New Book Aims to Demystify Artificial Intelligence

Ken Leebow’s career has been spotting technology waves and then explaining them in “plain English.”

Before there was Google, he wrote “300 Incredible Things to Do on the Internet,” a book that helped launch a series that has sold more than three million copies. Now he’s back with “100 Incredible Things You Can Do With AI,” a practical, cartoon-illustrated guide to help “ordinary people” put artificial intelligence to work in their daily lives.

Actually, Leebow didn’t set out to write another book. Once he started researching artificial intelligence, something clicked. “Researching AI gave me the same feeling I had when first exploring the Internet: this technology was going to be transformative.”

Asked about AI’s long-term impact on the job market, Leebow is candid about the limits of predicting, but confident about the pattern. “AI will eliminate some jobs, transform many jobs, and create others,” he said, pointing to history for perspective. In the early 1900s, roughly 40 percent of Americans lived on farms, yet technological change created entirely new industries. His advice for people anxious about the shift: “Start using it, even on a small scale. You don’t have to become an expert to benefit.”

He is focused on how young people use technology and believes parents and educators need clear guidelines, so students use AI “to investigate, question, compare sources, improve drafts, and explore subjects more deeply, not to skip reading, writing, or thinking altogether.”

He points to his own experiment building an extensive Holocaust research file by identifying expert sources, loading them into Google’s NotebookLM, and stress-testing the material with difficult questions from knowledgeable people. The resulting file (no matter your topic) can generate reports, videos, slide decks, podcasts, and quizzes.

“Used properly, AI does not replace learning; it can greatly expand it,” Leebow said. Samples from the project are posted at Leebow.com Creating the Holocaust file was a “labor of love” for Leebow. While he said it was emotional, he has a much stronger feeling his Jewish heritage.

Leebow emphasized two topics: writing stronger prompts and discovering NotebookLM. He has become “an evangelist” for the free Google tool, which he calls, “AI on Steroids.” Despite belonging to one of the biggest tech companies in the world, he notes, most people have never heard of it.

Leebow grew up in New Jersey and headed to the University of Florida to avoid cold weather, where he majored in accounting, despite most of his family having graduated from the University of Georgia. He began his career in 1978 at a CPA firm involved in computers and software, an experience that catapulted him into the tech world. That instinct shaped the new book. Each of the 100 tips comes with an AI-generated cartoon, and the project took about three months of intensive work. The book also connects to Leebow.com. The paperback is $16.95.

Ten Tips from the Book

• Ask AI to improve your prompts — Leebow has created a prompt maker.
• Verify important information — insurance policies, wills, contracts, Medicare manual.
• Create cartoons and personalized images
• Write a brief memoir or family history series.
• Use AI to prepare for medical appointments — keep complete health history in AI.
• Analyze financial questions — corporate annual reports and proxy statements.
• Build detailed travel plans — Leebow has more than 90 resources in his own Paris AI file.
• Translate languages using your phone
• Restore or enhance old photographs. Even “Bubbie” sepia prints from the “old country.”
• Create an expert AI “Brain Trust” about a subject you enjoy.