Why this notebook exists

I have spent more than twenty years in enterprise technology, seventeen of them at Akamai, making things work at scale. For the past year I have been writing on LinkedIn, under the name Beyond the Chatbot, about what AI does to organisations. Shadow AI. Tokenmaxxing. The costs that never show up on the invoice.

Somewhere along the way, something started to bother me.

The fundamentals of AI are not that complicated. But they are being made to look complicated. Every week brings another wave of articles that skew the concepts, add a buzzword, and repeat each other. Most of it is noise. Very little of it helps anyone actually understand.

This notebook is my answer to that.

The idea is in the name. Each note takes one thing about how AI actually works, one layer below the surface, and explains it in plain language. A structured, honest attempt at understanding, for anyone who really wants to: companies, executives, engineers, developers, individuals. No jargon unless I explain it first. No numbers designed to alarm you. One idea at a time.

Questions like these. Why does the same question get two different answers? Why does a system that writes beautifully struggle to multiply two numbers? What is a "context window", really, and why does everyone say it as if it were obvious?

A word on where I am coming from.

I am not an AI researcher. I am a practitioner, learning this properly. Over the past year I went back to being a student, through self-study and a professional certificate, and that journey shaped how I think about all of this. What I learn, I pass forward. That is just how I have always done things. People who know me know how excited I get when it comes to teaching and learning.

Which is why the notebook stays on fundamentals. Acquiring knowledge. Building skills. And attitude, because a little of the right attitude changes what you do with the first two.

And I test what I teach. Anyone who has worked with me has heard this more than once: do a practical to back the theory. So every note comes with one. Wherever I can, I run it myself, record what I found, and give practical recommendations. Even when the result is boring. Especially when it is boring.

Think of me as a co-learner and an enthusiast, sharing notes.

especially when it is boring.

How to use this notebook is on the cover: eight sections, thirty-two notes, each with a drawing, a practical, and a short section for those who want to go one layer deeper still. The contents list every note, including the ones not yet written.

The first note begins with the question underneath all the others: what is actually happening when you type a question.

I would love your feedback and suggestions as this takes shape. Tell me what you want to understand, and tell me where you think I am getting it wrong. The easiest place to find me is LinkedIn.