Build your own
AI operating system.
A four-week, in-person intensive in Philadelphia. Bring your real work, build with Claude and ChatGPT, and walk out with your own AI assistant — and a way of working that outlasts the tools.
What you'll actually leave with.
Most AI courses teach you how to type better questions into a chatbot. This one is different. By the end of four weeks you'll have changed how you work — and you'll leave with your own virtual assistant, ready to go: set up around you and your real work, with a handful of workflows you run every week. Not a list of tips. A way of working you own.
You'll know when to reach for Claude and when for ChatGPT, capture ideas by voice the moment they happen, and move between desktop and mobile without losing the thread. And — the part that matters most if you don't think of yourself as technical — you'll leave knowing how to build more of this yourself, because you'll have done it with your own hands, on your own devices — not watched me do it.
Bring your own real work — that's the point. People come with all kinds of it: a real-estate agent's listing, marketing, and client follow-up engine; a consultant's research-and-writing workflow; a founder's content and outreach system; an operator's reporting and board-prep assistant. Whatever yours is, we build the version that gives you hours back every week.
The tools will keep changing. What you learn here is portable across all of it.
This isn't about which buttons to click. The buttons will change. The interfaces will change. The models will change. What you're learning is how to think with AI — context, lifecycle, modality, artifact. That's portable across every tool, this year and next.
For people who are past the basics but not yet fluent.
A professional, founder, or creator.
You've used ChatGPT. You have a Claude tab open somewhere. You're not afraid of new tools.
You're missing 80% of what's possible.
You're getting value, but you can feel that you're scratching the surface of what these tools can do for your work.
To actually build something.
Not another set of videos to watch. A program where you leave with real artifacts on your real work, and a system to keep building.
This is notfor you if…
- You want a passive video course.
- You only want a list of prompts.
- You are not willing to bring real work into the room.
- You want AI hype instead of practice.
- You are not ready to build a system you will actually use.
Four modules. One coherent system.
This is a hands-on workshop, not a lecture series. You bring a real project of your own and work it across all four sessions — so what you build lands directly in your actual work, not in throwaway exercises. Each session is 3 hours, spaced exactly one week apart, and the weeks between sessions are where the real practice happens. Every module produces tangible, actionable artifacts you walk away with; by Module 4, those artifacts have become a complete personal AI operating system.
The Foundation
Setting up, thinking clearly, and producing your first artifact.
Get the tools properly configured. Install the right apps, enable the right connectors, configure the right settings. Then learn the four core concepts that make every conversation work: context, lifecycle, modality, and artifact. Leave the session with your personal identity framework already built — the seed for every future conversation with AI.
Working the Thread
Mastering context, memory, and the lifecycle of a conversation.
The module where craft becomes muscle memory. Learn the anatomy of a strong thread — how to open it, work it, close it, and feed the next one. Build your first Project for an ongoing area of work. Start a prompt library you'll actually use. This is the module that separates people who use AI from people who work with it.
Beyond the Desk
Voice, mobile, and the multi-modal workflow.
Most of your best thinking happens when you're not at a computer. Learn to capture that thinking by voice and feed it back into your work without losing momentum. Practice the three patterns for moving between mobile and desktop. Build a “modality map” of your actual week — where each kind of thinking happens, and which tool supports it.
The Stack
Putting it together: your assistant, your workflows, your new default.
Bring it all together. Learn where Claude wins and where ChatGPT wins, and how to move work between them. Turn the pieces from the first three modules into a single assistant that knows you and your work, and build the handful of repeatable workflows you'll run every week. By the end you're not using AI occasionally — it's the operating layer for how you think and produce. You leave the program with a way of working, not just a set of tools.
In person in Philadelphia. For now.
The flagship version of this program is delivered in person — small cohort, real room, shared focus. There's a felt-sense difference between thinking together in a space and thinking together over screens, and the material we're working with deserves the better version.
Cohort 01 sessions — June–July 2026
Four Tuesdays — June 16, 23, 30 and July 7, 2026 — 5–8pm, in central Philadelphia.
- Module 01 — Foundation
- Module 02 — Working the Thread
- Module 03 — Beyond the Desk
- Module 04 — The Stack
Location: Compass Real Estate, Center City — 1430 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
Cohort mechanics
Capped at 12 seats — first come, first served. Small enough for genuine attention, large enough for peer learning to compound. Each cohort gets a private community space that stays open after the program ends.
Recorded sessions — every session is recorded, and the recordings are distributed to all participants afterward. Revisit anything, and never lose a session to a scheduling conflict.
1:1 time — one private session with me between Modules 2 and 3. The midpoint check-in where the customization happens. Your specific work, your specific stuck points, get attention.
Graduation— a small ritual at the end of Module 4 that marks the transition. Your peers see what you've built. You see what they've built. The cohort becomes a network.
Your assistant. Not a stack of notes.
Not ideas you hope to apply later — tangible things you own and keep. At the end of four weeks, you walk away with:
- Your own virtual assistant, ready to go — set up around you and your real work, doing real jobs from day one.
- A complete workbook — every exercise, framework, and fill-in template from the program, yours to keep and reuse.
- Recordings of every session — all four sessions are recorded and sent to you afterward, yours to rewatch anytime.
- A resource libraryof durable, tool-agnostic reference cards and templates you'll use long after the cohort ends.
- Your personal identity framework ready to seed any AI conversation, with either model.
- A curated prompt library organized by use case, tested on your real work.
- A simple playbook for building more yourself — and knowing when to reach for Claude vs. ChatGPT.
- Saved workflows across modalities chat, voice, desktop, mobile, all working together.
- The meta-skill using AI as a thinking partner, not a search engine. The thing that actually compounds.
- A small group of peerswho are leveling up alongside you, and who you'll keep building with after.
Level Up is the on-ramp.
Aetherium is where the road goes.
Level Up gets you fluent in the tools. The frameworks you build here — identity, context, structured outputs — are the same primitives that power Aetherium, a deeper architecture for using AI in service of who you're becoming. Graduates of Level Up get a first look and a founding rate on the Aetherium Identity Intensive. No pressure. The bridge is there if you want it.
About Chris.
Chris Porto
Strategist, builder, and practitioner — working at the intersection of consciousness, culture, and the systems we build together.
A decade developing real estate, preceded by solar project finance and consulting at Deloitte — with two decades of contemplative practice underneath all of it. Today I build AI-native companies: Futurescape, an AI-driven real estate intelligence firm, and Aetherium, a platform for using AI in service of who you're becoming. Level Up with AI is the on-ramp — the same tools and ways of working I use to build, taught to people who want them for their own work.
Read the full path →Most people teaching AI right now have a year of cleverness and no depth underneath it. I have the opposite. Two decades of practice in how to think clearly and how to learn a field to its foundations — applied now to the tools reshaping every field. I'm not here to show you which buttons to press. I'm teaching the way of working I use every day to build real companies — Futurescape, an AI-driven real estate intelligence firm, and Aetherium — as someone who came to this as an operator, not an engineer. Exactly where you're standing.
Why this is priced this way.
This is a small-room intensive, not a webinar. You are getting four live sessions, one private midpoint session, direct feedback on your actual work, a peer cohort, and a complete personal AI operating system you can keep using long after the program ends.
The tools will keep changing. The system you build with me is yours forever, and the way of thinking is portable across every model and interface that comes next.
One practical note: many professionals fund a workshop like this through an employer professional-development budget, a continuing-education allocation, or business-expense reimbursement. If that applies to you, it's worth a quick ask.
Show up, do the work, and if you don't feel Level Up was worth it, I'll refund you in full. The risk is mine, not yours — your only job is to bring real work and engage.
What graduates say.
Chris was the first person who made me believe that someone like me—someone who is far from tech-savvy—could successfully use AI to get ahead in business. He has a rare ability to take what feels complex and intimidating and make it approachable, practical, and actionable. More importantly, he doesn't just teach technology—he teaches confidence. For the first time, I feel empowered rather than overwhelmed by technology.
Before you reserve.
I'm not technical. Is this really for me?
Yes — it's built for you. There's no code. The people who win with AI are the curious, not the technical. We work entirely in Claude and ChatGPT — the same tools you already have open — and you leave with a working assistant, not a programming project.
What do I actually walk away with?
Tangible things you own and keep: your own configured AI assistant, a complete workbook with every exercise and template, recordings of all four sessions, a prompt library, your identity framework, a resource library of reference cards, repeatable workflows, and a first-90-days plan. You leave with a system, not notes.
Are the sessions recorded?
Yes. Every session is recorded and sent to you afterward— yours to keep and rewatch anytime. You won't lose a session to a scheduling conflict, though the live room is where the real work happens.
Won't this be outdated in six months?
The tools change; the way of working doesn't. You learn durable principles — context, lifecycle, modality, artifact — that outlast any model or button, plus how to build new workflows yourself. You leave able to keep up without buying another course.
Why only Claude and ChatGPT?
Because two tools mastered beats four dabbled in. These two cover the vast majority of real professional work. Master the operating principles here and any other model is a short hop.
What if I miss a session?
You get the recording and there's a private cohort space, so you won't fall behind. Plan to be in the room when you can — but life happens, and the recordings have you covered.
Can I expense it?
Often, yes. Many professionals fund this through an employer professional-development budget, continuing-education allocation, or business-expense reimbursement. It's worth a quick ask — you may already have the budget.
What do I need to bring?
A laptop, accounts on Claude and ChatGPT (we'll get you set up in the first session), and one real project from your work. That's it.
What's your guarantee?
Full satisfaction. Show up, do the work, and if it wasn't worth it, I'll refund you in full. The risk is mine, not yours.
Cohort 01 · $1,997
Capped at 12 seats, first come, first served. Four consecutive Tuesdays, June 16 – July 7, 2026, in central Philadelphia. Your payment reserves your spot — I'll be in touch personally to confirm the details and venue.
Reserve My Seat — $1,997 →