# Generative AI For Beginners | Everything You Need To Know To Start Building Generative AI Applications

**URL:** <https://onehack.st/t/generative-ai-for-beginners-everything-you-need-to-know-to-start-building-generative-ai-applications/289375>\
**Category:** Tutorials & Methods\
**Tags:** freebies, ai\
**Created:** [August 19, 2024, 9:29pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/generative-ai-for-beginners-everything-you-need-to-know-to-start-building-generative-ai-applications/289375 "2024-08-19T21:29:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Aina](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/aina/32/167469_2.png) [@Aina](https://onehack.st/u/Aina)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 9:29pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/generative-ai-for-beginners-everything-you-need-to-know-to-start-building-generative-ai-applications/289375/1 "2024-08-19T21:29:31Z")

</div>

![image](https://onehack.st/uploads/default/original/3X/0/c/0c063a0fd853bf6d38d31b9b0168fe8e4053f679.jpeg)

### 18 Lessons teaching everything you need to know to start building Generative AI applications

[![GitHub license](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/51ae50f8447c8fa30eec56f916d115c12aafdb9bf27440abb9b298a855780ad8/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f6769746875622f6c6963656e73652f6d6963726f736f66742f47656e657261746976652d41492d466f722d426567696e6e6572732e737667)](https://github.com/microsoft/Generative-AI-For-Beginners/blob/master/LICENSE?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) [![GitHub contributors](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/9c8ab54ce1b12012d8cde5ae6df2cacc641fee457c43bb78adb20bf4185e7774/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f6769746875622f636f6e7472696275746f72732f6d6963726f736f66742f47656e657261746976652d41492d466f722d426567696e6e6572732e737667)](https://github.com/microsoft/Generative-AI-For-Beginners/graphs/contributors/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) [![GitHub issues](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/ab1c4077ce31786d49afd596b3144e3b29d1cb59ae4e164cea6d4da0dbad35ea/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f6769746875622f6973737565732f6d6963726f736f66742f47656e657261746976652d41492d466f722d426567696e6e6572732e737667)](https://github.com/microsoft/Generative-AI-For-Beginners/issues/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) [![GitHub pull-requests](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/b88cb88bbcc65e1958d29caeafd8e110659a4657852dd9d8586d9c94dc9b7c84/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f6769746875622f6973737565732d70722f6d6963726f736f66742f47656e657261746976652d41492d466f722d426567696e6e6572732e737667)](https://github.com/microsoft/Generative-AI-For-Beginners/pulls/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) [![PRs Welcome](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/a5ceaa9e114c16d2c7cfd7ef62032b26b6eb47b61b1263ae4ebc5497fedd45b2/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f62616467652f5052732d77656c636f6d652d627269676874677265656e2e7376673f7374796c653d666c61742d737175617265)](http://makeapullrequest.com/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)

[![GitHub watchers](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/195fc0e04988ee317e4d89a81cb7a5e010b3201dd7ded9f97aedb16b8632d121/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f6769746875622f77617463686572732f6d6963726f736f66742f47656e657261746976652d41492d466f722d426567696e6e6572732e7376673f7374796c653d736f6369616c266c6162656c3d5761746368)](https://github.com/microsoft/Generative-AI-For-Beginners/watchers/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) [![GitHub forks](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/5a5c9883bc0006d8d199a62b05a6fb43079738eeec20b9200f971c34ead7b60f/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f6769746875622f666f726b732f6d6963726f736f66742f47656e657261746976652d41492d466f722d426567696e6e6572732e7376673f7374796c653d736f6369616c266c6162656c3d466f726b)](https://github.com/microsoft/Generative-AI-For-Beginners/network/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) [![GitHub stars](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/f6f5450b5f58330541f1c4c3c65c75a7f5541bc29f10220624370c6140177ddb/68747470733a2f2f696d672e736869656c64732e696f2f6769746875622f73746172732f6d6963726f736f66742f47656e657261746976652d41492d466f722d426567696e6e6572732e7376673f7374796c653d736f6369616c266c6162656c3d53746172)](https://github.com/microsoft/Generative-AI-For-Beginners/stargazers/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)

[![](https://camo.githubusercontent.com/7bfaa0d7494c852305c58ef9a9f565a13ef9d36aed813ce839e78cf4b408eec2/68747470733a2f2f646362616467652e76657263656c2e6170702f6170692f7365727665722f42795277754545674834)](https://aka.ms/genai-discord?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)

# Generative AI for Beginners (Version 2) - A Course

Learn the fundamentals of building Generative AI applications with our 18-lesson comprehensive course by Microsoft Cloud Advocates.

## 🌱 Getting Started

This course has 18 lessons. Each lesson covers its own topic so start wherever you like!

Lessons are labeled either “Learn” lessons explaining a Generative AI concept or “Build” lessons that explain a concept and code examples in both **Python** and **TypeScript** when possible.

Each lesson also includes a “Keep Learning” section with additional learning tools.

**What You Need**

- Access to the [Azure OpenAI Service](https://azure.microsoft.com/products/ai-services/openai-service?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) **OR** [OpenAI API](https://platform.openai.com/docs/quickstart?context=python?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) **OR** [GitHub Marketplace Model Catalog](https://github.com/marketplace/models?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) - _Only required to complete coding lessons_
- Basic knowledge of Python or TypeScript is helpful - \*For absolute beginners check out these [Python](https://learn.microsoft.com/training/paths/python-language/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) and [TypeScript](https://learn.microsoft.com/training/paths/build-javascript-applications-typescript/?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) courses.
- A GitHub account to [fork this entire repo](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/fork?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) to your own GitHub account

We have created a **[Course Setup](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/00-course-setup/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)** lesson to help you with setting up your development environment.

Don’t forget to [star (🌟) this repo](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/exploring-projects-on-github/saving-repositories-with-stars?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) to find it easier later.

## 🧠 Ready to Deploy?

If you are looking for more advanced code samples, check out our [collection of Generative AI Code Samples](https://aka.ms/genai-beg-code?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) in both **Python** and **TypeScript**.

## 🗣 Meet Other Learners, Get Support

Join our [official AI Discord server](https://aka.ms/genai-discord?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) to meet and network with other learners taking this course and get support.

## 🚀 Building a Startup?

Sign up for [Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub](https://aka.ms/genai-foundershub?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) to receive **free OpenAI credits** and up to **$150k towards Azure credits to access OpenAI models through Azure OpenAI Services**.

## 🙏 Want to help?

Do you have suggestions or found spelling or code errors? [Raise an issue](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/issues?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) or [Create a pull request](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/pulls?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)

## 📂 Each lesson includes:

- A short video introduction to the topic
- A written lesson located in the README
- Python and TypeScript code samples supporting Azure OpenAI and OpenAI API
- Links to extra resources to continue your learning

## 🗃 Lessons

| # | **Lesson Link** | **Description** | **Video** | **Extra Learning** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 00 | [Course Setup](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/00-course-setup/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** How to Setup Your Development Environment | Coming Soon | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 01 | [Introduction to Generative AI and LLMs](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/01-introduction-to-genai/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** Understanding what Generative AI is and how Large Language Models (LLMs) work. | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson-1-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 02 | [Exploring and comparing different LLMs](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/02-exploring-and-comparing-different-llms/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** How to select the right model for your use case | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson2-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 03 | [Using Generative AI Responsibly](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/03-using-generative-ai-responsibly/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** How to build Generative AI Applications responsibly | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson3-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 04 | [Understanding Prompt Engineering Fundamentals](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/04-prompt-engineering-fundamentals/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** Hands-on Prompt Engineering Best Practices | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson4-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 05 | [Creating Advanced Prompts](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/05-advanced-prompts/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** How to apply prompt engineering techniques that improve the outcome of your prompts. | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson5-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 06 | [Building Text Generation Applications](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/06-text-generation-apps/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** A text generation app using Azure OpenAI / OpenAI API | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson6-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 07 | [Building Chat Applications](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/07-building-chat-applications/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** Techniques for efficiently building and integrating chat applications. | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lessons7-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 08 | [Building Search Apps Vector Databases](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/08-building-search-applications/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** A search application that uses Embeddings to search for data. | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson8-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 09 | [Building Image Generation Applications](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/09-building-image-applications/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** A image generation application | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson9-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 10 | [Building Low Code AI Applications](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/10-building-low-code-ai-applications/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** A Generative AI application using Low Code tools | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson10-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 11 | [Integrating External Applications with Function Calling](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/11-integrating-with-function-calling/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** What is function calling and its use cases for applications | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson11-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 12 | [Designing UX for AI Applications](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/12-designing-ux-for-ai-applications/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** How to apply UX design principles when developing Generative AI Applications | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson12-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 13 | [Securing Your Generative AI Applications](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/13-securing-ai-applications/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** The threats and risks to AI systems and methods to secure these systems. | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson13-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 14 | [The Generative AI Application Lifecycle](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/14-the-generative-ai-application-lifecycle/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** The tools and metrics to manage the LLM Lifecycle and LLMOps | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson14-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 15 | [Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) and Vector Databases](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/15-rag-and-vector-databases/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** An application using a RAG Framework to retrieve embeddings from a Vector Databases | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson15-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 16 | [Open Source Models and Hugging Face](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/16-open-source-models/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** An application using open source models available on Hugging Face | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson16-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 17 | [AI Agents](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/17-ai-agents/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Build:** An application using an AI Agent Framework | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson17-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |
| 18 | [Fine-Tuning LLMs](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners/blob/main/18-fine-tuning/README.md?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | **Learn:** The what, why and how of fine-tuning LLMs | [Video](https://aka.ms/gen-ai-lesson18-gh?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) | [Learn More](https://aka.ms/genai-collection?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst) |

### 🌟 Special thanks

Special thanks to [**John Aziz**](https://www.linkedin.com/in/john0isaac/) for creating all of the GitHub Actions and workflows

## 🎒 Other Courses

Our team produces other courses! Check out:

- [ML for Beginners](https://aka.ms/ml-beginners?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)
- [Data Science for Beginners](https://aka.ms/datascience-beginners?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)
- [AI for Beginners](https://aka.ms/ai-beginners?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)
- [**NEW** Cybersecurity for Beginners](https://github.com/microsoft/Security-101??WT.mc_id=academic-96948-sayoung)
- [Web Dev for Beginners](https://aka.ms/webdev-beginners?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)
- [IoT for Beginners](https://aka.ms/iot-beginners?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)
- [XR Development for Beginners](https://github.com/microsoft/xr-development-for-beginners?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)
- [Mastering GitHub Copilot for AI Paired Programming](https://aka.ms/GitHubCopilotAI?WT.mc_id=academic-105485-koreyst)

## GitHub:

> **[GitHub - microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners: 21 Lessons, Get Started Building with Generative...](https://github.com/microsoft/generative-ai-for-beginners)**
>
> 21 Lessons, Get Started Building with Generative AI

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Adriansp30](https://onehack.st/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/f475e1/32.png) [@Adriansp30](https://onehack.st/u/Adriansp30)\
**Post date:** [August 19, 2024, 11:46pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/generative-ai-for-beginners-everything-you-need-to-know-to-start-building-generative-ai-applications/289375/2 "2024-08-19T23:46:35Z")

</div>

Many thanks!! This is just what I was looking for 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![zarathustra](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/zarathustra/32/130413_2.png) [@zarathustra](https://onehack.st/u/zarathustra)\
**Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 3:30am UTC](https://onehack.st/t/generative-ai-for-beginners-everything-you-need-to-know-to-start-building-generative-ai-applications/289375/3 "2024-08-20T03:30:09Z")

</div>

Sam, thank you for sharing. you are the best.