Getting Started with AI

I connected with a good friend recently after a long absence. We talked about family, mutual friends, and reminisced about a few unmentionable experiences.

Then, as I tend to do, I steered the conversation toward the topic that has been consuming my brain lately. "Have you been keeping up with AI?"

She hadn't. Now, I should not have been surprised, since she had no social media, no LinkedIn, and by all accounts, was a ghost online. 

Regardless, I reacted with that slightly condescending, wide-eyed response: "You haven't kept up with AI?", as if the entire world watches the same news cycle I do.

Her reasoning was completely sound. It hadn't impacted her life or anyone around her, and more important, every time she tried to learn more and start, the sheer volume of content, opinions, videos was overwhelming ... enough to make anyone give up before they started.

I totally understood that feeling. The apathy that sets in when it feels like you are already too far behind to catch up.

So I offered to help. And I told her that getting started is genuinely not as hard as it looks. The most important thing to do, in my opinion, was just to get started.

Here is the advice I gave her.

Start with Claude. There are many AI models to choose from, and you can go down a long rabbit hole comparing them. For someone just starting out, I have found Claude to be the most approachable. Ask me again in two months and my answer might be different. That is just how fast this moves.

Subscribe for a month. You can sign up month-to-month and cancel anytime. Is it worth $20? I think so. That is roughly the cost of a movie ticket, a decent lunch, or one cocktail depending on the zip code. Experiment with the pro features and see what you think.

Put it on your phone and your desktop. The best tool is the one you actually use. If it is not with you, you will not use it.

Once you have done this, then let the magic begin. 

Open a new chat and try this prompt:

Hi Claude! I'm new to using AI and I'd love for you to be my personal assistant. To get us started, please ask me what you need to know about me, things like who I am, my values, my communication style, my goals, and what I want and don't want from AI. Ask me one question at a time and keep the important things in your memory for future reference. Let me know when you feel like you have a solid picture of me.

Claude will ask you a series of questions and tailor itself to you from that point forward. Once that is done, try one of these to get the conversation going:

Now that you know me, what's one thing you could do to help me make my week easier?

I'm working on [something specific]. How can you help? Ask me whatever you need.

I want to learn more about [topic], not just information, but help me build a plan to actually understand it.

The key is to think of it more like a colleague than a search engine. You wouldn’t walk up to a colleague and say, “best carrot cake recipe.”  You’d be more direct and ask, "Hey, I'm thinking about making a carrot cake for me and my partner, but I've never done it before. I know you have, so can you help me with this project." Then you would likely end up conversing about ingredients, kitchen tools, mixing and baking tips, and other aspects.

And while smart and capable, you also need to think of AI like a genie that has just popped out of a lamp and is granting you wishes. Vague wishes get vague results.

Ask, “I want to be more attractive,” and the Genie might turn you into a green orc and tell you, “Now you are the most attractive orc!”

Ask, “I want to be rich,” and the Genie might transport you to a small village in the middle of nowhere and tell you, “Now you are the richest person here!”

The more precise your ask, the more useful the response. And if the first answer misses, just redirect. Tell it exactly what you wanted and ask again.

If you ever get completely stuck and cannot think of what to ask, try this:

I'm stuck. I honestly don't know what I should be using AI for today. Spin the random topic generator and come up with something we can explore together.

It is the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button, and it works remarkably well.

If you are just getting started with AI, I would love to hear how these prompts work out for you, or share prompts and approaches that have worked for you.