AI Basics session 1

AI Fundamentals: GenAI World & LLM Landscape

A Comprehensive Beginner-Friendly Guide (33 pages)

AI is everywhere in conversation right now — but most people (including engineers) are throwing around terms like "LLM," "agent," and "context window" without a precise mental model of what they actually mean. This guide fixes that, from first principles.

Written the way a mentor would explain it — not a textbook — this session builds your AI vocabulary from the ground up and takes you all the way to the current (2026) model landscape.

What's inside:

• The real difference between AI, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and LLMs — and why "ChatGPT" and "GPT" aren't the same thing
• How LLMs actually work: next-word prediction, explained simply
• Chatbots vs. AI Agents — the biggest shift happening in AI right now
• APIs, JSON, and how your app actually "talks" to an AI model
• Tokens, context windows, and temperature — the three dials that control every AI interaction
• The 2026 "Big 5" LLMs, and closed-source vs. open-source — which to choose and why
• A practical framework for picking the right model for any task
• 7 FAQs + 14 interview questions to test yourself

Who it's for: Students, developers, and working professionals who want to actually understand AI — not just use it — whether you're prepping for interviews, building AI-powered products, or just tired of nodding along in meetings.

Format: Fully illustrated with original diagrams, comparison tables, and real-world examples throughout. No prior AI/ML background required.