AI FoundationsEssential

Understand AI properly, once.

Tools and models shift every few months. The fundamentals don't. Learn how LLMs actually work and how to work with them, and everything above — up to agents and complex workflows — gets easier to reach and harder to be misled by.

Already use AI? You probably still need this.

A year of ChatGPT doesn’t mean you understand AI. It means you’re used to it. Those are different things.

I really enjoyed the sessions and found the tools and frameworks extremely practical and useful. The way you broke down prompt structure, templates and the shift in how we work with AI was particularly valuable.
AI Foundations participant, Australian Government department

This isn't the beginner's consolation prize. The ceiling on what you get out of AI — agents, complex workflows, the genuinely impressive stuff — is set by how well you understand what's underneath. Tools and models change every few months; the fundamentals don't. Get them right and every new capability opens up, and every new tool gets easier to pick up and harder to be misled by. Skip them and you're guessing — back to zero with each new headline. A year of ChatGPT doesn't change that: it means you're used to AI, not that you understand it.

Built for

  • Professionals new to AI who need to use it at work
  • Leaders making decisions about AI in their organisation
  • Teams wanting a shared baseline for how to think and talk about AI
  • ChatGPT users who feel they don't really get it
  • Anyone heading toward agents and advanced use who wants the groundwork to actually exploit it

Not the right fit if…

  • People ready to build their own agents and multi-agent systems — see AI Fluency
  • People looking for structured analytical methodology for strategic work — that's our Build services, not a course
  • People after domain-specific applications (investment, legal, sector-specific)
Two Sessions

Two sessions. Concepts paired with techniques you can use straight away.

By the end of Session 2 you’ll have built a reusable AI tool — a template or Claude Project — entirely in your browser, nothing to install.

Session 01

How it works, and how to work with it

The ground under every tool: what an LLM actually is, why it behaves the way it does, and how to work with one without being misled — closing on your first practical move, asking so you get work you can actually use.

Session 02

Getting real work out of it

From one-off questions to real output: context as the core lever, reusable tools you build once and keep using, and seeing the model's worldview so you can prompt around it — ending on the wow that makes people rethink what this is for.

Pricing

Individual ticket

A$995AUD, ex GST

One seat. Two weeks of live sessions.

  • Two live online sessions, 2 hours each
  • Practical moves woven through every session
  • You build reusable templates and Claude Projects in your browser
  • Recordings to revisit between sessions
Buy now

Team / group

5+ people
from A$795per person, AUD ex GST

Team pricing is by enquiry. Easier to sort together than at checkout.

  • Two live online sessions, 2 hours each
  • Practical moves woven through every session
  • You build reusable templates and Claude Projects in your browser
  • Recordings to revisit between sessions
  • Enterprise invoicing and purchase orders
  • Half-day in-person intensive for teams
Enquire for your team
Bundle

Bundle: AI Foundations + AI Fluency

Planning to go further than the fundamentals? Take Foundations and Fluency together. 6 sessions over ~4 weeks.

A$2,750

Save A$695 vs buying separately

Buy bundle

All prices AUD, ex GST. Team pricing depends on group size and format; we’ll confirm on enquiry.

Instructor
Sam Barton

Sam Barton

AI Lead, Dragonfly Thinking

AI Lead at Dragonfly Thinking. Spends most days wiring up agents and tools the team uses. Background in complex systems and philosophy, with a decade in startups before this. Teaches Foundations from the ground the tools stand on, not from the tools themselves.

Format & Logistics

Online

2 × 2hr over 2 weeks

Two live sessions, 2 hours each, across two weeks. Concepts paired with hands-on moments — by the end you've built a reusable AI tool in your browser, nothing to install.

  • Live online sessions, not pre-recorded
  • Hands-on moments you follow in your own browser
  • You build reusable templates and Claude Projects — nothing to install
  • Recordings to revisit between sessions

In-person (teams)

By arrangement

We also run Foundations on-site for teams — a half-day intensive, same ground, tailored to your people and their actual work. Format and pricing vary with group size, so get in touch and we'll shape it around you.

  • Tailored to your team's context
  • Pricing to suit your group size and format
Enquire about in-person
Frequently Asked Questions
Course Pathway

Understand AI properly, once — the mental models and limits under every tool. Recommended before Fluency, not required.