Lesson 3 of 5 · 10 minutes · Module 2: Use it well
Your first conversation
Time to use it. You’ll ask for something small and real, read what comes back, ask for changes in the same chat, and check what it filled in on its own, which is the bit people forget. Our example is a note for the neighbours about a party, but you can pick any small job.
You need
- Your account from lesson 2 (or ChatGPT without one)
- A small, real job to try, with nothing private in it
A narrated walkthrough of this lesson is coming. The steps below cover everything in it.
Step 1 of 7
Find the message box
Open ChatGPT or Claude. The box at the bottom of the screen is where you type. In ChatGPT it says Ask ChatGPT until you start typing. Under it, ChatGPT reminds you that chats may be reviewed and used to improve its AI models.
Screenshot captured 3 October 2026. - Type your message here
- Chats may be reviewed: don't type anything private
- Sign up to keep your chats
CheckpointYou can see the message box and you’re ready to type.
Step 2 of 7
Ask for something small and real
Type your request in plain words, as you’d ask a person. Say what you want and what it’s for. Copy ours if you like, or write your own. Either works. Then press Enter or the send button.
The prompt · works in ChatGPT, Claude or any AI chat toolI'm having a birthday party at my house this Saturday evening. Can you write a short, friendly note I can put through my neighbours' doors to let them know?The reply we got on 2026-10-03, unedited. Read our reply.
Screenshot to come
We haven’t captured this step yet. We’d rather show nothing than an old or made-up screen.
CheckpointYou’ve sent your first prompt and a reply has appeared.
Step 3 of 7
Read the reply properly
Read every line before you do anything with it. Ours left gaps in square brackets for the date, the start and end times and a phone number, because we hadn’t given them. It also suggested an extra line inviting the neighbours in, and offered to make the note more formal, more casual or shorter.
The same reply: look for the parts in square brackets. Read our reply.
CheckpointYou’ve read the whole reply and spotted any gaps or extras.
Step 4 of 7
Ask for a change in the same chat
You don’t need to start again. Reply in the same chat and say what you want changed. It can see the earlier messages in the chat. We asked for a shorter note and added that the music would be off by 11pm.
The prompt · works in ChatGPT, Claude or any AI chat toolThat's good. Please make it shorter, and add that the music will be off by 11pm.The shorter note we got back, with the 11pm line added. Read our reply.
Screenshot to come
We haven’t captured this step yet. We’d rather show nothing than an old or made-up screen.
CheckpointThe new reply has your change in it.
Step 5 of 7
Add your details, then check what it added
Fill in your own details, by typing them yourself or by asking it to. We asked it to sign the note from Sam at number 14. It did, and it also filled in a date, 10th October, which we never gave it. That was a guess, and a confident one. AI often fills gaps without asking, so check every detail it adds.
The prompt · works in ChatGPT, Claude or any AI chat toolSign it from Sam at number 14.Our third reply. It added “10th October” on its own and said so at the end. Read our reply.
Screenshot to come
We haven’t captured this step yet. We’d rather show nothing than an old or made-up screen.
CheckpointEvery detail in the note is one you gave it or have checked.
Step 6 of 7
Copy it out
When you’re happy, select the text of the reply, copy it, and paste it wherever you need it: an email, a document or a note to print. Read it once more after pasting.
CheckpointYour note is out of the chat and in a place you can use it.
Step 7 of 7
Start a new chat for a new job
When you move on to something different, start a new chat. In ChatGPT the button is called New chat. A fresh chat stops the old conversation mixing into the new job, which matters more than it sounds.
CheckpointYou know how to start a fresh chat.
Common problems
When you have finished
Want to keep your place? Get a sign-in link by email and we’ll save your progress. You can keep reading either way. Sign in to save your progress.
Step 1 is ChatGPT’s public front page, captured by tools/capture/ai-for-beginners-start-here.mjs. Steps 2 to 5 happen in a signed-in chat, so they have no screenshot yet; our prompts and the replies we got are saved in outputs/ word for word. Our replies came from Claude through the Claude Code CLI with its tools turned off, so a learner on a free plan in the browser will get different words.