What it is

A large language model (LLM) is a piece of software that's been fed an absurd amount of text and learned to predict what words come next. Think of it as autocomplete on steroids... except it can write essays, summarise reports, and pretend to be a customer service agent. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini... they're all built on LLMs.

Why it matters for your job

If your job involves writing, summarising, analysing text, or answering questions, an LLM can now do a rough version of it in seconds. That doesn't mean you're out tomorrow. It means the person next to you who learns to use one properly will get your work done in half the time. Guess who the boss keeps.

What to do about it

Pick one LLM (ChatGPT or Claude are good starting points) and use it for a real work task this week. Not a toy task. Something that actually takes you time. See where it's brilliant and where it falls flat, because it will do both.