FAST-02 Reading List: Generative AI for Everyday Work

Provider: 7formations | Course: FAST-02 | Instructor: Wadood Chaudhary | Links verified by fetch or search as of Oct 2026

Readings for office and frontline staff who draft, summarize, and compare documents. Vendor help pages are included because the course runs in the employer's tool; read the one that matches yours. Helper features changed significantly in late 2026, so the migration notices are required reading for session 4.

How to use. Required readings take 20 to 45 minutes per session and are done before (or right after) the session they support. Optional readings go deeper. 'Living page' means the publisher updates it continuously; read the current version. Reading times are estimates for the parts that matter to this course, not the whole document.

Session 1: Grounded drafting

Required

Reduce hallucinations
Publisher: Anthropic (Claude Docs) | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://platform.claude.com/docs/en/test-and-evaluate/strengthen-guardrails/reduce-hallucinations
Why read: Anthropic's practical techniques to reduce invented facts (allow 'I don't know', require quotes from sources). The same ideas as 'use only' and 'not in source'.
Get started writing prompts in Microsoft Copilot
Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-copilot/get-started-writing-prompts-in-microsoft-365-copilot
Why read: Microsoft's guidance on giving Copilot a goal, context, source, and expectations; maps directly to fenced sources and rounds.

Optional

Why language models hallucinate
Publisher: OpenAI | Date: September 5, 2025 | Reading time: about 12 min
URL: https://openai.com/index/why-language-models-hallucinate/
Why read: Why models guess instead of saying 'I don't know', and why abstaining is better. Explains why the Gaps line works.
201 CMR 17.00: Standards for the Protection of Personal Information of MA Residents
Publisher: Mass.gov, Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation | Date: Regulation page dated 10/19/2017 (in force since 2010) | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://www.mass.gov/regulations/201-CMR-1700-standards-for-the-protection-of-personal-information-of-ma-residents
Why read: The Massachusetts definition of personal information (17.02). Know what never goes into a drafting prompt.
What is Generative AI?
Publisher: Amazon Web Services | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://aws.amazon.com/what-is/generative-ai/
Why read: Background on how generative models produce text.

Session 2: Summarizing for real readers

Required

Plain language guide
Publisher: Digital.gov (U.S. General Services Administration) | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 20 min
URL: https://digital.gov/guides/plain-language
Why read: Federal plain-language guidance: write for the reader, put the main point first. Use it to judge your new-hire summary.
Google Workspace with Gemini Prompt Guide
Publisher: Google Workspace | Date: Living page (guide updated periodically) | Reading time: about 20 min
URL: https://workspace.google.com/learning/content/gemini-prompt-guide
Why read: Google's prompt guide includes summarization prompts by role; compare its patterns with the brief / decision memo / action list types.

Optional

Summarize an email thread with Copilot in Outlook
Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 8 min
URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/copilot-pages/summarize-an-email-thread-with-copilot-in-outlook
Why read: How Copilot summarizes email threads, and its limits.
When AI Gets It Wrong: Addressing AI Hallucinations and Bias
Publisher: MIT Sloan Teaching & Learning Technologies | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://mitsloanedtech.mit.edu/ai/basics/addressing-ai-hallucinations-and-bias/
Why read: Checks for AI output accuracy; supports the five-fact routine.

Session 3: Comparing and extracting

Required

Data analysis with ChatGPT
Publisher: OpenAI Help Center | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 12 min
URL: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8437071-data-analysis-with-chatgpt
Why read: OpenAI's own guidance on file analysis, including the warning that scanned or image-based tables may not extract exact values. Directly relevant to Lab 3.
Get started with Copilot in Excel
Publisher: Microsoft Support | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 10 min
URL: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/excel/copilot/get-started-with-copilot-in-excel
Why read: How Copilot works with Excel data, which is where the comparison math belongs.

Optional

Collaborate with Gemini in Google Sheets
Publisher: Google Docs Editors Help | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 8 min
URL: https://support.google.com/docs/answer/14356410
Why read: Gemini in Google Sheets for teams in Google shops.
Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework: Generative Artificial Intelligence Profile, NIST AI 600-1
Publisher: NIST | Date: July 2024 | Reading time: about 30 min
URL: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ai/NIST.AI.600-1.pdf
Why read: NIST's Generative AI Profile. Read the 'confabulation' and 'information integrity' risks; they describe invented values in formal terms.

Session 4: Building reusable helpers

Required

Custom GPT retirement and migration FAQ
Publisher: OpenAI Help Center | Date: Living page (October 2026) | Reading time: about 12 min
URL: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/20001519-custom-gpt-retirement-and-migration-faq
Why read: Required for ChatGPT users: custom GPTs retire December 11, 2026 and migrate to plugins (instructions become a skill). Explains what transfers and what doesn't.
Use Gems in Gemini Apps
Publisher: Gemini Apps Help (Google) | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 8 min
URL: https://support.google.com/gemini/answer/15146780
Why read: How Gems are created with instructions and knowledge files, plus the notice that personal-account Gems move to 'skills' from November 2026.

Optional

What are projects?
Publisher: Claude Help Center (Anthropic) | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 6 min
URL: https://support.claude.com/en/articles/9517075-what-are-projects
Why read: Claude projects: custom instructions and project knowledge.
Creating and editing GPTs
Publisher: OpenAI Help Center | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 12 min
URL: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8554397-creating-a-gpt
Why read: How GPT instructions and knowledge files work (useful for writing any helper spec).
Configure a secure and governed foundation for Microsoft Copilot
Publisher: Microsoft Learn | Date: Living page | Reading time: about 15 min
URL: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/copilot/configure-secure-governed-data-foundation-microsoft-365-copilot
Why read: Why a Copilot agent grounded on SharePoint shows users only what they're permitted to see, and why over-shared folders are a risk.
Generative AI at Work (Brynjolfsson, Li, and Raymond), NBER Working Paper 31161
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research | Date: April 2023 (revised) | Reading time: about 20 min
URL: https://www.nber.org/papers/w31161
Why read: Field evidence that AI assistance raised productivity most for less-experienced workers. Read the abstract; use it to think about who on your team benefits from a shared helper.

Link verification

Links verified by fetch or search as of Oct 2026. Links that could not be confirmed were dropped and are not listed. The instructor re-checks links before each cohort.