Thinking or Predicting? How AI Actually Works

We are excited to welcome Ann Marie Guzzi, who wears many hats, including Founder and Board Member of The Upskilling Labs!

What you will learn
Most people learn AI by trial and error: type something in, hope for the best, and tweak until it works. This workshop takes a different approach. You’ll learn how AI actually works, in plain language and with no technical background required, and use that understanding to change how you work with it.

When you know what’s happening under the hood, you can think clearly about how to prompt it: what to include, what to leave out, and why a small change in wording changes the result. You’ll also learn to evaluate what comes back, spotting where the output is strong, where it’s likely to be wrong, and what to check before you rely on it.

You’ll leave ready to move from doing to directing: setting the goal, giving the right context, and guiding AI toward work you can trust.

Bio: Ann Marie Guzzi is a product and operations leader who helps early-stage founders turn ambitious ideas into durable, scalable businesses. As Managing Partner of Dalmatian Ops, she provides hands-on fractional operations support and strategic guidance to pre-seed and seed-stage, venture-backed companies—enabling founders to stay focused on product, customers, and growth. She is also a co-founder and board member of The Agora Initiative DC, which works to increase venture funding for female founders in the DMV, and serves as Treasurer of The Upskilling Labs.

About The Upskilling Labs

Ready to be part of it? Join the community of hundreds of Upskillers (and growing) today.

The Upskilling Labs (https://theupskillinglabs.org/ is an open, project-based learning community where you build real things with real people. Every quarter, we run a Build Cycle themed around an industry—participants form pods around real problems, develop AI-enabled solutions together, and showcase what they've built. No credentials required. Just show up ready to learn alongside others.

The Upskilling Labs records then transcribes workshop and keynote events with AI for marketing purposes.