Gen AI

“Building Apps with OpenAI” my 29th Pluralsight Course!

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I am excited to share that my 29th Pluralsight course is now live titled Building Applications with OpenAI. This course guides developers through creating modern AI powered applications using OpenAI APIs. Whether you are just getting started with generative AI or looking to integrate it into real projects, you will walk away with practical skills you can use right away.

This was a fun course to build. In this course you will learn how to integrate OpenAI into real world applications from end to end. We begin by setting up the OpenAI API, handling authentication, and designing effective prompts. Then we build a full stack web app that uses AI to analyze and classify data while exploring best practices for deployment, performance monitoring, and error handling. By the end you will have the confidence to build, deploy, and scale your own AI driven solutions.

🧠 Why This Course Matters

Generative AI is reshaping how software gets built and developers are expected to know how to integrate these capabilities into applications. This course gives you the foundational and practical knowledge to do that. You will see how to handle prompt refinement, token limits, deployment tradeoffs, and optimization strategies.

📘 Official Course Description

“Generative AI is changing how software is developed, and developers are now expected to integrate AI features into modern applications. In this course, Building Applications with OpenAI, you’ll gain the skills to build, deploy, and maintain AI-powered web applications. First, you’ll explore how to configure the OpenAI API, manage authentication, and craft effective prompts. Next, you’ll build a full-stack expense tracking app that uses OpenAI to analyze and categorize expenses. Finally, you’ll learn how to deploy your app using platforms like Render or Google Cloud, monitor performance, and handle challenges such as token limits, error handling, and prompt optimization. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the knowledge and tools to confidently integrate OpenAI into your own applications and bring AI capabilities to your development projects.“

This course is a part of the “OpenAI for Developers Path” on Pluralsight. The path can be found here: https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skills/openai-for-developers and has many courses that will teach you various aspects of bringing OpenAI into your applications.


If you’re building applications and need to add AI, this course will help you. Check out the course here:

https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/building-applications-openai

I hope this course serves as a valuable resource in your AI journey. Thank you for your continued support, and Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses! 

Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me:

https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/steve-buchanan

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My 28th Pluralsight Course Published! Agentic AI Safety and Alignment

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I’m excited to announce the release of my 28th Pluralsight course, and it’s a timely one as its about a topic that’s becoming more important by the day: Agentic AI Safety and Alignment.

As AI agent adoption accelerates, developers and product teams are under increasing pressure to ensure these systems behave responsibly. It’s no longer enough to build capable AI agents, they must also operate safely, ethically, and in alignment with your organization’s values.

That’s exactly what this course is about.

🧠 Why This Course Matters

The rise of autonomous AI agents brings incredible potential. but also significant risk. From runaway costs to prompt injection attacks, the stakes are high. In this course, I cover:

  • Prevent unintended behaviors
  • Embed ethics and safety checks into agents
  • Guard against issues like prompt injection
  • Keep human oversight (human in the loop)
  • Avoid unexpected bills or policy violations

To balance the theory and practice, I run through some demos using Microsoft Co-Pilot Studio and Flowise. You’ll see how to put in safety checks, define agent constraints, implement value alignment, and put in controls that keep your agentic AI safe.

📘 Official Course Description

“As companies rapidly adopt autonomous AI agents, developers and product leads face growing pressure to ensure these systems operate safely and align with organizational values. In this course, Agentic AI Safety and Alignment, you’ll gain the ability to design and deploy agentic AI systems that are both effective and ethically sound. First, you’ll explore how to identify potential risks and prevent unintended behaviors in autonomous agents. Next, you’ll discover how to embed your organization’s values by integrating rules and safety checks into your agent design. Finally, you’ll learn how to apply guardrails that keep agents aligned and under control. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge needed to build AI agents that operate responsibly and stay true to your company’s principles.”

If you’re building, leading, or managing AI agent systems, this course will help you. Check out the course here:

https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/agentic-ai-safety-alignment

I hope this course serves as a valuable resource in your AI journey. Thank you for your continued support, and Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses! 

Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me:

https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/steve-buchanan

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My 27th Pluralsight Course: “Generative AI Concepts for DevOps” Has Published

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I am excited to share that my 27th overall course and 3rd AI related course has published! This course is titled “Generative AI Concepts for DevOps“.

This course will help you to learn how to integrate generative AI into DevOps workflows for tasks such as generating IAC code in YAML Terraform scripts, and more. Here are the modules in the course:

Here is the full description of the course: Generative AI is revolutionizing how DevOps teams approach software development and operations by offering powerful tools to automate tasks, optimize workflows, and tackle challenges with remarkable speed and precision.

In this course, Generative AI Concepts for DevOps, you’ll learn how generative AI can help DevOps teams work faster and smarter by exploring key tools, understanding how they fit into workflows, and applying them to real-world DevOps problems.

First, you’ll explore the foundational concepts of transformer-based generative AI models and self-attention mechanisms in DevOps. Next, you’ll dive into the tools and platforms for generative AI, such as GitHub Copilot, Duet AI, Amazon Q, and more, learning how they can be integrated into DevOps workflows using YAML and manifests. Finally, you’ll discover how to apply generative AI techniques to solve DevOps challenges, leveraging tools and platforms like Terraform and Kubernetes to drive efficiency and innovation.

By the end of this course, you’ll be equipped with the knowledge and tools to harness generative AI in your DevOps workflows, driving greater efficiency, scalability, and innovation in your operations.

You can access this new course here:

http://www.pluralsight.com/courses/generative-ai-concepts-devops

I hope this course serves as a valuable resource in your tech education. Thank you for your continued support, and Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses! 

Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me:

https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/steve-buchanan

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GitHub Copilot for IT Pros – my 23rd Pluralsight Course Published

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Exciting announcement for the new year. My 23rd course with Pluralsight has published! This one is a Generative AI related course. It is titled “GitHub Copilot for IT Pros“. This is my first course in 2024.

Github Copilot is not just for Developers, its also for IT pros. In today’s world, AI is ubiquitous, enhancing efficiency and acting as a valuable assistant. GitHub Copilot, an AI-powered para-programmer, accelerates coding for developers, making the process faster and more efficient. IT professionals can also leverage Copilot to enhance their efficiency across various domains, including automation and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).

This course is for folks in roles such as Platform Engineers, DevOps Engineers, Systems Engineers, Cloud Engineers, and more. It will help you learn how GitHub Copilot can be leveraged as coding sidekick, speeding up IaC and automation script development.

This course shows you how to use GitHub Copilot, the AI-powered peer developer integrated into Visual Studio Code. First, you’ll explore GitHub Copilot and its features. Next, you’ll discover GitHub Copilot IDE integrations. Finally, you’ll learn how to use GitHub Copilot’s various features. When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have the skills and knowledge of GitHub Copilot needed to utilize GitHub Copilot as an IT pro.

Some of the major topics covered include:

  1. What AI & Common AI Terminology is?
  2. Understanding GitHub Copilot and its Features.
  3. How to setup GitHub Copilot with VS Code?
  4. How to use GitHub Copilot features like: suggestions, autofill, code testing, Copilot chat & more.

When you’re finished with this course, you’ll have a better understanding of GitHub Copilot all up and how it can be a critical tool for IT pros.

Check out the “GitHub Copilot for IT Pros“ course here:

https://www.pluralsight.com/courses/github-copilot-it-pros

This course is also part of new “Microsoft Copilot Product Journey” and “Generative AI for IT Pros Path” paths on the Pluralsight platform.

https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skills/generative-ai-for-it-pros

https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skills/microsoft-copilot-product-journey

In the Microsoft Copilot Product Journey path you will also find courses on the following (NOTE: many of the courses are still being developed):

Introduction to Microsoft Copilot
Copilot for Microsoft 365 Apps (Microsoft Office)
Copilot for Microsoft Teams
Copilot for Web
Copilot for Microsoft Windows
Copilot for Microsoft SharePoint and OneDrive
Copilot for Power Platform: The Big Picture

I hope you find value in this new GitHub Copilot for IT Pros course. Be sure to follow my profile on Pluralsight so you will be notified as I release new courses! 

Here is the link to my Pluralsight profile to follow me:

https://www.pluralsight.com/authors/steve-buchanan

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