Create An AI Operating System
Build the plain-file system that runs the workflows behind the business.
Join 298 members learning to create real AI-powered systems...
Learn AI From A Guy
Who Replaced His Whole Team With It
Inside the AI Academy: the full system I use to run my business, all my AI courses, every future course I release, and a direct line to me when you're stuck.
Try it for 30 days. If it isn't for you, email me and I'll refund you in full.
A Typical Workday For Me, On The System You're About To Learn
I sit down with coffee. I open my laptop. I type a few instructions to my system. And throughout the day, the system drafts my next YouTube video, writes first passes on Codemy.com lessons, keeps my research wikis updated, and hands me drafts I can approve or edit.
- I don't have a video editor anymore.
- I don't have a thumbnail designer anymore.
- I don't have a content team anymore.
- I don't have a VA anymore.
What I have is a system. A set of files, folders, workflows, and wikis that live on my laptop and run the parts of the business a team used to handle. I built it myself. It reads my work, it writes my work, and it executes alongside me, all day.
I'm calling it my 'AI Operating System'. The AI Academy is where I teach you to build yours.
What An AI Operating System Actually Is
The AI Operating System lives on your computer, not in someone else's app. It's built from plain markdown files, folders, scripts, databases, workflows, and skills that you own. No locked platform. No app you have to beg permission from. No fragile prompt library that falls apart the minute the model changes.
The Academy teaches the core ideas that make an AI Operating System work, then walks you through the practical upgrades that turn it into something you can actually use every day.
Current course library
New courses are added as I build and release them.
Portable Intelligence
Structure your AI knowledge so it is not locked to one model or tool.
Swapping Brains In AI-OS
Swap different AI models into your operating system, including OpenAI Codex.
Adding Memory To AI-OS
Add markdown memory and database-backed memory to your AI system.
Humanizing And Fact-Checking AI-OS
Strip out obvious AI tells and fact-check AI-written work before it goes out.
Knowledge Graph AI Wikis
Turn research into structured, linkable knowledge bases your AI can use.
Build Workflows From Wikis In AI-OS
Turn your AI wikis into workflows your AI Operating System can run.
60-30-10 AI Rule
Learn the operating principle behind every workflow in the system.
The AI Operating System course
21 videos. I walk through the entire AI system I use to run my businesses and then we build one from scratch to full production. Follow along and build your own.
The Portable Intelligence Course
How to structure your AI knowledge so it isn't locked to any one model. Claude today, Codex tomorrow, whatever comes next after that. You own the system. The model is interchangeable.
AI-OS: Swapping Brains
This is where we take Portable Intelligence and make it real. I show you how to swap different AI models into your AI Operating System, including how to use either OpenAI Codex or Claude Code or Cowork. Same system. Different brain.
Adding Memory To AI-OS
An AI Operating System gets dramatically more useful when it can remember. In this course, we add two forms of memory: a plain markdown memory system you can read and edit yourself, and a full database-backed memory system for structured logs, records, and workflows.
Humanizing and Fact-Checking AI-OS
In this course, we add two practical skills to the system: a Humanizer and a Fact Checker. The Humanizer strips out the obvious AI tells that make writing sound fake. The Fact Checker reviews what the AI writes before you trust it, publish it, or send it to anyone important.
The Building Knowledge Graph Wikis Course
The single most useful research tool I've built for myself since launching JohnElder.ai. It turns any topic you study into a structured, linkable, queryable knowledge base that you and your AI can both navigate. Once you see it working, you'll never Google the same way again.
Build Workflows From Wikis in AI-OS
Once your AI wikis are built, this course shows you how to turn them into workflows inside your AI Operating System. We take the knowledge bases you've created and use them to drive repeatable AI workflows that can actually do useful work.
The 60-30-10 Protocol Course
The underlying principle behind every workflow I build: 60 percent repeatable code, 30 percent memory, and 10 percent AI. Most AI content teaches only the model part. This course shows you the structure around the model that makes the whole system actually work.
When these courses click together, you stop hunting for the next AI trick. You build a system that can change models, remember what matters, check its own work, sound more like you, and keep improving over time.
What You'll Be Able To Build
- A local AI Operating System built from files and folders you control
- A memory layer your AI can read, write, and use across projects
- A model-swapping workflow so you're not trapped inside one AI tool
- A fact-checking and humanizing layer for AI-written work
- Knowledge graph wikis your AI can use as research infrastructure
- Workflows built from your AI wikis that your operating system can run
This Is For You If...
- You want AI to help run real workflows, not just answer random prompts.
- You create content, courses, software, research, or business systems.
- You want files and workflows you own, not another rented AI app.
- You learn best by watching someone build the real thing from scratch.
This Is Not For You If...
- You want magic prompts instead of building a working system.
- You refuse to use tools like Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, or whatever model comes next.
- You want a passive course you never implement.
$99 A Month Or $295 Once. Every Course. Forever.
The AI Academy is $99 a month, or $295 as a one-time fee. Choose monthly if you want the lowest upfront cost. Choose one-time if you know you're in and want to cap your cost.
Either way, here's what you get:
- The full AI Operating System build-from-scratch course
- The complete current AI Academy course library
- Every future AI Academy course I release
- Access to the community where builders are implementing this stuff
- A direct line to me when you get stuck
No subscription traps. No upsells. No surprise charges. Choose the monthly option and cancel with one click, or pay once and be done.
Both options include the same Academy access. Try it for 30 days. If it isn't for you, email me and I'll refund you in full.
What The Academy Compares To
A single one-off AI course from most people selling AI training right now typically runs $100 to $200. Buy a few of those and you're still stitching together disconnected ideas instead of building one system you can actually use.
The AI Academy is $99 a month, or $295 one time, for the full course library, every new AI course I release, and me to answer any questions you have along the way.
The monthly option keeps the upfront cost low and lets you cancel anytime. The one-time option caps your cost at $295 and gets you the same Academy access without another monthly payment.
Why You Should Take My Word For Any Of This
I've been building in tech since 1997. Multiple company exits, including an advertising network I sold to a publicly traded company. I run Codemy.com, where I've taught over 20 million people to code. I also run the JohnElder.ai YouTube channel, which just crossed 260,000 subscribers.
When AI arrived, I didn't treat it as a new topic to write about. I rebuilt my entire operation around it. The content team I used to have is now the system I'm teaching. The research, the editing, the thumbnails, the drafts, the course outlines, all running through the AI Operating System.
I'm not an AI personality. I'm a builder who figured out how to actually use this stuff, wrote down how I do it, and opened the door to everyone watching me on YouTube and reading my emails at Codemy.
What Students Say About Learning From Me
"Love the way John teaches. Straight to the point, very engaged, gives awesome background and not just 'do this or that.' Helped me get from 0 to a successful project at work in no time."
Tom Fischer
"Great examples, great pace, and just about the time I say to myself, 'I wish he'd explain that element a bit more'... he does."
Monet Harkin
"The way John explained things is just awesome and makes me feel like, hey, I can do that as well. Thanks for such awesome teaching. Looking forward to more courses from you."
Shahabuddin Nadeem
"Fun, chill teaching style that makes the information very accessible. Great skill at making complicated ideas seem easy."
Sean E. Strough
If It's Not For You, I'll Refund You In Full
Try the AI Academy for 30 days. Go through the AI Operating System course. Build something that runs.
If within the first 30 days you decide the Academy isn't for you, email me. I'll refund you in full, no questions, no forms, no hoops. You can keep whatever you've already downloaded. The risk is on me, not on you.
Founding-Member Pricing
The first 500 members get founding-member pricing: $99 a month for life or the $295 one-time option. Once we pass 500, the monthly price rises to $149 a month and the one-time lifetime option rises to $495 for anyone joining after. The price you join at is the price you stay at, for as long as you're a member.
Join the AI Academy
Most people watch AI happen to them. A few build the system that runs on top of it.
If you want to be the second kind, and you want to learn it from someone whose business already runs on that system, join the Academy.
Both options include the same Academy access. Try it for 30 days. If it isn't for you, email me and I'll refund you in full.
P.S. The AI Operating System is mine. The Academy teaches you to build yours. Once you have one, you own the workflows, you own the files, and the model you use to run them is your choice. The tools can change. Your operating system keeps running. That's what joining gets you.
P.P.S. Founding-member pricing holds until we hit 500 members. After that, the monthly price goes to $149 a month for everyone who joins later. If you've read this far, you're probably a founding-member fit. Lock it in while the window is open.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are these coding courses?
No. You don't need to write code to use the AI Academy. The AI Operating System runs on plain markdown files and folders. If you can write an email, you can build one.
Do I need a separate Claude or ChatGPT subscription?
Yes. The Academy teaches you the system. You bring the AI. That's the Portable Intelligence principle: you pick the model, and the system works with whichever you pick.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. If you choose the monthly option, it's $99 a month, no contract, cancel with one click. You can also choose the $295 one-time option instead.
What if I'm already a Codemy subscriber?
Welcome back. The AI Academy is a separate membership for the JohnElder.ai AI curriculum. You're not paying twice for Codemy content; you're paying for the AI courses specifically.
How often do new courses drop?
New courses are added as I build and release them. Members get every new course at no additional cost, forever.
What's the community like?
Other builders doing what you're doing. People using AI to run their businesses, their side projects, their content operations. It's not a forum. It's a working room.
Do I actually get to talk to you?
Yes. The "direct line to me" is real. Members ask questions inside the community, and I answer. If the Academy grows past what I can personally keep up with, I'll tell you up front and we'll add structure. For now, you ask, I answer.
About John Elder
John Elder has been coding for over 30 years. He runs Codemy.com, an online coding education platform where he's taught over 20 million students, and a YouTube channel with over 260,000 subscribers. He also runs JohnElder.AI, where he teaches AI and agentic workflows.
John lives in Las Vegas with his wife April and dogs Aspen and Ivy. When he's not building AI tools, he's trail running like a maniac through the mountains outside Vegas.
