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Lesson 2 of 5 · 8 minutes · Module 1: Meet AI chat tools

Make a free account and choose your privacy settings

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.

Written by Jack Stovell · Updated 3 October 2026

  1. Step 1 of 8

    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.

    Screenshot captured 3 October 2026.
    1. Claude: the Free plan

    Step 1: Look at Claude’s free plan

    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.

    CheckpointYou’ve seen that Claude has a free plan.

  2. Step 2 of 8

    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.

    Screenshot captured 3 October 2026.
    1. ChatGPT: the Free plan

    Step 2: Look at ChatGPT’s free plan

    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.

    CheckpointYou’ve chosen ChatGPT or Claude.

  3. Step 3 of 8

    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.

    CheckpointYou know you’re old enough for the tool you picked.

  4. Step 4 of 8

    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.

    Screenshot captured 2 October 2026.
    1. Continue with Google
    2. Or type your email address
    3. Then continue with email

    Step 4: Sign up for Claude

    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.

    CheckpointYou can sign in to Claude and see a box to type in.

  5. Step 5 of 8

    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.

    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

    Step 5: Or sign up for ChatGPT

    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.

    CheckpointYou can use ChatGPT, signed in or not.

  6. Step 6 of 8

    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.

    Screenshot captured 3 October 2026.
    1. Your name, then Settings
    2. Privacy
    3. The model-training switch

    Step 6: Choose your training setting in Claude

    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.

    CheckpointYou know where Claude’s training setting is and what you’ve chosen.

  7. Step 7 of 8

    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.

    Screenshot captured 3 October 2026.
    1. Account menu, then Settings
    2. Data controls
    3. Improve the model for everyone: off, then Done

    Step 7: Or choose your training setting in ChatGPT

    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.

    CheckpointYou know where ChatGPT’s training setting is and what you’ve chosen.

  8. Step 8 of 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

    We haven’t captured this step yet. We’d rather show nothing than an old or made-up screen.

    CheckpointYou know there’s a private kind of chat, and that it isn’t instantly deleted.

Common problems

When you have finished

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Previous: lesson 1What AI chat tools are, and what they get wrongNext: lesson 3Your first conversation

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, checked 3 October 2026