AI User Practice Lab (Track 2)
AI Practice Lab: Co-Creation Study Group
A holiday experiment in human-AI collaboration
Tagline: Come play at the edges of human-AI collaboration, with rigor and not-knowing. Bring your expertise and your willingness to have it disrupted and rebuilt.
What This Is
A 4-session experimental learning space where we tackle real challenges in working with AI. In the Lab, we practice a new kind of approach to AI, one where technology learns to listen and we learn new grounding skills. This isn't about building AI systems, it's about becoming more fluent, intentional, and effective as AI users. We'll co-create the exploration based on what the group needs, with a foundation in practical skills that change how you work with these tools.
Core Topics We'll Explore
Throughout these sessions, you'll practice building things like: daily plans, resource lists, document frameworks, project roadmaps, and step-by-step approaches to complex tasks. We'll explore new perspectives on topics you're wrestling with and learn to have AI expand what's possible, multiply your options, and reveal approaches you might not see alone then let you choose. This is a space for playful experimentation.
AI as Co-Weaver: Collaborating with AI to weave together alternative forms of reasoning. Exploring augmentation and accessing codeless information across hundreds, if not thousands, of people's experiences and patterns
Pattern Fluency (Engaging AI with more knowing): Recognizing what's happening under the hood so you can authentically work with AI's tendencies, or shift them to support you
Prediction vs. Knowledge: How to work with AI's statistical predictions when you're an expert in the topic versus when you're a novice and why your relationship to the subject matter changes everything about how you evaluate and use what AI generates
Learning Plan Architecture: Building a structured approach to explore new domains (we'll use regenerative systems as our case study)
Response Surgery: When AI gives you something off—how do you diagnose it and steer it back on track?
AI as Mirror: Seeing your own patterns, assumptions, and blind spots reflected back. This doesn't make AI "wiser" and it does reveal how you think and where your reasoning might be constrained
The "What Just Happened?" Moments: Questions welcome throughout—if something surprises you, puzzles you, or breaks your mental model, we'll dig into it together
Format
4 sessions, 90 minutes each, via Zoom
Two time options - You have selected Track 2
Track 2: 6:00pm - 7:30pm Pacific Time (PT)
Friday, December 19, 2025
Monday, December 22, 2025
Monday, December 29, 2025
Friday, January 2, 2026
Time zone converter: Find your local time here
Why these dates? We're taking advantage of the holiday slowdown to experiment together at a time when many of us have mental space for learning without the usual work pressures.
Screen-sharing collaboration: Bring prompts, share outcomes, troubleshoot together in a shared space (free tool, everyone can upload into, a link will be provided in each class)
Co-creation approach: Your questions and edges shape where we go deeper
Requirements to Participate
Active paid account with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or AI for Justice (this ensures you won't hit throttling limits during lab time). Brand new to AI tools? You can purchase an account the day before the first session, no experience requirement.
Willingness to share your work: Screenshots of prompts and outcomes with the group to show the differences between tools without having to be in them
Curiosity over certainty: This is a space for experimentation, not polished performances
No technical background required: This is for AI users of all backgrounds—if you can type a prompt and read a response, you're technical enough. Also, experienced users welcome as this type of experimentation benefits from diversity of experience
Device requirement: Please don't use a phone as your primary device. You'll need the ability to be on Zoom while simultaneously prompting and sharing from your AI tool of choice.
Questions or barriers? Message me if you have concerns about meeting requirements, need accessibility accommodations, or feel uncertain about the experimental learning format. I want this to be accessible to everyone who's genuinely curious.
Your Facilitator and Co-Creator
Christy is a fractional CTO, regenerative fellow, warm-data host exploring where generative AI meets ecology and human imagination. She expands exploration at the intersection of earth life and technical innovation. Drawing on more than three decades in tech, big data, neural networks, and enterprise software development most recently expanded through MIT CTO Professional training and MetaRelational AI with Vanessa Andreotti. Also a craft chocolate maker rooted in the Pacific Northwest, she brings the same attention to emergence and process—learning from rain, firs, rivers, and whales as teachers of resilience, rhythm, and renewal.
Why I'm Running This
I lead the AI Practice Lab as a space for relational experiment and grounded ethics, where technology becomes a collaborator rather than just a tool. I get daily questions from people navigating AI in their work and lives. The patterns are clear: most people are underusing these tools or hitting the same walls. This study group is my way of creating the learning space I wish existed, one that honors both the power of each individual and the weirdness of this moment. These initial sessions will also help me discover what works for future AI practices. This field is constantly changing, and we're figuring it out together.
Community Agreements
We're building a space for positive engagement, even when we're wrestling with hard emotions, ethical concerns, or tools that frustrate us. Bring your skepticism, your hopes, your confusion—we'll hold it all with rigor and care.
Specific practices:
Confidentiality: All sharing of materials will be limited to class and archived/deleted at the end of the study group, or anonymized with consent from the sharer for future engagement
Right to pass: You can choose not to share at any time
Generous interpretation: We assume good intent and ask clarifying questions or opportunity for repair
Accessibility: Zoom closed captioning will be available for all sessions, will determine if an AI notetaker will be available for class in each session, only transcripts would be shared if agreement is reached. (no video replay)
Attendance: If you can't attend a session, or want to switch times, please send a message to Christy before session as possible
What This Isn't
Not a certification program — You won't get a credential, but you will get skills
Not vendor training - We're platform-agnostic; bring whichever tool you're using (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, AI for Justice)
Not a technical/programming course - This is for AI users, everyone
Not a lecture series -This is hands-on, collaborative, and responsive to what emerges
Not a sales pitch - No one here is selling you on AI's inevitability or trying to convert skeptics
Not a solved exploration - We're figuring this out together, with structure and intention
Investment
This pilot uses a sliding scale donation-based model Optional and a supportive exchange. Your contribution supports the Lab and helps shape what comes next. Future practice labs or study groups will have official themes (Regenerative, Ethics, or Open Source Collaborative Build) and set costs, and potential guest practitioners.
Regenerative Technology Project Donation link provided in email reminders throughout the series.
How to Join
Registration here required for Zoom session calendar and invitations.
Question or concerns? Send to [email protected]
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What if I'm brand new to using AI tools? A: Perfect! You can purchase a paid account the day before the first session and even cancel it after the Labs complete if you'd like. If you've tried using AI tools a few times and felt confused or frustrated, you're ready. There's no experience requirement.
Q: Do I need to use a specific AI platform? A: No. Bring whichever paid account you have (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or AI for Justice). We're platform-agnostic and focus on transferable skills that work across tools.
Q: I'm a developer/engineer who builds AI systems. Is this for me? A: Absolutely, if you're willing to show up as a user rather than a builder. We're not covering technical implementation, model training, or API integration. This is about the human side: how you respond, prompt, iterate, recognize patterns, and work with these tools in practice. Builders often have blind spots as users, and you are one with opportunities you may not have explored, you're very welcome. Just leave the builder hat at the door.
Q: What about AI tools built into my work software, like GitHub Copilot, Microsoft Copilot, or Grok? A: Those won't work for this setting. We need general-purpose conversational AI tools where you can explore open-ended prompts, iterate freely, and share full conversations. Application-specific AI assistants are too constrained for the kind of experimentation we'll be doing. Additionally, work-based tools often come with organizational limitations on what you can share externally, and we need everyone to be able to participate fully without those restrictions. We're also not here to help people work around or mitigate their organization's AI policies—this space requires the freedom to experiment openly.
Q: What's the time commitment beyond the 90-minute sessions? A: There's no homework. You're welcome to experiment between sessions and bring questions back to the group. I'll be available to answer questions between classes. And there are no assignments or required prep work.
Q: Will sessions be recorded? A: This depends on group consent. We'll decide together in the first session, prioritizing psychological safety and willingness to share openly over documentation. No replays will be made available.
Q: What if I can't make all four sessions? A: The sessions build on each other, so attending all four is ideal. And there is no restriction if you miss one, please come back for the next available one in the series. If you have a conflict or concern before registering. Reach out to Christy and we can explore options together.
Q: What time zone are the sessions in? A: All times listed are Pacific Time (PT). Use this time zone converter to find your local time for the sessions.
Q: How large will the group be? A: Small enough for real collaboration, likely 6-18 participants per track. This ensures everyone has space to share screens, ask questions, and co-create the direction.
Q: What's the "free tool" we'll use for sharing? A: Details will be shared upon registration. Everyone can upload screenshots without needing accounts or complex setup.
Q: I have ethical concerns about AI. Is there room for that here? A: Absolutely. Critical perspectives are welcome and necessary. We're creating space for rigor and skepticism, celebration and concern. Bring your whole thinking.
Q: What does "sliding scale donation-based" mean? A: You decide what this is worth to you and what you can contribute. Donation is optional and a supportive exchange.
Q: Can I bring a colleague or friend? A: Yes, but they need to register separately so we can manage group size and ensure everyone meets the participation requirements.
Q: What happens after the study group ends? A: We'll co-create potential connections or community paths if the group wants them. You can also opt into an email list for future study groups and cohorts.
Q: What if I want to talk to you before committing? A: Reach out through the registration form contact and we'll schedule a conversation.