One real problem. You'll solve it yourself.
Live classes for people who've never done this — and for people who tried once, it went wrong, and quietly stopped. Bring one thing from your week you wish was easier. Leave with it fixed, in your own handwriting.
There is no behind. Nobody in that room already knows. The first ten minutes contain no instruction at all — we spend them on the feeling that this isn't for you, or that using it is somehow cheating. It isn't.
Helping people confidently use AI to improve everyday life.
Most AI education is written by engineers, for engineers, and then diluted for everybody else. It starts with the software and works outward. We do the opposite: we start with a real problem in your actual week and work backward to the tool.
That isn't a softer approach. It's a harder one — and it's why it works.
We also believe the people with the most to gain from AI are, almost without exception, the people least likely to be offered a real chance to learn it. The parent with three kids and no margin. The fifty-eight-year-old whose industry just changed underneath her. The teacher grading papers at eleven at night. The veteran translating a decade of service into a résumé nobody seems to read.
These aren't our charity cases. They're the whole point.
The same five moves. Every class. Every instructor.
Whether it's a class in a library basement or a private class in your building, the shape never changes. That consistency is the whole point of an academy.
- Name it. You say one thing in your week you wish was easier. Not an AI thing — just a thing. It goes on the board, in your words, with your name beside it. That board becomes the lesson.
- Watch it. Your instructor takes one of your problems — not a prepared example — and does it live. Including the part where it goes wrong. On purpose. Because the reason most people quit is that it fails once and they think it's them. It isn't. It does this to everyone.
- Do it. Hands on keys, on your own real problem, with help within arm's reach. Your instructor will never take your keyboard — because the moment they do, they've taught you that you can't.
- Keep it. You write your prompt out by hand, and you save it somewhere you'll actually find it again. Your instructor watches you save it. Nobody leaves empty-handed.
- Use it. One task. In your real life. Within 72 hours — on a named day, at a named time. "I'll do it this week" fails. "Thursday, after I drop the kids" works, and it works about twice as well.
What every class includes
Learning objectives · a printed workbook that works on paper with no device · live demonstration including a deliberate failure · hands-on practice on your own real problem · take-home prompts · a 72-hour assignment · a resource guide · common mistakes · troubleshooting · and one clear next step. Not a catalogue. One.
The guarantee
If a class wasn't useful to you, tell us within seven days and we'll refund it. No form, no argument, no "let me connect you with retention." We'd rather have the feedback than the money.
$15. One number, and that's the whole list.
Held in libraries, senior centers, churches, VFW posts, and school cafeterias — in person and online. A community class is $15. No laptop required; everything works on paper too. You do not have to buy anything afterward, and nobody will ask you to.
AI Foundations
The beginner course, described in full further down this page. Weekly class times are on the schedule below.
AI Life Essentials™
One of the three classes we open with. Dates, times and locations appear on the schedule below as they are confirmed.
AI for Work & Productivity
One of the three classes we open with. Weekly class times are on the schedule below.
These three are where we start, not everything we teach. The full course catalog is further down this page and stays company capability — further classes are opened under the same $15 access, when leadership schedules them.
How we pay for them. Calm Grind Co. is a working business. Revenue from digital products and organizational consulting is what lets us hold community classes at $15. We tell our organizational clients exactly that.
AI Foundations
The front door of everything we do. For the person who has never tried this — or tried once, it went wrong, and quietly gave up.
What happens in the room
$15- The first ten minutes contain no instruction at all
- You'll name one real thing in your week — it goes on the board
- Your instructor will make it fail, on purpose, and show you the recovery
- You'll fix your own thing, with your own hands, on the free tier
- You'll leave with a working prompt in your own handwriting
- One assignment, 72 hours, a named day and time
What you take home
Included- A printed workbook that works with no device at all
- Five fill-in-the-blank prompts you'll use for years
- A troubleshooting page for when it goes wrong — and it will
- Free monthly Office Hours, forever, no booking required
- A certificate that names the thing you actually built
Everything in this class works on the free tier.
You will not need a subscription. If someone told you that you do, they were selling you something. If a community class of ours ever required a paid tool, we'd have quietly reinstalled the exact barrier we exist to remove.
Organized by your life. Not by our software.
The three classes we open with are AI Foundations, AI Life Essentials™, and AI for Work & Productivity. Everything else in this catalog is curriculum we own and can deliver — further classes are scheduled under current governance, and nothing here has been retired.
There is no course here called "Prompt Engineering 101." There's a course called The letter you've been afraid to open. You'll find your own week in this list.
Everyday life
Family & home
Focus & capacity
Work & career
Service & community
Every course says where it takes you — and who it isn't for.
Each class states, on its cover, the level it takes you from and the level it takes you to. And each one has a section headed "this class might not be for you" — which sends people to a different class, and sometimes to a free resource instead. We'd rather you took the right class than paid us for the wrong one.
Every price is on this page.
No "contact us for pricing." An organization that hides its price has decided what you can afford before it has met you.
Community Classes
$15- 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes.
- No laptop required
- Printed workbook included
- Nobody will ask you to buy anything
AI Foundations — beginner course
$15- Live, in person or online. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes.
- Printed workbook, works on paper
- Everything runs on free tools
- Free monthly Office Hours, forever
Private Community Class
$249 to 4 Nov 2026 · then $499- Founding Launch price $249 through 4 November 2026
- Standard price $499
- Our standard curriculum, in your space or online
- Curriculum customised to your organisation is corporate training, from $2,000
Monthly Office Hours
Free · always- Turn up with a question
- You don't need to have taken a class
- No registration, no email required
- Free, permanently
Coaching, workshops and small-group intensives are available on request — talk with us.
They are not part of what we actively market right now, and they carry no published price. The curriculum, the materials and the instructors all exist. Tell us what you need and we will tell you whether we can do it and what it would cost.
We don't sell AI. We build the capacity AI multiplies.
The same eight promises hold in a library basement on a Tuesday night as in a boardroom. That's not a slogan — it's the only way an academy means anything.
- We won't recommend a tool we earn a commission on.
- We won't recommend AI where a simpler fix works.
- We won't hand you a strategy deck and disappear.
- We won't help you use AI to mislead a client, a student, or a reader.
- We won't pretend to have clients we don't have.
- We won't put your email into a drip sequence.
- We won't tell you AI is coming for your job in order to sell you a class about it.
Community classes are $15.
Calm Grind Co. designates a community class as complimentary from time to time; those are announced in advance, not given on request.
The class stays the same.
Every seat gets the same instructor, the same workbook, and the same welcome. There is no lesser version of this.
What's on, and where.
Our three opening classes are listed below. Dates, times and locations are published here as soon as they are confirmed. Can't make it? Tell us and we'll move you. No charge, no questions, no awkwardness.
| Day & time | Class | Where | Price | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Every Monday 12:00 PM ET |
AI for Work & Productivity One of our three opening classes. Instructor: Tracy. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Register |
| Every Monday 8:00 PM ET |
AI Foundations The beginner course. Level 0 → 2. Instructor: Richard Cunningham. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Register |
| Every Tuesday 10:00 AM ET |
AI Life Essentials™ One of our three opening classes. Instructor: Courtney. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Registration is not currently open. |
| Every Tuesday 7:00 PM ET |
AI Life Essentials™ One of our three opening classes. Instructor: Courtney. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Registration is not currently open. |
| Every Wednesday 12:00 PM ET |
AI Foundations The beginner course. Level 0 → 2. Instructor: Richard Cunningham. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Register |
| Every Wednesday 8:00 PM ET |
AI Foundations The beginner course. Level 0 → 2. Instructor: Richard Cunningham. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Register |
| Every Thursday 10:00 AM ET |
AI Life Essentials™ One of our three opening classes. Instructor: Courtney. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Registration is not currently open. |
| Every Thursday 7:00 PM ET |
AI Life Essentials™ One of our three opening classes. Instructor: Courtney. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Registration is not currently open. |
| Every Friday 12:00 PM ET |
AI for Work & Productivity One of our three opening classes. Instructor: Tracy. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Register |
| Every Saturday 10:00 AM ET |
AI Foundations The beginner course. Level 0 → 2. Instructor: Richard Cunningham. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Register |
| Every Saturday 2:00 PM ET |
AI for Work & Productivity One of our three opening classes. Instructor: Tracy. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes. |
Online via Google Meet | $15 | Register |
| Monthly | Office Hours Next date to be announced. Turn up with a question. You don't need to have taken a class. |
Online · no booking | Free · always | Just show up |
We select for patience, not expertise.
We can teach AI to a patient person. We cannot teach patience to an expert — and the most knowledgeable person in the room is frequently the worst possible teacher for a beginner, because they can no longer remember not knowing.
Richard “Richie” Cunningham
Biography to come.
Every Academy instructor
Certified in the Academy Method. Observed on a recurring cycle — forever, not just at the start. Certified never to say the word "just." And certified never to touch your keyboard, because the moment they do, they've taught you that you can't.
Teach with us
Our best future instructors are sitting in our current classrooms — the person who stayed late to help their neighbor, or explained it better than we did. If that sounds like you, tell us. We believe instructors should be compensated fairly for excellent teaching. We are not in the business of extracting margin from teachers.
Nothing yet. And we won't invent any.
This is where the student quotes will go — the day we've earned them.
We could fill this section right now. Everybody does. But one of the things on our "what we will never do" list is that we won't pretend to have clients we don't have — and a fabricated testimonial from an imaginary grateful grandmother would be exactly that.
What we'll publish instead, every year, with no adjectives: how many people we taught. How many took the Community Service Rate. What percentage arrived having never used AI at all. And how many of them were still using what they built ninety days later — including the years that number disappoints us.
An honest zero is a better argument than a beautiful lie, and it's one a sharp person can't catch you out on.
The real ones, from real rooms.
Am I too old for this?
No. And we'd gently push back on the question. The person who got the most out of one of our rooms was seventy-eight — and she was better at it than most of the thirty-year-olds, because she asked properly instead of assuming she already knew.
Is using AI cheating?
No. A calculator isn't cheating at arithmetic. A dishwasher isn't cheating at dishes. A washing machine isn't cheating at laundry, and nobody's grandmother ever felt guilty about one. This is a tool, and you're allowed to use tools. If that thought has been sitting on you — put it down.
Will AI take my job?
Honestly: it's changing a lot of jobs, and it will change more. That's true and we won't pretend otherwise. What we'd say is that the people we've watched do well are the ones who learned to direct it rather than compete with it. That's what you'd start doing in the first class. And we will never use that fear to sell you anything — it's the highest-converting message in this industry, and we've left it on the table permanently.
Do I need to pay for ChatGPT or another tool?
No. Every community class works end to end on free tools. If someone told you that you need a subscription, they were selling you something.
Do I need a laptop?
No. We have spares, and everything in the workbook works on paper. Some people never touch a device in the whole class, and that's completely fine — we'll say so out loud before anyone has to ask.
What if I register and then can't come?
Tell us and we'll hold your seat again. No charge, no questions, no awkwardness. And if the reason you didn't come was that you were nervous — that's the most common reason there is, and it's exactly why the first ten minutes of that class are what they are.
What if the class isn't useful?
Tell us within seven days and we'll refund it in full. No form, no argument. We'd rather have the feedback than the money — and we log every refund reason, because a class that gets refunded is a class we need to rebuild.
I've never done anything like this. Will I be the only one?
No. You will not even be close. Nobody in that room already knows — that's the entire premise, and the first ten minutes are built around it.
Three questions. One click. Nothing to prove.
AI Foundations
Community Service Rate — $10 · Veterans · First Responders · Teachers. No documentation required. By selecting the Community Service Rate, you attest that you qualify.
- Live, in person or online. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes.
- Printed workbook — works on paper
- Everything runs on the free tier
- You leave with a working thing you built yourself
- Free Office Hours, forever
- Paid registration includes access to the instructional recording for 30 days. Participant recording stops before the live Q&A by default, unless separately cleared.
$15 standard · $10 Community Service Rate. For the Community Service Rate, enter code COMMUNITYACCESS at checkout. Questions before or after your class: info@calmgrindco.com · 24-hour response target.
AI Life Essentials™
Community Service Rate — $10 · Veterans · First Responders · Teachers. No documentation required. By selecting the Community Service Rate, you attest that you qualify.
- Live online via Google Meet. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes.
- A maximum of 12 participants per instructor
- Everything runs on the free tier
- Paid registration includes access to the instructional recording for 30 days. Participant recording stops before the live Q&A by default, unless separately cleared.
Registration is not yet open. $15 standard · $10 Community Service Rate. Questions before or after your class: info@calmgrindco.com · 24-hour response target.
AI for Work & Productivity
Community Service Rate — $10 · Veterans · First Responders · Teachers. No documentation required. By selecting the Community Service Rate, you attest that you qualify.
- Live online via Google Meet. 45-minute live class + 15-minute Q&A. Plan for up to 60 minutes.
- Everything runs on the free tier
- Paid registration includes access to the instructional recording for 30 days. Participant recording stops before the live Q&A by default, unless separately cleared.
$15 standard · $10 Community Service Rate. For the Community Service Rate, enter code COMMUNITYWORK at checkout.
What we ask on the form
Your name. How to reach you. And one sentence: what would you like to be easier?
That sentence goes to your instructor, and they read it before you arrive. It's why they'll know your name at the door — and why they'll know why you came.
What we never ask: what you already know about AI. That's a test disguised as a form field, and it ranks the room before anyone has walked in.