New to Startups; Where do I start?

I have an idea for an specialized AI based software system in a particular market that I think, if done well, could be a very helpful and lucrative software/AI (both for its owners as well as its users). It hasn't been properly implemented into any form that I or my associates have been able to find and I believe that now is the perfect time to start its development.

I'm an entrepreneur, have started several successful companies over the years and am well experienced in all things business. But, none of my companies have involved creating a brand new product or would fall into the "Startup" category. It's a whole new world to me.

That being said, I'm not sure what the proper steps are to make this idea come to fruition and am hoping for a point in the right direction. How do people usually go from idea to launch?

I imagine there are 2 distinct things I need right now, funding for the project and a partner to help create the software.

Step 1 would be the partner. For this partner, I'm not sure where to start to find this person. I'd imagine I need someone that's experienced in machine learning, AI engineering, software development, programming, etc. Or a combination of people with those skills. Since none of my companies are startup or tech based, I don't have connections to anyone with those skills.

If I go around looking for a partner with those skills, I'll surely need to explain my idea to them and will need to be able to protect my idea before hand. Do I copyright it? Make them sign an NDA? What's common business practice?

Where do I go to look for a partner with those skills?

For funding, I can fund the initial stages of the project for a handful of months. From there, I'd like to find some kind of investment. But that sounds like a bridge to cross when I get further down that road.

Looking forward to starting down this road and hopefully making something that benefits and pushes forward this new world of AI!