In this guide
01What it actually is 02The names, sorted 03What it’s good at 04What it gets wrong 05What it costs →First ten minutesSomewhere in the last two years, “AI” went from a sci-fi word to a thing your accountant brings up. If you’ve been nodding along without being totally sure what ChatGPT actually is, this is for you.
No history lesson, no hype. Five minutes and you’re caught up.
Part 01
What these tools actually are
The plain version: an AI assistant is a program that read almost everything publicly written (books, websites, manuals, forums) and got extremely good at one skill: predicting what words should come next. That sounds too simple to matter. It turns out that predicting words well means it can write an email, summarize a contract, explain a legal term, or draft a proposal, because every one of those is words in the right order.
You use it by typing to it, like a text conversation. Ask for something, get an answer in a couple of seconds, ask a follow-up. That’s the entire interface. If you can text, you already know how to use it.
You type“Explain what an LLC is like I’m deciding whether I need one for my bakery.”
You get backA jargon-free explanation shaped to your actual decision. And you can keep asking: “what does it cost,” “what happens if I skip it.”
Part 02
The names, sorted
ChatGPT isn’t “the AI.” It’s one product from one company (OpenAI). Claude is Anthropic’s. Gemini is Google’s. Copilot is Microsoft’s. Same kind of thing, different makers, the way Coke and Pepsi are the same kind of thing.
When someone says “model,” they mean the brain inside the product. The products have app names. The models have robot names (GPT-5, Claude Opus, and so on). You don’t need to track any of it. Pick one product, type into the box, ignore the version numbers.
(Which one should you pick? Honestly, for most people it barely matters yet. That question gets its own guide, next in the series.)
Part 03
What it’s genuinely good at
- First draftsAnything written: emails, proposals, job posts, product descriptions.
- SummarizingLong things you don’t have time to read.
- Explaining jargon“Explain this contract clause like I run a food truck.”
- Changing toneShorter, warmer, more formal, less angry.
- Thinking with youPros and cons, what am I missing, poke holes in this plan.
The pattern behind all five: it’s a sharp assistant who has read everything in the world but knows nothing about your business until you tell it. So tell it. The more of your actual situation you put in the message, the better the answer comes back.
Part 04
What it gets wrong
Here’s the part the ads skip. These tools make things up. Not constantly, and less than they used to, but when it happens, it happens confidently. Ask for a statistic, a legal rule, or a citation and you can get back a wrong one delivered in a perfectly professional tone.
It states wrong facts in a confident voice.
It doesn’t know your business until you tell it.
It agrees with you too easily when you push back.
None of that makes it useless. It makes it a drafting partner instead of an authority. Read everything before it leaves your hands, and double-check any fact or number that has consequences. Guide 4 covers this in full, because trusting these tools the right amount is the actual skill.
Part 05
What it costs
Nothing, to start. Every product here has a free tier, and the free tier covers everything in this series.
Paid plans run about $20 a month. The honest upgrade signal is annoyance: you hit the daily limit and you’re irritated because you were mid-task. That’s it. That’s the whole decision. Start free, and you’ll know within a couple of weeks whether you’re the kind of user who outgrows it.
Where to start
Your first ten minutes
- Open claude.ai, chatgpt.com, or gemini.google.com and make a free account.
- Type this: “I run a [your business here]. Ask me five questions about my week, then tell me three things you could take off my plate.”
- Answer its questions. Read what comes back. Keep asking follow-ups until you’re bored.
That one message will teach you more than any explainer, including this one. When you’re done, guide 3 has six specific tasks to try this week.
The words, translated
The umbrella word. In everyday use it means these writing-and-answering tools.
The product you type into. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.
The brain inside the product. New versions ship constantly. Ignore them.
Fancy word for “the thing you typed.” That’s all it is.
The technology behind all of this (large language model). You’ll never need to say it.
When it makes something up and sounds sure. Real, manageable, covered in guide 4.
So that’s the orientation. A program that read everything, types back like a person, works best when you give it context, and needs you to double-check the stuff that matters. You now know more than most people using the word “AI” in meetings.
Keep going: the next guide sorts out which tool to pick (spoiler: it matters less than you’d think), and guide 3 has six real tasks to hand over this week. And if you’d rather talk through what this means for your business specifically, I’m at the bottom of this page. Go do your ten minutes first.