Professor: Sikh Archive · Source: sikharchive.net/courses
A practical, plain-English introduction to using today's AI tools well and responsibly — the assistants, image tools, model choices, and the new 'connectors' that let AI act for you.
AI went from a novelty to an everyday tool faster than almost any technology before it. This course is a calm, practical map: what the main tools are, what each is good at, and how to use them with good judgment — no hype, no jargon.
You don't need to be technical. By the end you'll be able to pick the right tool for a task, write clearer prompts, and understand the new wave of 'agentic' tools that can take actions for you.
Chat assistants are the front door to AI. You type a request; they respond. The skill is in how you ask: give context, say what good output looks like, and iterate.
Rule of thumb: treat the assistant like a sharp, fast intern. Be specific, review its work, and never paste secrets or private data you wouldn't want stored.
Modern assistants can generate and edit images from a description. The craft is describing subject, style, composition, and lighting clearly, then refining.
Always keep cultural and religious imagery respectful and accurate — AI can get sacred details wrong, so verify before sharing.
There isn't one 'best' AI — different models lead at different things and the leaderboard changes monthly. A good habit in 2026: match the model to the task (writing vs. coding vs. images vs. cheap-and-fast).
OpenRouter is a single doorway to many models from different companies — handy for trying options without separate accounts. Start cheap and small; reach for a frontier model only when the task is hard.
The newest shift is agentic tools that don't just answer — they take steps to complete a goal (research, write code, edit files). OpenAI's Codex-style tools can act like a tireless assistant working through a task list.
Power comes with care: give clear goals, review what they did, and keep a human in the loop for anything that matters.
Connectors (often built on the Model Context Protocol, MCP) let an assistant securely reach your files, calendar, or apps — so it can work with your real information instead of guessing.
Security first: only connect what you need, review permissions, and never grant write access you can't undo. This same care is how we built this very university.
Pass with 80% or higher to complete the course and unlock the next one.
Read the primary sources for yourself — the Gurbani in our read-along reader, and the original works in the source library.