I’m learning for myself.
Begin with a personal experiment, then examine what made it useful.
When AI brought a dream to life →Try building something →Decide what is worth building →An open-access book by Kyle Bylin
From AI literacy
to AI fluency.
Learning, Teaching, and Creating with Purpose.
22 complete essays. Practical experiments. A place to think about what AI makes possible—and what is worth doing with it.
Continue readingFree to read · No account needed · Open working edition
THE OPEN WORKING EDITION / 2026An experimental framework
The AI Fluency Loop
Begin with something you want to understand, create, or improve. Choose how AI can help, experiment, check the result, and use what you learn in another situation.
- 01
Define your purpose
Choose a meaningful goal and what you want to learn.
- 02
Choose your approach
Decide where AI belongs, which tool fits, and what stays with you.
- 03
Experiment with AI
Make a small attempt, give useful direction, and compare approaches.
- 04
Check and improve
Use evidence, experience, and feedback to judge and improve the result.
- 05
Apply what you learned
Explain your choices and adapt your approach to a different task.
Build skills and judgment you can bring to the next task. Learn on your own or with a class, colleague, or librarian.
Explore the framework and ways to practice →Choose your starting point
Read for the question in front of you.
I’m teaching AI.
Connect an activity to a learning outcome and evidence of understanding.
Become a trusted guide →Learn through design →Build an imagination lab →I’m planning for my library.
Explore access, institutional change, and futures you can prepare for.
The next chapter for libraries →Libraries 2045 →Keep risk and uncertainty visible →A companion timeline / 1950–2045
The moments behind the essays.
Follow the releases, research, and predictions that shaped these questions—from the imitation game to Kurzweil’s singularity horizon.
Explore the timeline →The complete book
Four parts. 22 essays.
Chapter 016 essays
Learning to ask better questions
- 01Dad, You Can Talk to the Internet↗
June 9, 2023
- 02The Generative Generation↗
June 2, 2023
- 03Intelligent Machines: Why AI Literacy Is The Key to The “New” American Dream↗
December 23, 2023
- 04Trusted Guides: How Academic Libraries Can Bridge the AI Divide↗
LibTech Insights · March 24, 2025
- 05The Dream Machine: Becoming in the Age of Intelligence↗
April 1, 2025
- 06The Intelligence Gap: Why AI Skills Alone Aren’t Enough↗
Substack · June 7, 2025
Chapter 026 essays
Teaching through making
- 07AI Corps: A Vision for Spreading Artificial Intelligence Literacy to Every Classroom↗
October 19, 2024
- 08My Adventures in Teaching AI Fluency to College Students: A Case for Design Literacy↗
LibTech Insights · May 11, 2026
- 09Building the Imagination Lab: A Manifesto for Libraries in the Intelligence Age↗
LibTech Insights · September 8, 2025
- 10The Intelligent University: Reinventing Higher Education in the Age of AI↗
November 1, 2025
- 11Reinventing the LibGuide with Natural Language Programming↗
LibTech Insights · January 21, 2026
- 12The Rise of Vibe Coding: When Anyone Can Build Anything↗
February 4, 2026
Chapter 035 essays
Creativity as a learning laboratory
- 13The Future of Creativity: Human Expression in the Social Age↗
May 18, 2023
- 14When AI Brought My Songwriting Dreams to Life↗
November 22, 2024
- 15Let 1,000 AI Startups Bloom: Why the Time to Disrupt the Music Industry Is Now↗
Hypebot · December 15, 2023
- 16The Imagination Age: Music After the Generative AI Creative Big Bang↗
Hypebot · May 11, 2026
- 17Music 2045: Will Musicians Be Extinct in a Decade?↗
Hypebot · March 30, 2026
Chapter 045 essays
Preparing for what comes next
- 18The Next Chapter: Academic Libraries Enter the Intelligence Age↗
LibTech Insights · February 3, 2025
- 19The Superintelligence Race: How Libraries Can Prepare Students for the Next Era↗
Substack · August 12, 2025
- 20Libraries 2045: What Will the Next 20 Years of Libraries and AI Look Like?↗
LibTech Insights · March 16, 2026
- 21Why AI Literacy Isn’t Enough: Higher-Ed Must Teach AI Risks as Powerful AI Looms↗
August 24, 2025
- 22AI Fluency: When Anyone Can Build Anything, What Is Worth Building?↗
October 7, 2026
Ideas you can explore
Step from the page into a project.
Project visit / Chapter 9
Applied AI Academy
An essay can make the case for a new kind of library learning experience. A guide has to help someone actually begin. As you explore this project, notice the path from a question to an explanation, then from an explanation to something the learner can try. Where does the learner have to make a judgment of their own?
Explore the live project ↗
Project visit / Chapter 17
Music 2045
I wanted the conversation about AI and music to have somewhere to go beyond a single essay. A timeline lets a reader move between earlier technological changes and possible futures. But that design also creates a responsibility: the reader needs to know when the page has moved from a documented event to a scenario.
Explore the live project ↗
Project visit / Chapter 20
Libraries 2045
A future library is easier to imagine when we remember how many times libraries have already changed. I would use this project to begin a conversation with colleagues, then bring the conversation back to the people our library serves. Which parts of the future we are imagining respond to their needs? Which parts simply reflect our excitement about technology?
Explore the live project ↗Infinite Stream / The podcast
Keep the conversation going.
Listen to conversations with educators, librarians, and people exploring what AI makes possible. Meet all seven guests, hear the episodes, and follow their questions back into the book.
Explore Infinite Stream →
About the author
Kyle Bylin
Kyle Bylin is a librarian, writer, and creative technologist exploring how new tools change the way we learn, create, and share ideas. His work moves between music, higher education, and academic libraries, following a question that runs through this book: what becomes possible when more people can turn their curiosity into something real?
A former Hypebot editor and Billboard writer, Kyle has worked in user research at Live Nation Entertainment and SoundHound. He earned his Master of Science in Information at the University of Michigan in 2024 and now serves as Research and Assessment Librarian at Saginaw Valley State University, where he participates in the university’s AI task force.
Through his writing for Choice’s LibTech Insights and projects such as the AI Guide, Music 2045, and Libraries 2045, he helps readers explore AI literacy and fluency through questions, experiments, and things they can make.