Built for my mom. Designed for yours.
This course exists because of a real family's real experience with AI, scams, and the gap between capability and understanding.
Erik Newton
I spent my career as an attorney understanding how systems work and how to explain them clearly. I'm also a radio host, which means I've spent years learning how to communicate about complex topics in ways that actually land with people.
I co-founded the California Institute for Machine Consciousness (CIMC.ai) with Joscha Bach, one of the world's leading researchers in artificial intelligence and consciousness. This isn't someone who learned about AI from blog posts. It's someone who helped shape the research.
But here's the honest part: I didn't build this course because I'm an expert. I built it because of what happened in my own family.
Why This Course Exists
My mom Joan is incredibly capable and smart, but the internet and AI just aren't native to her. Whenever I wanted to talk about my work, the concepts weren't landing. The problem wasn't her — it was that nobody had explained it in plain English.
I also built this course for three specific reasons. The first is medical. My wife passed away from cancer, and we spent nearly two years navigating the hospital system together. During that time I used AI to keep us on track — understanding charts, translating complicated concepts for the family, coordinating between specialists. I wanted to teach my mom to use AI the same way for her own medical appointments when I'm not able to be there. That's why this course includes a dedicated Medical Companion module.
The second reason is scams. Before my stepfather passed away, scammers nearly conned him out of his life savings using isolation strategies — my mom noticed his behavior had changed and told me, and we stopped it just before the wire went out. My uncle wasn't so lucky. He lost nearly his entire life savings to a similar scam. I wanted to teach our family how these scams work and how to use AI to spot them before it's too late.
The third reason is financial independence. Now that mom is widowed, she's taking more control of her financial affairs. I use AI to make sound financial decisions, and I wanted her to have the same tool. AI can help immensely with managing tax and financial advisors — that's why this course includes a Financial Companion module too.
That's why I built this course. Not out of theory. Out of experience.
Our Philosophy
Honest Over Reassuring
We don't use fear to sell this course. We don't suggest that you need to “keep up” or that AI is coming to replace you. That's not honest. If something has a problem, we say so directly.
Respect Over Simplification
You've lived a long, complex life. You've learned hard things before. You're intelligent. You deserve to understand the technology — not because you're behind, but because you're curious and capable.
Privacy Over Profit
Your data is yours. We don't sell your email. We don't share your learning data with anyone. We use industry-standard encryption, and our platform is regularly audited for security.