AI training for Chicago teams

Scope

• Hands-on sessionsworkshop, 1-Day Foundations or 2-Day Hands-On
• Day 1 · Foundationshow AI works, prompting, checking the work, your own material
• Day 2 · Appliedreusable workflows and labs on your processes
• AI acceptable-use policyapproved tools, data rules, review
• Prompt librarysaved instructions, written once and tested
• Certificates of completionfor every attendee

By the end, people know how AI produces an answer, how to ask for one they can use, how to check it before it leaves the building, and what must never be pasted in. The skills and the rules are taught together.

Four layers make AI useful at work

• You
  Set the goal, check the result, make the final call. AI drafts; you approve.
• Saved instructions
  A project or a saved prompt, so recurring work comes out in a more consistent shape every time. Day 2.
• Your material
  The notes, sheets and documents you give it, so answers are grounded in your facts. Fictional in class. Day 1, afternoon.
• The AI model
  A prediction engine. It knows general patterns and nothing about your business unless you tell it. Day 1, morning.

Day 1 · Foundations

How AI works, how tokens work, how to prompt it, how to check it, and how to point it at your own material. Every module ends with a “your turn” of 10 to 30 minutes on your own laptop, in your own account.

ACT AS    who it should act as
WANT      what you want, in one sentence
CONTEXT   the facts it needs, pasted in
GOOD      what good looks like: length, tone, format
RULES     what it must not do or invent

Three habits from Day 1

1. Be specific about who, what, context, format and rules.
2. Give it the source and ask it to quote the line it used.
3. Check the output: math, dates, names and anything that leaves the building.

Words you’ll hear

• Token
  A chunk of text the model reads and predicts: a word, part of a word, a number or punctuation.
• Context window
  How much text the model can consider at once: instructions, files, chat and reply combined.
• Hallucination
  When AI confidently states something false, in the same tone it uses when it’s right.
• Saved instructions
  Text you save once, in a project or a prompt library, that applies to every chat of that kind. Day 2’s main tool.
• Scheduled task
  A prompt the tool runs later or on repeat and notifies you about. Limits vary by plan.

Day 2 · Applied, built around your company

Day 2 is built around your own use cases. Before the session we gather your three most time-consuming processes and tailor the content and labs to the roles in the room (estimators, account managers, office and payroll staff, sales, operations, leadership) and to your industry. The labs run on your real processes with fictional practice data, unless you approve your own.

Check before you send

1. All the sections are there, in order.
2. It’s within the length I asked for.
3. Names, dates, quantities and dollars match the source.
4. Nothing was added that isn’t in the source.
5. I’d be comfortable sending it under our company’s name.

How far the training is tailored is the biggest driver of price, and it’s the question the first free call answers: the standard curriculum on your team’s tools, role-specific labs on your processes, or fully custom workflows and saved instructions built for your business. If staff are already using personal chatbot accounts for work, our note on shadow IT and shadow AI explains why Day 1 usually brings that into the open; for a head start, read how to get started with AI in your business.

• Your own accountsany plan, including free; a laptop signed in is all you bring
• Fictional practice dataunless you approve your own
• Same activity for everyonewith example prompts for the roles in the room
• Hands-on after every topic“your turn”, 10–30 minutes, on your own laptop
• Labs on your processesyour three most time-consuming, gathered before the session
• You check the outputevery exercise ends with a review checklist
• Keep the materialsevery prompt, sample and set of instructions is reusable
• Certificates of completionfor every attendee

Before the session we ask three things: which tool and plan your people have, which three processes take most of their time, and what data, if any, you approve for practice. We also ask how far you want the training tailored to your company, since that answer shapes the agenda and the quote.

Three formats

Pick the depth that fits. A 2–3 hour workshop for one group typically starts from about $2,500; the 1-Day and 2-Day programs are quoted in writing after a free first call, and the biggest driver is how far you want them tailored to your company.

Typical price, not a quote. Every engagement gets a written scope and quote before work starts. Timelines are estimates and subject to change based on scope.

• Approved toolsand which accounts to use them with
• Data that never goes incustomer personal data, passwords, confidential client files
• Human reviewwhat must be checked before it’s sent
• Disclosurewhen to tell a customer AI was involved
• Business accounts onlyno personal chatbot logins for work
• Owner & review datewho updates it, and when

The policy is written in plain English, fits on a few pages, and covers the tools you use. To see the shape of one first, start with our free AI acceptable use policy template. If AI governance is part of a wider plan (security, vendors, budget), it fits into an IT strategy engagement.

Prompt standards: a shared library of saved instructions

Prompt standards are the Day 2 habit written down: a shared library of saved instructions, each written once, tested on three inputs and reviewed with a checklist, so good results don’t depend on who happens to be “good at AI.”

Name: Meeting follow-up
You are an operations coordinator at [our company].
When I paste meeting notes, follow these steps:
1. Sort them into: Decisions, Action items (task, owner, due date),
   Open questions
2. Write it for the people who were in the meeting, in plain language
Rules:
- Use only what's in the notes. If an owner or date isn't stated,
  write "not stated".
- Copy numbers and dates exactly. Never round them.
- Never add a commitment that isn't in the notes.
- Under 150 words.

Each entry has a name, who it acts as, the steps and the rules; a “good output looks like” example; and an owner. It lives where your team already works (a ChatGPT Project’s instructions, a shared document, or the saved-prompt feature of the tool you use) with one current version, updated whenever a test surprises you. Our guide to building your first AI workflow shows the next step.

1. Discovery

   A free first call: which tools and plans your people have, which three processes take most of their time, what data you approve for practice, and how far you want the training tailored.

2. Policy

   If you want one, we draft your AI acceptable-use policy with leadership, so the rules are ready before the training starts.

3. Sessions

   A workshop, 1-Day Foundations or 2-Day Hands-On, on-site or live online, on your team’s own accounts.

4. Prompt library

   The saved instructions from the labs become your shared library, with a follow-up session a few weeks later.

How much does AI training cost?

A 2–3 hour workshop for up to about 15 people typically starts from about $2,500. Everything else (1-Day Foundations, 2-Day Hands-On, policy and prompt library) is quoted in writing after a free first call.

• How tailored you want itthe biggest driver: standard curriculum → role-specific labs → fully custom workflows and saved instructions
• Days and groupsone workshop, one day or two; how many groups
• On-site or onlineon-site adds travel and setup; follow-ups run well online
• Policy workdrafting the acceptable-use policy with leadership
• Prompt library and follow-upowners, one current version, a review a few weeks later

Typical price, not a quote. Every engagement gets a written scope and quote before work starts.

For third-party market benchmarks, the questions to ask any provider and the ETIP conditions, read the full guide to AI training costs in Chicago. If you want Illinois to pick up part of the bill, start with grants and reimbursements for AI training in Illinois.

If you’re choosing between them, we’ll help you pick based on what you already pay for and where your files live. A Microsoft 365 business usually gets more from Copilot, a Google Workspace one from Gemini. Our Microsoft Copilot guide covers the Microsoft side in detail.

Who it’s for

AI training is for any team whose staff already use AI unofficially, or want to, and whose leaders want it used safely and well. We have delivered it for companies from small and mid-size firms up to Fortune 500 organizations; the format scales from one 15-person workshop to a multi-department rollout, and the Chicago small and mid-size business is still our home base.

• People using AI on personal accountsbring it into the open, safely
• Leaders who need a policybefore something goes wrong
• Teams with repetitive writingproposals, reports, replies
• Work that should come out the same shape every timesaved instructions, tested

HB 3773 / Public Act 103-0804: the Illinois Human Rights Act AI amendment

• In force
  January 1, 2026. Signed August 9, 2024; amends the Illinois Human Rights Act.
• Who is covered
  Employers with one or more Illinois employees. There is no small-business exemption.
• What is banned
  Using AI that subjects employees to discrimination on the basis of a protected class, and using ZIP codes as a proxy for a protected class.
• What is required
  Notice to employees when AI is used in recruitment, hiring, promotion, renewal of employment, selection for training or apprenticeship, discharge, discipline, tenure, or the terms, privileges or conditions of employment. Failing to give notice is itself a violation.
• Rules status
  IDHR proposed notice rules on May 15, 2026 (50 Ill. Reg. 6794) and formally withdrew them on June 26, 2026 (50 Ill. Reg. 8755). As of our check on November 4, 2026 we found no adopted replacement, so there is no official notice template. The statute applies regardless.

The detail most people miss: “selection for training” is on the list. If a tool scores who gets upskilled, that decision is covered. The withdrawn draft rules are still the best guide to what IDHR expects a notice to contain: the tool, the decisions it influences, the data it uses, a contact, and plain language in the languages your workforce speaks. That is why we built the Illinois AI employment notice kit around them.

BIPA: voice and biometric data

The Biometric Information Privacy Act (740 ILCS 14) applies the moment a tool identifies someone by their voice, face or fingerprint: voiceprint caller ID, fingerprint time clocks, facial recognition on a door. Before collecting, a business must tell the person what is collected and why, state how long it is kept, and get a written release; since the August 2, 2024 amendment an electronic signature counts, and repeated collection of the same identifier by the same method is a single violation per person rather than one per scan. Damages are still $1,000 per negligent and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation. Plain call recording and transcription is not biometric collection, but an AI phone agent that recognises callers by voice is, so we draw that line explicitly in your policy. Our guide to Illinois BIPA compliance for small businesses goes deeper.

The AI Video Interview Act

Since January 2020, an Illinois employer that uses AI to analyse recorded video interviews must tell applicants beforehand, explain how the AI works and what characteristics it evaluates, get their consent, share the video only with people whose expertise or technology is needed to evaluate them, and delete it within 30 days of a request. If your recruiter or applicant-tracking vendor offers “AI interview scoring”, this is the law that covers it.

What this means for a 5–200-person employer

• An AI inventory and written policywhich tools, used for what, by whom (HR tools included)
• A notice where AI touches employment decisionsapplicants and employees, in plain language
• Trained staffwho know the rules because they practised them
• A BIPA line in the policyif any tool identifies people by voice or face
• Recordsthe withdrawn draft asked for four years
• A review dateIDHR may still issue rules

Illinois does not mandate AI training. But the cheapest defensible compliance record is a policy, the notices it requires, and people who demonstrably follow it, and the workshops produce that record. The leadership session includes a 20-minute Illinois segment; the policy we draft includes an HB 3773 notice clause and a BIPA clause; HR gets the tool-inventory template from the notice kit. If you want to see the shape of the policy first, start with our AI acceptable use policy template.

This is general information from 312 IT Consulting, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your employment counsel and program availability with the agency before relying on it. Sources are listed at the end of this page.

ETIP: Employer Training Investment Program (DCEO)

• What it pays
  Reimburses up to 50% of eligible training costs, paid quarterly, for Illinois-based full-time employees. Funds are first come, first served until they run out.
• Who runs it
  The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), administered in Chicagoland by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and statewide by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association.
• Who qualifies
  Companies with a physical Illinois location. Government units, public schools and municipalities are excluded.
• Conditions
  A training pre-approval request before training starts; courses with two or more trainees; dated, itemized invoices. Workshops and seminars are excluded unless a certificate of completion is issued. We issue one to every attendee.
• Current window
  The Chamber’s deadline table covers training through June 30, 2027, with quarterly submission deadlines. Confirm the current term and fund balance with the Chamber before booking.

Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership: Incumbent Worker Training

For Chicago and suburban Cook County employers, the Partnership’s Incumbent Worker Training reimburses job-specific skills training for existing employees when it “positively and substantively” improves their qualifications for advancement. The reimbursement rate is not published; you start with the Partnership’s business-services request form and a team member follows up. It is slower than ETIP but worth asking about if you are training a larger group.

We walk through both routes, the apprenticeship tax credit and free SBDC advising in Funding AI training in Illinois, and put our price next to third-party market benchmarks in What AI training costs in Chicago.

This is general information from 312 IT Consulting, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with your employment counsel and program availability with the agency before relying on it.

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