Artificial Intelligence 101 - Fundamentals
November 2026 edition
This course introduces you to generative AI from scratch over two sessions, in person in Madrid or live online, with a group of up to 16 participants. You will learn how language models work, how to design effective instructions and how to validate what AI generates with sound judgment, guided by practicing consultants from Singular Beacon.
Syllabus
Session 1 (Thursday 26 November, 18:30–20:00): blocks 0–1. Session 2 (Friday 27 November, 16:00–19:00): blocks 2–5.
Block 0: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
The concept and paradigms of AI, historical evolution, neural networks and the origins of generative AI, and the current landscape and future impact.
Block 1: Architectures and foundations of generative AI
Principles of generative models, large language models (LLMs), the transformer architecture, capabilities and limitations, and the current model landscape.
Block 2: Instruction design and prompting
The structure of a prompt, iteration and refinement techniques, using examples, practical cases in real contexts and ethical considerations in instruction design.
Block 3: The ecosystem of tools and platforms
Categories of platforms, conversational assistants, integration into digital applications, multimodal capabilities and criteria for selecting tools.
Block 4: Use cases and practical applications
Generating and transforming content, analyzing and synthesizing information, task automation, custom assistants and integration into workflows.
Block 5: Risks, ethics and the future of AI
Structural limitations and hallucinations, responsible use, copyright, the EU AI Act, the Spanish regulatory framework and professional digital skills.