Literacy Foundations (this free series is a taster for what follows)
  • AI in the Workplace: Concepts and Motivation
  • Applications of AI for Everyday Work
  • Getting Quality Outputs from AI Tools
  • Applications of AI for Data Handling and Analysis
  • Responsible and Ethical Use of AI Tools
Introduction to AI Transformation for the Workplace
Classroom and asynchronous e-learning · PACE@SP · SkillsFuture eligible
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