Additions appreciated. • Not intended to be comprehensive.
Designed for business, CRE, AEC, Tech/AI and Natural Resources professionals who worked through the earlier Mainframe, Mini/PC, CADD, Web, Mobile/Cloud revolutions.
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The original Department of Labor Make America AI-Ready course was built fast – and it showed. One pace, one tone, one path for everyone from a retiree trying Google for the first time to a production engineer running automated pipelines. This redesign fixes that.
What is different here:
Three separate tracks – matched to where you actually are with AI today
Entry Day shared across all tracks – common ground, then branching paths
7 days × 10-20 minutes – same commitment, radically different depth
Real tasks, real stakes, real verification – not toy examples
A tiered ROI standard embedded in Track 3: 10:1 minimum, 20:1 for daily workflows, 50:1+ for full deployments – if AI is not saving you serious time, you are not using it right
Not sure about the quiz? Browse all three tracks and choose directly.
TRACK 1 – THE NEWCOMER
"AI Exists – And Here Is Why It Matters to You"
For: Never used AI, or barely touched it. Skeptical, intimidated, or just waiting for a reason. By Day 7: Complete at least one real task with a free AI tool – and judge whether the result is any good. Tone: Warm, patient, no jargon. Single tool. Real-life examples. Hallucination awareness.
For: Uses AI inconsistently. Sees potential but lacks a repeatable system. By Day 7: A working prompt framework, a verified output standard, and a personal prompt library. Tone: Professional, structured, work-deliverable accountability.
Day 1: Entry – Where Inconsistency Comes From
Topics: Generative AI, patterns vs predictions, hallucination, track routing quiz
Day 2: Why Your Prompts Are Inconsistent
Topics: 6-part prompt framework: Role, Context, Task, Format, Rules, Examples; inconsistency root cause
For: Daily AI user. Builds with it, manages teams using it, or runs automated workflows. By Day 7: A governance-ready deployment framework and a tiered ROI measurement standard: 10:1 minimum, 20:1 daily, 50:1+ full deployment. Tone: Technical, architectural, enterprise-accountability level.
Day 1: Entry – The Operator Mindset Gap
Topics: Transformer architecture, generative AI, patterns vs predictions, operator vs practitioner distinction
Day 2: Architecture Literacy – What Is Actually Running
Topics: Transformer self-attention, GAN, VAE, RLHF, fine-tuning, dynamic output problem
The original course – what worked and what did not
The U.S. Department of Labor launched Make America AI-Ready as a 7-day SMS-based course to give working Americans a baseline understanding of artificial intelligence. The initiative was timely and the intent was sound.
What it lacked: differentiation. A first-year warehouse worker and a senior software engineer received identical content at identical depth. The course taught AI verification – yet shipped with a broken exercise and a live tool that failed on a simple ZIP code query during the verification lesson itself. That is the best meta-lesson of the week: even well-intentioned AI training can fail its own standard.
This redesign keeps what worked – the 7-day structure, the daily commitment, the real-task orientation – and replaces what did not.
The ROI standard – what it means and where it comes from
The ROI standard embedded in Track 3 is not theoretical. It comes from a real client engagement: an 8-page list of finance options expanded to 80 pages of documented, formatted content in 30 minutes. The same task, done manually, would have taken a week of hard work. That is 80:1.
But 80:1 is not the floor – it is one data point. The tiered standard:
10:1 minimum. The baseline. If you cannot hit 10:1 on a task, AI is not the right tool for that task.
20:1 – daily workflow target. A repeatable prompt system, used every day, running at 20 units of output per unit of effort. This is where practitioners live.
50:1 – full deployment. A production system like this course website – built in one session, deployed live, serving ongoing users. When the system does the work, the ratio scales.
80:1 and above – exceptional. The real example above. Not every project gets there, but when architecture, prompting, and workflow all align, it happens.
When you spec a new deployment, ask: what is the realistic ROI multiple? If it is under 3:1, deprioritize. If it is over 10:1, build it now.
About this redesign – Prosper Systems, Kenton Johnson
This course was redesigned by Kenton Johnson of Prosper Systems, Denver CO, after completing the full original DOL course in March 2026. Kenton entered Day 1 at 10/10 AI confidence and finished Day 7 at 7/10 – the correct Dunning-Kruger arc. Genuine learning lowers stated confidence because it replaces assumption with knowledge of what you do not yet know.
The redesign was built in a single session using AI-assisted authoring. Combined length of all three tracks: approximately 126 printed pages when expanded. Total build time: one working session. This website itself is a 50:1+ deployment. That is the standard demonstrated.
This course is offered as a public resource. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Labor.
Neither Prosper Systems (PS), nor its Founder, Kenton H Johnson, are licensed Real Estate or Lending Brokers, Securities Dealers or Investment Advisers. However, PS has an Attorney on its Team, and works closely with and engages other licensed individuals or firms as needed. PS makes no warranties or representations as to the quality of an opportunity, the integrity of the Buyer, Owner or associated Collaborators, or the value of a given transaction. PS is acting only as Collaborator with Buyers, Owners or their Collaborators. All due diligence is the responsibility of Investors, Buyers, Owners and their Collaborators.
Prosper Systems, led by
Kenton H Johnson,
is a team of Business, Sales and Technical Operations Consultants
who have the resources and talents to work with projects and businesses that are or will be worth us$2M to $20M+, to facilitate:
Finance as Capital Consultants ala
Startup Steps,
or
Sale as Collaborators ala
Sales.
Prosper Systems is continuing to Collaborate with more Companies, Collaborators and Capital ala More Resources. Referrers are well compensated.
