AI 101
A practical guide for clinicians and medical learners getting started with AI. Work through the topics at your own pace—build the skills to evaluate, supervise, and thoughtfully integrate AI into your practice.
We start not with theory, but with practice. Get hands-on with AI tools that can immediately improve how you consume medical literature.
Start HereA practical on-ramp using NotebookLM—learn to transform dense PDFs and hour-long lectures into digestible formats you can use today.
Foundations
Build core mental models for understanding AI systems: what they're made of, how they succeed and fail, and why bias is structural rather than accidental.
How LLMs Think Like Clinicians
Both are probabilistic pattern-completion systems. Understanding the parallels helps you reason better and use AI tools effectively.
PHI, HIPAA, and AI
Why AI creates genuinely new privacy challenges—direct PHI, indirect re-identification, and shadow AI that bypasses every safeguard.
The Art of the Ask
Prompting LLMs effectively—how to communicate with AI tools to get outputs that actually help your clinical work.
The Big Three
ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini—your practical guide to today's leading foundation models and how to choose between them.
Bias, Ethics, and the Training Data Problem
AI doesn't introduce bias—it inherits, encodes, and scales the biases already embedded in our data. Understanding why is essential.
AI 101 for Medical Learners
A practical guide for students and trainees—how to use AI tools effectively while building (not bypassing) clinical reasoning.
Using AI
Practical guides for integrating AI tools into your clinical workflow and everyday life.
Clinical Decision Support Tools
From UpToDate to OpenEvidence: how to access, evaluate, and integrate AI-powered clinical decision support into your workflow.
Ambient AI Tools
Scribes in day-to-day practice: how they work, where they fail, and how to use them without compromising patient care.
AI-Powered Search
Answer engines, deep research, and knowing when to just Google it—navigating the new landscape of finding information.
AI Image and Video Creation
From patient education to practice marketing—visual AI tools that work, how to use them effectively, and their limitations.
Everyday Ways to Use AI
AI beyond medicine—contracts, spreadsheets, marketing, research, and building custom tools that work exactly the way you want.
When Patients Use AI Too
Understanding, partnering with, and guiding patient use of AI health tools—turning a clinical challenge into an opportunity.
Vibe Coding
Building software without writing code: what it is, how to get started, and where it works brilliantly vs. fails spectacularly.
So...What Next?
You've built a foundation. Now find your path, keep learning, and start building things that matter.
Resources
Additional resources exploring broader considerations in clinical AI.
AI's Environmental Footprint
Understanding the energy costs of AI systems and what healthcare organizations should consider when deploying these technologies.
Running AI Models on Your Own Computer
Technical guidance for running medical AI models locally—for privacy, offline access, and understanding how these systems work.
AI Glossary & Learning Resources
The acronyms you'll actually encounter—from foundational concepts to specialized terms—plus curated courses, podcasts, and references.
How to Use This Guide
Work through the topics at your own pace. The sequence is designed to build on itself—foundations first, then practical applications—but feel free to jump to topics most relevant to your practice.
Who This Guide Is For
- Clinicians in practice who want to get started with AI tools
- Medical students, residents, and APP students building foundational AI literacy
- Healthcare professionals who want to evaluate AI systems with appropriate skepticism
- Anyone who needs to explain AI to patients, colleagues, or administrators
No Credit, No CME
This is a free educational resource. There are no certificates, CME credits, or formal assessments. The goal is practical knowledge you can apply—not credentials.