What You Need To Know About Growth School’s Generative AI Course

So, you’ve found yourself intrigued by Growth School’s Generative AI Course, lured in by the promises of unlocking the secrets of artificial intelligence and emerging as the next AI expert and entering the top 1%. But before you take the plunge, let’s dissect what you’re really signing up for – A journey that might leave you more bewildered than enlightened.

As of 8th Feb 2024, a few days before the course concludes, I feel compelled to offer my candid thoughts and experiences to help potential students make informed decisions.

1. Expectations vs Reality – The Mentors:

The course’s marketing materials, available on their website, promised an enriching learning experience led by a team of seasoned mentors, offering live Q&A sessions, collaborative networking opportunities, and on-demand content.

On the surface, it’s a star-studded lineup of industry experts (none of them mention Growth school in their Linkedin Bio) ready to impart their wisdom and guide you to the pinnacle of AI mastery. However, the reality fell significantly short of these lofty promises.

Another module – GenerativeAI for Product Managers – was promised to have live sessions. But later, it was informed that no live sessions are scheduled. Only one of those empaneled mentors appeared for a single live session, while the founder, serving as the designated mentor, failed to conduct any live sessions.

It was like going all excited to a rock concert and getting stuck in an elevator with a broken speaker.

2. The Comedy of Errors & The Moderation:

Here we have a recorded video featuring our trainer conversing with a delivery guy, who’s more interested in the OTP than your AI aspirations. While it is not worth pondering much over, such oversights reflect a lack of attention to detail.

Classes that start late, background music that’s catchier than the content itself, unstable internet connection of moderator/trainer leading to frustrating experience and a general sense of disarray. The moderator jumps from one video to another while not following the sequence. Questions posed on the Discord community go unanswered for days, leaving students fumbled.

Throughout the course, instances of unprofessionalism and subpar content delivery were prevalent. It’s like trying to follow a recipe while the kitchen is on fire – not exactly conducive to a positive learning experience.

3. Do-It-Yourself Dilemma:

In one of the recorded videos, Vaibhav – the founder of growth school suggests that these AI tools are actually only a YouTube search away. And he was right.

Some of the YouTube videos were better than the curated content of Growth school. In my opinion, if you know the basics of ChatGPT, and you know the name of the AI tools – zapier, midjourney, canva, perplexity, stable diffusion etc. – you can learn, in my humble opinion, more than 75% of what this course would teach you. 

The experience in Growth school was like paying for a Michelin-star meal and getting a DIY sandwich kit instead.

4. Not all in shambles:

Despite the setbacks, it’s worth acknowledging that the mentor who did participate brought some valuable insights to the table.

There were moments of clarity where the course content did shine through, offering valuable nuggets of knowledge to eager learners. It’s important to acknowledge that there were pockets of quality content amidst the mishaps, providing some value to students.

5. Ethics & Values

I was charged Rs14999 + GST for this generative AI course and I got to know that they charged, someone else, $900 (more than Rs 74000) for the same course. When questions were being raised in the zoom sessions, they tried their best to deflect it or shunt it while acting innocent.

The discrepancies in course fees charged to different students, along with misleading marketing tactics, raise ethical concerns about the company’s value system.

On 8^th Feb 2024, I was invited to a zoom meeting by Growth School which was basically to advertise for– the Kairos fellowship course with a price tag that could compete with a luxury vacation – a whopping Rs 2.49Lacs + GST.

The exorbitant fee, coupled with false claims of exclusivity, further underscored these concerns. It was like being invited to a VIP party and finding yourself alone with a bowl of stale chips. Not a single soul showed interest, and I don’t blame them – who in their right mind would pay a fortune for this.

Verdict:

So, what’s the bottom line? In conclusion, my experience with Growth School’s Generative AI course has been disappointing, characterized by a significant gap between promised benefits and actual delivery.

It was like a die-hard Aamir Khan fan, waiting in line for hours to watch “Thugs of Hindustan” and ending up with a front-row seat – to witness a train wreck of epic proportions. I feel they are on the quest to acquire customers for showing growth, to their investors, they have neglected the single most important aspect of business i.e. the value being delivered to learners.

As for Growth School, well, they might want to rethink their marketing tactics before promising stars and delivering pebbles. If they prioritize transparency, integrity, and quality in their educational offerings’ things may change. In my opinion, Honesty and integrity should form the cornerstone of their business practices.