--- title: "Make a free account and choose your privacy settings" url: https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/make-a-free-account/ course: "AI for beginners: start here" lesson: "2 of 5" minutes: 8 published: 2026-10-03 updated: 2026-10-03 author: "Jack Stovell" publisher: "Adapt Progress Evolve Limited" language: "en-GB" --- # Make a free account and choose your privacy settings Lesson 2 of 5 in [AI for beginners: start here](https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/) · 8 minutes Now you’ll pick one AI chat tool and set it up. Both ChatGPT and Claude are free to start. You’ll make an account, then find the setting that decides whether your chats are used to train the AI, and choose what you’re happy with. ## You need - An email address, or a Google or Apple account - A web browser on a computer, tablet or phone A narrated walkthrough of this lesson is coming. The steps below cover everything in it. ## Steps ### Step 1: Look at Claude’s free plan Claude’s Free plan is listed as "Free for everyone". It works in a web browser, on a desktop app and on phones, so you can use it almost anywhere. You don’t need to pay for anything in this course. ![Claude’s pricing page showing three plans, Free, Pro and Max. The Free plan shows €0 and "Free for everyone". Prices were in euros because our capture ran from a server in Europe.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/l2-claude-pricing.png) (screenshot captured 3 October 2026) 1. Claude: the Free plan Checkpoint: You’ve seen that Claude has a free plan. ### Step 2: Look at ChatGPT’s free plan ChatGPT also has a Free plan, described as "Best for trying out ChatGPT". Which should you pick? Whichever you like the sound of. The rest of the course works the same in both. Our examples use Claude, but only because we had to pick one. ![ChatGPT’s pricing page with four plans side by side: Free, Go, Plus and Pro. The Free plan is described as "Best for trying out ChatGPT". The prices did not load in our capture, so the price lines are blank.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/l2-chatgpt-pricing.png) (screenshot captured 3 October 2026) 1. ChatGPT: the Free plan Checkpoint: You’ve chosen ChatGPT or Claude. ### Step 3: Check the age rules Check the age rules before you sign up. Claude is for people aged 18 and over. ChatGPT is not meant for children under 13, and 13 to 18 year olds need a parent’s or guardian’s consent. (Screenshot to come.) Checkpoint: You know you’re old enough for the tool you picked. ### Step 4: Sign up for Claude If you picked Claude, go to claude.ai. Choose Continue with Google or Continue with Apple, or type your email address and press Continue with email. Then follow the steps on screen. ![The Claude sign-in page: buttons to continue with Google or Apple, a box to enter your email address and a black "Continue with email" button.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/claude-login-2026-10-02.png) (screenshot captured 2 October 2026) 1. Continue with Google 2. Or type your email address 3. Then continue with email Checkpoint: You can sign in to Claude and see a box to type in. ### Step 5: Or sign up for ChatGPT If you picked ChatGPT, go to chatgpt.com and choose Sign up for free. You can continue with Google, Apple or a phone number, or type your email address and press Continue. If you’d rather try it first without an account, choose Try it first. That’s fine too. Signing in adds saved chats, file uploads and image making. ![ChatGPT’s "Log in or sign up" page: buttons to continue with Google, Apple or phone, an email address box with a Continue button, and a "Try it first" link underneath.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/l2-chatgpt-login.png) (screenshot captured 3 October 2026) 1. Continue with Google, Apple or a phone number 2. Or type your email address 3. "Try it first" without an account Checkpoint: You can use ChatGPT, signed in or not. ### Step 6: Choose your training setting in Claude Claude lets you choose whether your chats are used to improve its AI models. To see or change your choice, select your name, then Settings, then Privacy, and use the switch under Help Improve our AI models. You can change it at any time, so you’re not locked in. Whichever you choose, keep private things out of your chats. ![Anthropic’s privacy help page showing the steps on a computer: select your name, select Settings, select Privacy, and under Help Improve our AI models, click the button to toggle it off or on.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/l2-claude-privacy-setting.png) (screenshot captured 3 October 2026) 1. Your name, then Settings 2. Privacy 3. The model-training switch Checkpoint: You know where Claude’s training setting is and what you’ve chosen. ### Step 7: Or choose your training setting in ChatGPT In ChatGPT, open your account menu, select Settings, then Data controls. Select Improve the model for everyone, turn it off if you don’t want your new chats used to train OpenAI’s models, and select Done. If you use ChatGPT without signing in, the same switch is under Settings and is saved in that browser. ![OpenAI’s help page "Data controls in ChatGPT", open at "Turn off Improve the model for everyone", with the steps for the web: open your account menu, select Settings, select Data controls, then turn off Improve the model for everyone and select Done.](https://aiguideson.com/courses/ai-for-beginners-start-here/l2-chatgpt-data-controls.png) (screenshot captured 3 October 2026) 1. Account menu, then Settings 2. Data controls 3. Improve the model for everyone: off, then Done Checkpoint: You know where ChatGPT’s training setting is and what you’ve chosen. ### Step 8: Know about chats that aren’t saved Want a chat that doesn’t stick around? Both tools have one that isn’t kept in your history or used for training. In Claude it’s called an incognito chat: start a new chat and select the ghost icon in the top right. In ChatGPT it’s called a temporary chat. One catch: they aren’t deleted straight away. Claude keeps incognito chats for 30 days, and ChatGPT may keep temporary chats for up to 30 days for safety. (Screenshot to come.) Checkpoint: You know there’s a private kind of chat, and that it isn’t instantly deleted. ## Common problems ### Claude says it isn’t available where you are Claude only works in supported locations. Use ChatGPT for this course instead. ### Claude says you’ve reached a limit On the free plan, Claude has a usage limit that resets every five hours. Come back later, or carry on in ChatGPT. ### You can’t find the setting The menus change from time to time. Search the tool’s help pages for "model improvement" (Claude) or "data controls" (ChatGPT): the current steps are there. Screenshots captured by tools/capture/ai-for-beginners-start-here.mjs from public pages only. The settings screens sit behind a login, so steps 6 and 7 show each company’s own instructions instead, and step 8 has no screenshot yet. claude.ai served our browser a bot check on 2026-10-03, so step 4 uses the public sign-in page as captured on 2026-10-02. ## Sources - [Claude: Plans and pricing](https://claude.com/pricing) (checked 2026-10-03) - [ChatGPT: Pricing](https://chatgpt.com/pricing/) (checked 2026-10-03) - [Claude Help Center: Get started with Claude (access, the 18+ age requirement, Free plan usage limits)](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8114491-get-started-with-claude) (checked 2026-10-03) - [OpenAI Help Center: Is ChatGPT safe for all ages? (13+, parental consent 13 to 18)](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/8313401-is-chatgpt-safe-for-all-ages) (checked 2026-10-03) - [ChatGPT: Log in or sign up page](https://chatgpt.com/auth/login) (checked 2026-10-03) - [ChatGPT: front page (usable without signing in)](https://chatgpt.com/) (checked 2026-10-03) - [Anthropic Privacy Center: How do I change my model improvement privacy settings?](https://privacy.claude.com/en/articles/12109829-how-do-i-change-my-model-improvement-privacy-settings) (checked 2026-10-03) - [Anthropic Privacy Center: Is my data used for model training?](https://privacy.claude.com/en/articles/10023580-is-my-data-used-for-model-training) (checked 2026-10-03) - [OpenAI Help Center: Data controls in ChatGPT](https://help.openai.com/en/articles/7730893-data-controls-in-chatgpt) (checked 2026-10-03) - [Claude Help Center: Use incognito chats](https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12260368-use-incognito-chats) (checked 2026-10-03)