A lot of professionals are being told to “use AI at work,” without being taught how to fully understand or explain what they’re actually doing. This is common. They either dive in and immerse themselves, dabble in it when time allows, or they may not touch it at all.
Let’s face it… AI is amazing. But it’s also not easy to grasp, and that’s where confusion and hesitation creep in. There are a few foundational concepts that could matter more than almost any prompt right now.
Foundational AI concepts for everyday users
- Continuity: This is one of the reasons why an AI assistant feels familiar when you come back. It’s not presence or monitoring, it’s consistent design and instructions.
- Memory: Memory isn’t automatic. It’s information that’s intentionally allowed to persist so you don’t repeat yourself. And by the way, systems like ChatGPT have multiple memory layers, and they all behave differently for our benefit.
- Awareness: This is the big misconception. AI doesn’t know when you’re away, it doesn’t watch you, and it doesn’t operate between interactions. But it does meet you with context, structure, and reasoning the moment you engage it.
- System vs Session: Most people experience AI in isolated sessions, one-off prompts, and disconnected conversations. But the real value shows up when AI is treated as a system, where continuity, memory, and boundaries are intentionally designed over time.
Why does this matter for employees?
Because many people aren’t just learning AI to be more productive, they’re learning it so they can explain how they’re using it at work in a way that sounds responsible, productive, and safe. When you understand continuity, memory, and awareness, AI starts to feel less uncertain, and you’re better positioned to take the driver’s seat.
And that’s when people actually begin using it with confidence.
By Scott MacFarland | YourBrandExposed
Written by Scott MacFarland, founder of YourBrandExposed, helping leaders design and deploy AI assistants for sales and marketing transformation.
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Image generated by OpenAI’s DALL·E via ChatGPT.
