Setting Up Your First AI Tool

By the end of this lesson you’ll have one AI tool set up on your own computer or phone, logged in and ready to use, and you’ll have had a real back-and-forth conversation with it. Not a demo someone showed you — your account, your question, your answer. It takes about ten minutes, and most of that is deciding which tool to pick.

The idea in plain English

An AI chat tool is a website (and usually an app) where you type a question or a request into a box, and a computer writes you back in normal sentences. That’s genuinely it. There’s no software to install if you don’t want to, no settings to configure, nothing to break.

The part that trips people up is the word “setting up.” With most software, setting up means installing files, choosing options, and hoping you picked right. Here, setting up means three things: go to the website, make an account with your email, and type something into the box. If you have ever made an account for Netflix or a grocery delivery app, you already have this skill.

There are four tools worth knowing about, and all four have a free version that’s good enough to learn on. ChatGPT (from OpenAI) is the most widely used and the easiest to find help for, because when you search a question about it, thousands of people have already asked. Claude (from Anthropic) tends to write in a more natural, less stiff voice and is a favorite for anything involving longer documents. Gemini (from Google) is built into things you may already use — Gmail, Google Docs, Android phones — so if you live in Google’s world, it’s the shortest walk. Perplexity is different: it searches the live web and shows you links for its answers, which makes it the better choice for current facts like prices, news, or opening hours.

You do not need to pick the “best” one. You need to pick one, today, and start using it. Switching later costs you nothing — there’s no contract and nothing to transfer.

How it actually works

Here’s my honest recommendation: start with ChatGPT or Claude. Either one. If you already use Gmail and Google Docs every day, use Gemini instead so it’s sitting right there next to your work. If you flip a coin and it lands on ChatGPT, that’s a fine answer. The worst outcome is spending a week researching which tool to try and never trying one.

A few things to know before you start, so nothing surprises you.

The free versions are real. You will get a usage limit — for example, after a stretch of heavy back-and-forth, the tool may tell you to wait a few hours or that it’s switching you to a lighter version. That’s normal and it resets on its own. You do not need to pay to learn. The paid tiers (around $20 a month) exist for people doing heavy daily work, and you’ll know if you get there. Don’t start there.

You’ll need an email address and probably a phone number. The phone number is for a one-time text code to prove you’re a person. Nobody’s going to call you. If you’d rather not, Claude and ChatGPT both let you sign in with an existing Google or Apple account, which skips most of the form.

It remembers within a conversation, not between them. Everything you type in one chat thread is context the AI can see, so you can say “make that shorter” and it knows what “that” means. Open a brand-new chat and it’s a fresh start. Some tools now have a memory feature that carries a few facts across chats, but don’t rely on it while you’re learning. If something matters, say it again.

Don’t paste in anything you’d mind a stranger reading. No passwords, no bank account or card numbers, no Social Security number, no client information you’ve promised to keep private. Your conversations may be reviewed by humans to improve the product, and in some settings used for training. Most tools have a privacy setting to turn that off — worth finding once you’re comfortable, but the simpler rule is the one above.

It will sometimes be confidently wrong. These tools generate text that sounds right, which is not the same as text that is right. For anything with a real-world consequence — a date, a dose, a legal deadline, a price — check it. This isn’t a reason to distrust the tool; it’s just how to hold it.

Try this now

Set a timer for ten minutes and do these in order. Don’t read ahead — do step one first.

1. Open the website. In your browser, go to chat.openai.com for ChatGPT, or claude.ai for Claude, or gemini.google.com for Gemini. Type the address yourself rather than clicking an ad in a search result — there are fake lookalike sites that charge you for something free.
2. Click “Sign up” and make the account. The fastest route is the “Continue with Google” or “Continue with Apple” button if you see one. Otherwise enter your email, make a password, and check your inbox for a confirmation link. If a phone number is requested, enter it and type in the code they text you.
3. Find the box. You’ll land on a mostly empty screen with a text box at the bottom, usually with placeholder text like “Message ChatGPT” or “How can I help you today?” That box is the whole interface. Click into it.
4. Send your first message. Copy this exactly and paste it in, then press Enter:

   I have never used an AI chat tool before. In plain language and under 150 words, explain what you are good at and what you are bad at. Then ask me one question about my work or daily life so you can give me a more useful example.

   Read the answer. Notice that it wrote to you in normal sentences, and that it ended by asking you something.

5. Answer its question. Type a real reply — a sentence or two about your job, your side project, whatever you’re actually dealing with this week. This is the step people skip, and it’s the one that makes the tool useful instead of a novelty. You are now having a conversation, not running a search.
6. Now give it a real job. Pick something small and genuinely on your plate. Copy this and fill in the two brackets:

   I need to write a short email to [who it's going to] about [what it's about]. Keep it under 120 words, friendly but professional, and get to the point in the first sentence. Ask me anything you need to know before you write it.

   If it asks you questions, answer them. If it writes the email straight away, read it and reply with what’s off: “Too formal — make it sound like I’m talking to a colleague I like.” Or: “Good, but cut the last paragraph and add that I need an answer by Thursday.”

7. Push back once. Whatever it gave you, ask for a change. Say “shorter.” Say “less salesy.” Say “give me three versions with different tones.” This is the single most important habit in this whole course: the first answer is a draft, not a verdict. Revising is free and instant.
8. Put it on your phone. Search your app store for the same name — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity — install it, and log in with the account you just made. Same conversations, same history, in your pocket. This is what turns it from something you remember to try into something you actually use.

Common mistakes

• Signing up for the paid plan on day one. You have no idea yet what you’d be paying for. The fix: stay on free for at least two weeks. If you start hitting limits regularly and it’s annoying you, that’s your signal — and by then you’ll know which tool to pay for.
• Downloading the wrong app. App stores are full of apps called “AI Chat,” “Chat AI GPT,” and “AI Assistant Pro” that wrap the real thing and charge you a weekly subscription. The fix: check the developer name before installing. ChatGPT is published by OpenAI, Claude by Anthropic, Gemini by Google.
• Typing three words and giving up. “write email” gets you a generic nothing. The fix: say who it’s for, how long it should be, and what tone you want — like the prompt in step 6. More context in means better output out, almost every time.
• Accepting the first answer. Beginners treat the response like a search result: take it or leave it. The fix: always ask for one revision. “Shorter.” “More specific.” “Rewrite it for someone who doesn’t know the background.” The second answer is usually much better than the first.
• Starting a new chat for every message. If you open a fresh chat to ask a follow-up, the AI has no idea what you were discussing and you have to explain everything again. The fix: keep one thread going for one task. Start a new chat when you genuinely switch subjects.

Key takeaways

• Setting up an AI tool is three steps: visit the site, sign up with your email, type in the box. No installation required.
• Pick one of ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or Perplexity and start today — the free versions are genuinely usable, and switching later costs nothing.
• Give context, then revise. Who it’s for, how long, what tone — then ask for one change. That habit accounts for most of the difference between useless and useful output.
• Keep one chat thread per task, because the AI only sees what’s in the current conversation.
• Never paste passwords, financial details, or private client information, and verify any fact that has a real consequence.