Beginner6 lessons · ~3h · Foundation tier
AI & LLMs for Marketers
A plain-English course in how AI language models actually work — training, RAG, hallucination, and knowledge cutoffs — so you can make smart AEO decisions grounded in how the machines really behave.
By Burke Atkerson, Founder & Principal AEO Strategist
Course preview
Flip through the AI & LLMs for Marketers deck for a two-minute overview before you start.
What you'll learn
- ✓Explain what an LLM is and how it generates answers.
- ✓Describe how models are trained and where their knowledge comes from.
- ✓Explain retrieval-augmented generation and why it powers answer engines.
- ✓Understand why models hallucinate and how grounding reduces it.
- ✓Connect base vs. search-augmented models to your AEO strategy.
Syllabus
- What Is a Large Language Model?Every AI assistant runs on an LLM — a model trained to predict the next token. This lesson demystifies what that means and what it doesn't.Reuses: What Is a Large Language Model (LLM)?
- How LLMs WorkTokens become embeddings, attention weighs context, and the model predicts the next token. This lesson walks the loop from prompt to answer.Reuses: How Do Large Language Models Work?
- How AI Models Are TrainedModels learn in stages — pretraining, fine-tuning, RLHF — from huge amounts of text. This lesson shows where their abilities and blind spots come from.Reuses: How Are AI Models Trained?
- How AI Answers Are Built (RAG)Retrieval-augmented generation is how answer engines stay current and cite sources. This lesson connects RAG directly to how you get cited.Reuses: How Does Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) Work?
- Why AI Gets Things WrongModels hallucinate because they generate plausible text, not verified truth. This lesson explains why — and why grounding and evidence are the defense.Reuses: Why Do AI Models Hallucinate?
- What This Means for MarketersBase models are frozen and can't cite you; search-augmented models retrieve live sources and can. This lesson turns the mechanics into your AEO strategy.Reuses: Base vs. Search-Augmented AI Models: What's the Difference?
Foundation tier · Tier 1 Certificate
Finish all 6 lessons to earn your Tier 1 Certificate.
Complete every lesson and pass the knowledge checks to claim a shareable Tier 1 Certificate — proof you've mastered AI & LLMs for Marketers. Practitioner certificates stack toward full AEO mastery.