Unit 1.1 Instructor Notes

The Most Important Thing

Give them the gratification of making an LLM call and getting a response

Outcomes

APIs & Your First LLM Call

  • Define what an API is, broadly and practically
  • Make an API call to an LLM — seamless environment setup
  • Be aware of common challenges when working with APIs

Slide notes

What’s an LLM? Stateless text in, text out

An API is a password

When you visit a website, it sends a message (HTTPS) to their server saying: “Give me an html!”

In some cases, it just gives it to you, but other times, it wants to verify your identity with a username and password.

In our case, the username is the service we are using, and an API key is the password.

To get a password, we have to go through the service’s UI. It is different for every provider, but often lives in settings.

Notes

Start by walking through the process once. If able, have a video or checklist that they can step through, or a video of the whole process playing on the project while you walk around and help.

Make sure there is a clear and comprehensive guide for potential issues that is up to date (you could probably ask AI what issues are still relevant).

Ensure that students who get theirs working walk around and help others. Especially if they encountered the same challenge.

Check in regularly to see how many have gotten a response, invite buddies to help

When more that half the class has finished that step, invite them to move on to the self-directed play

If they can’t get the API working by the end of the day, you’ll have to authorize AI use for troubleshooting it or meet with them individually.