Get Started With AI Reviews 

Thoroughly informative session from a host who has a sensible philosophy regarding the topic.

Get started with AI - review from Airfield Estate

We did a half day training to a group of people who work in a variety of disciplines. There was a real mixed bag of expertise in the room and the training was pitched at just the right level so that we all learnt something new and left with a better understanding of AI in action!

I recently attended Jonathan McCrea’s AI Bootcamp, and as a university lecturer balancing research, teaching, and admin, I can honestly say it was one of the most practical and impactful trainings I’ve ever taken!

Jonathan has a real gift for cutting through the jargon and explaining clearly where tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity can work for you. The training was grounded in real-life workflows, and we could use our own documents and processes to follow along.

Highlights for me included learning how to streamline admin tasks with simple prompts and using AI – safely and ethically- as a research assistant. Jonathan gave practical guidance on risks, privacy, and how to set guardrails—something very relevant to my field of education. The session on building a custom AI assistant was eye-opening!

The small group setting, excellent follow-up resources, and Jonathan’s communication skills are all big pluses. Honestly, it was the best AI training I have undertaken so far!

Really interesting and thought provoking session. 'Get Started' is a great description as it whets the appetite to know more. The course is also balanced as it highlights some of the pitfalls and does not portray AI as the solution to all problems.

Advice: Think hard about what you want to know in advance in order to get the most out of the session.

I recently attended a Get Started with AI bootcamp and found it incredibly practical and insightful. The session was hands-on, jargon-free, and full of real-world applications I could use straight away. Highly recommend for anyone curious about using AI in their work.

Excellent, practical and relevant introduction to AI. Jonathan is a great communicator and the format and length of the bootcamp were ideal at this stage. Look forward to future sessions on this topic.

Excellent intro to AI, time well spent, thanks Jonathon!

Opened my eyes to how workload can be managed. I attended the workshop not really sure of what to expect, what would be covered and truthfully how it might help me in mostly my work life but also personally and family. The course was extremely informative on a theory level and going home later that day, I honestly wasn’t sure how much of it I would actually bring into my day-to-day life but three weeks or so after the course I have to say it is an integral part of my day and has reduced my stress levels, improved my deadlines, assiseet me in planning events or family, allowed me to look at my finances on my terms and also given me an inside into the pros and cons of something like this in particular with the generation of work reports has transformed how much time I put into these. I can only recommend Jonathan‘s course for his knowledge snd delivery whether AI familiar and already part of your life or brand-new to it like myself.

The Get Started with AI workshop was the most impactful training course that I have done in years. It has opened my eyes to the opportunities and risks associated with AI in a really practical, hands on way. Jonathan is a very engaging presenter and packs a huge amount of practical learning into a half day.

After the excellent session, I used AI to write the review below. I could not agree with it more.
"Get Started with AI" is like having your hand held by a charming cyborg while you tiptoe into the future. Jonathan McCrea makes the complex world of artificial intelligence feel less like Black Mirror and more like a slightly nerdy dinner party—equal parts brainy and banter. A smart session for anyone who's ever wondered if the robots are coming… and whether they’ll be any good at conversation."

During this very hands-on session I learned that AI is an incredibly practical tool we should not be afraid to embrace!
What made the workshop different was the ability to work with my own documents and real work tasks. Seeing how AI can accelerate and streamline some of the more mundane aspects of my role was invigorating! The small group setting and face-to-face interaction meant we could dive deep into specific challenges, and Jonathan provided tailored guidance that made AI feel both accessible and immediately useful.

The session was really useful. It took some of the mystery out of using AI. I got a lot of tips and ideas on how to use AI more effectively, and also info on up-to-date tools. Afterwards, I shared the insights with the rest of my team back in work so they got the benefits as well. Definitely worth it.

Intuitive, instructive, and informative.I approached Get Started with AI with a rudimentary level of understanding of what AI does, how it affects society and what potential it had to shape science and tech in the future but with zero understanding of how it could help me and my business currently (outside trying to name an obscure 80’s tv program using just what theme music played). I emerged with a greater knowledge of how I can implement the various models into my business structure, armed with a suite of apps to integrate into our current systems, make tasks within my daily work schedule easier, and greatly increase the efficiency of my business by taking out the heavy lifting of research and bureaucracy thus saving the outlay of labour and finances which tie up so many SMEs.

I really enjoyed the Get Started with AI workshop for academics and researchers. I have to get to grips with a lot of information in my worklife (and my daily life, somehow). And we all know about AI - it is everywhere, yet somehow nowhere at the same time. What is it? What does it do? How does it do everything? Why does it do everything? etc.
Jonathan's presented a series of useful tools (and clearly - the most useful, he has done his research and kissed the frogs for us all), offering practical examples of how they can be used, and asking the group for suggestions of things to do. We looked at formulating exam questions, summarizing research, finding research based on a subject and a lot more. It has helped me in a couple of ways - I can use AI to find key articles and information related to a subject area, use another system to summarise it and "coursify" it for me - so that I can teach myself something new without spending endless hours googling.
In my daily life - I have helped my daughter with maths homework, and created a prompt that will suggest dinners based on a list of ingredients I give it from the fridge! I heartily recommend it!