Questions people ask first.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The Foundation course needs no code and no terminal. The AI Masterclass uses a terminal in some lessons and walks you through every step. vDesktop teaches you how to make AI do real work, and you learn by building.

What is an AI employee?

An assistant you build to do one specific job, like sorting your inbox or drafting follow-ups. Each one comes with a written list of things it never does. The course shows you how to set one up and check its work. Browse the AI employees, or read what an AI employee is.

Is it safe to let AI send emails for me?

You decide how far each AI employee goes: it can start at draft-only, and you send. By default, the Inbox Triage Assistant won’t:

• Send, forward, archive, label, delete or unsubscribe from anything
• Open links or follow instructions found inside a message

See its page for the full list.

How does trust grow over time?

You decide, one job at a time, and you can start at draft-only. At Prepare Only, Claude drafts it, and you send, book or delete. At Supervised, it does small, easily undone things on its own and tells you what it did. Trusted is for low-risk jobs only: it acts inside limits you’ve written down and stops to ask about anything outside them.

How is an AI employee different from a chatbot?

A chatbot answers whatever you ask. An AI employee is built for one job and has firm limits, written down, on what it may touch.

Which AI do the lessons use?

Claude. Some lessons need your own paid Claude plan, billed by Anthropic. vDesktop isn’t affiliated with Anthropic.

What’s free?

The Foundation course is free with an account. Some lessons need your own paid Claude plan, billed by Anthropic.

What comes after the Foundation course?

The AI Masterclass, where you learn to build AI employees with Claude, run them in your business, and deploy them for clients. See what’s in it.

How many lessons are there?

The free Foundation course, AI Basics, has 17 lessons in 6 modules, plus 2 optional ones. The AI Masterclass has 47 core lessons in 10 modules, plus elective modules and the Build Your Own JARVIS graduation project. Every lesson has a narrated video. AI Engineering is a separate course with 59 lessons.

Is AI Engineering included?

AI Engineering is included with Member and Lifetime. It isn’t part of the free Foundation course.

Is there a student offer?

See /students.

How much does it cost?

The Foundation course is free with an account. Some lessons need your own paid Claude plan, billed by Anthropic, not us. See the plans page for vDesktop’s options.

Who is behind vDesktop?

vDesktop is Mark Dalton’s AI education business. Its motto: learn by building.

What’s the difference between an AI employee and an AI agent?

An AI agent is AI that can take steps on its own, like reading files or using your tools. An AI employee, as vDesktop uses the term, is an agent given one job and a written list of what it never does, and you decide how far it goes.

Can you build an AI employee for my business?

Yes. Mark Dalton will build one for your business: one job, built in Claude, with a written list of what it never does. Cost is scoped after a short call. Email hello@vdesktop.com or see /build.

How is this different from Anthropic’s free Claude courses?

Anthropic runs its own free learning site, Claude Academy (academy.claude.com). It covers Claude’s features, AI fluency, Claude Code, and building with the Claude API, and it’s a good place to learn what each feature does.

vDesktop is a separate course, not made by or affiliated with Anthropic. The free Foundation course is a build-along path for business owners and professionals. Each lesson has you do the step on your own work, in order, from what AI is and how to talk to it, to finding the work in your business it can take on. The paid AI Masterclass then shows you how to turn that into AI employees that do real work for your business.

You can use both. The course runs on Claude. Some lessons need your own paid Claude plan, billed by Anthropic. vDesktop isn’t affiliated with Anthropic.

Is this a good AI course for small-business owners?

It’s built for them. Foundation, AI Basics, is a true introduction to AI for people new to it, and is free with an account. The AI Masterclass teaches you to build and run AI employees for your own business, then deploy them for clients. Some lessons need your own paid Claude plan, billed by Anthropic.

How do I learn to build AI agents without coding?

Start with Foundation, which needs no code and no terminal. The AI Masterclass walks you through every step.