Basic Chatbots
It's easy to make AI slop. This track is about getting something better than you could write yourself — and building a skill that compounds for the rest of your career.
What This Track Covers
You've probably tried AI and gotten back something generic — bloated paragraphs, weird tone, confidently wrong facts. You might have blamed the AI. But the output is a reflection of the input. This track is about closing that gap.
8 lessons. Each has a step-by-step walkthrough you can follow in your browser, and a deliverable you walk away with. No installs, no API keys, no command line.
This is a journey that doesn't end — models get better, your skills get sharper, and every hour you invest in learning how to communicate with AI pays back for the rest of your career. AI isn't going away. The question is whether you learn to direct it or let it direct you.
Lesson 1
How to Ask an LLM to Write Stuff
What an LLM actually is (simple analogy). Why "write me an email" gets bad results. Walkthrough: the same prompt in ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini — and what each does differently. Deliverable: a reusable prompt template.
Lesson 2
Getting It to Write How You Want
Style, tone, length, structure. System prompts vs user prompts. Walkthrough: take a rough draft and refine it across three rounds. Deliverable: a saved "voice card" prompt template.
Lesson 3
Which Chatbot Should I Use?
ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini vs Copilot. What each is best at, free vs paid, and how to pick. Walkthrough: send the same complex question to all three and compare. Deliverable: a one-page decision matrix.
Lesson 4
Working with Documents
Uploading PDFs, images, spreadsheets. What models can actually see in them. Walkthrough: upload a document and ask questions. Deliverable: a document analysis checklist.
Lesson 5
When to Trust It, When to Verify
Hallucinations, confidence calibration, the "cost of being wrong" framework. Walkthrough: ask a factual question, then a deliberately tricky one. Deliverable: a trust-decisions reference card.
Lesson 6
Real Workflows: Draft and Summarize
Two complete walkthroughs. Drafting an email from bullet points. Summarizing a long article. Deliverable: two reusable workflow prompt templates.
Lesson 7
How to Ask an LLM for Research
The SCOPE framework for structured research. Exploratory and decision-oriented walkthroughs. Cross-referencing across models. Deliverable: a reusable research brief template.
Lesson 8
What's Next: From Chat to Tools
Beyond the chat window. Web search, artifacts, and the on-ramp to agentic tools. Walkthrough: try a free tool feature in your chatbot. Deliverable: a personal AI toolkit checklist.
Lessons being published throughout 2026.