AI Basics

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• Agree a family password against the voice-clone call

  A few seconds of someone's voice is enough to fake a panicked phone call. The defence is a family safe word agreed in advance. How to pick one, with examples.

• Is ChatGPT Plus worth it? Free vs Plus in plain English

  What the free ChatGPT plan actually holds back, what the $8 Go and $20 Plus plans add, and a simple test for whether you need to pay at all.

• Does my AI subscription pay for API use too?

  Usually not. ChatGPT and Claude plans are billed separately from their APIs. The exceptions are the companies' own apps, and one setting can quietly switch Claude Code to the API.

• How to read a diff (the changes an AI wants to make)

  A diff shows what an AI coding tool wants to change: red lines go, green lines come in. How to read one in a minute, and what to check before you say yes.

• Six more AI tools worth knowing about

  Canva, Microsoft Copilot, Descript, Gemini, LM Studio and NotebookLM: what each one is, who it suits and what it costs. Orientation, not reviews.

• What is SSH, and what is an SSH key?

  SSH is how you log in to a computer somewhere else, like a rented server, from your own terminal. What an SSH key is, and the one command you type.

• What is the terminal, and how do I use it?

  The terminal is a window where you type instructions to your computer instead of clicking. How to open it on a Mac or Windows, paste a command, and stay safe.

• Chat window or agent? The one difference that matters

  The app on your phone answers. An agent you install can act: open files, run things, change settings. Same model, different reach. How to tell which you have.

• API, decoded

  You will see the word on every pricing page. An API is how one program talks to another. What it means for you, when you would use one, and the price trap.

• You may already pay for a coding agent

  If you pay for ChatGPT, Codex is included: a coding agent that works on your real files. Most subscribers never open it. Try it in five minutes.

• Deepfake, decoded

  What is a deepfake? A video, photo or voice faked to look like a real person. How they are made, why phone calls are the dangerous ones, and three checks.

• Hallucination, decoded

  The word everyone uses for AI making things up, in one page: what it is, why it happens, where it happens most, and the two habits that catch it.

• It can make pictures. Here is how, and what for.

  ChatGPT, Gemini and others can draw a birthday card, a logo or a picture of the kitchen you cannot describe. Free, in the same chat box.

• Memory: what the app remembers about you, and how to see it

  ChatGPT and Claude keep notes about you between chats. What memory holds, the prompt that shows you, and how to turn it off or delete a single memory.

• Open source, decoded

  Open source means the code or model is public and you can run it yourself. What that buys you, what it costs, and why so many AI tools say it on the label.

• Reasoning model, decoded

  What is a reasoning model? It works the problem out before answering, so you see a pause. Good for maths, planning and tricky code. Is the wait worth it?

• Tokens and the context window, decoded

  What is a context window, and what is a token? Two words behind most AI pricing and limits: a token is a piece of a word, the window is how many fit at once.

• MCP, decoded

  What is MCP, and what is an MCP server? MCP is the plug standard that lets an AI assistant use a tool like your calendar. The server is the tool's end of the plug.

• What is context, and why does my chat get worse?

  Context is everything the AI can see right now. It fills up, it gets crowded, and that is why a long chat starts giving worse answers. Here is the fix.

• Local does not mean private: the four places your data still goes

  Running AI on your own machine keeps your words from the model company. It does nothing about the browser, the sync folder or a file you pasted. Four checks.

• Five things never to paste into an AI

  Most things are fine to type into ChatGPT or Claude. Five are not, and the list is short enough to remember. Plus the one setting worth turning off.

• Which AI should you use? ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot

  They are closer than the arguments suggest. Here is what each one is actually better at, which one to pick if you only want one, and why I pay for two.

• Which model should I use? The one-page answer

  ChatGPT and Claude both have a model menu and neither explains it. The only distinction that matters day to day, and the three-line rule I use to pick.

• Why every post here is under 400 words

  You came here to do a thing, not to scroll. Every post here is short on purpose: the answer first, one prompt to paste, nothing to wade through.

Guides

• AI prompts for emails and messages: reply, shorten, sound like you

  Four prompts for everyday writing: a reply you can send in a minute, a shorter version that keeps the point, a draft that sounds like you, and a voice note turned into text.

• How to check an AI answer before you trust it

  AI answers sound sure even when they're guessing. Three prompts to check one in two minutes, find what you missed, and spot the slant in anything it summarises.

• Fun things to do with AI: fix a photo, a bedtime story, names

  Three things to try with an AI app that aren't work: fix a photo by asking, make a bedtime story with your child in it, and come up with a name for your club, stall or dog.

• Get AI to explain a letter, a bill, a photo or an error

  Photograph it or paste it, then use one prompt to get it in plain English: official letters, bills and statements, photos of things, error messages, and anything new to you.

• How to get better answers from ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini

  Five habits that fix most bad AI answers: tell it who you are, give it the real thing, let it ask questions, ask for three options, and start fresh when a chat gets long.

• Hit your Claude limit? The two limits and what to do next

  Claude's paid plans have a five-hour limit and a weekly one. When each resets, how to tell which you hit, Pro vs Max, and how to make the same work use less.

• Plan a trip, a week of meals and the packing list with AI

  Prompts that plan around your real life: a trip that fits your budget and pace, a week of meals from what you have, a packing list that remembers the charger, and live translation.

• Use AI to make a decision, rehearse a hard talk or revise

  Three prompts that use AI as a thinking partner, not an oracle: weigh two options without going round in circles, rehearse a hard conversation, and turn notes into a quiz.

• Get an AI app on your phone and find your way around

  Which app to get, how to install it safely, where the buttons are, and how to paste in a prompt from this site. Five minutes, free.

• Check a contract for the bits that bite

  Tenancy, phone, gym, freelance job. Paste it and get the clauses that cost you money or lock you in, in plain English, before you sign. Not legal advice.

• Let it interview you, then write your CV

  Writing about yourself is the worst writing there is. Talk about your job for ten minutes instead and get a CV that sounds like you.

• One task at a time (the habit that stops the mess)

  Ask AI for five things in one message and you get a muddle you cannot check. Ask for one, check it, then the next. Slower per message, faster per job.

• Prepare for a doctor's appointment in ten minutes

  You get ten minutes with the doctor and forget half of it. Use AI beforehand to turn your worries into four clear questions and a short summary.

• Projects: keep a long job in one place

  ChatGPT Projects and Claude Projects, explained. If a job lasts longer than one chat, it belongs in a Project: the files, instructions and every chat about it.

• Spreadsheets: ask the question instead of writing the formula

  You know what the column should say, not the formula. Describe it in plain words, paste the headers, and get the formula back with a line explaining it.

• Send one message at 7am so your AI limit resets at lunch

  Claude and Codex limit use in windows of a few hours that start with your first message. Start the clock early and get two full windows in a working day.

• Talk to it out loud: voice mode, and when it beats typing

  Every AI app has a voice mode, and most people try it once as a party trick. It beats typing for three specific things. Here are the three.

• The morning brief: AI tells you your day before you look at it

  One message every morning with the day's shape and the thing you are avoiding. A version for a plain chat app, and one that runs itself.

• The weekly review: ten minutes on Friday that fixes Monday

  Paste what you did, what you said you would do, and what is coming. Get back the three things that slipped and the one thing to do first next week.

• Turn off 'use my chats to train the model'

  How to stop ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini training on your chats. One setting turns it off in each app and changes nothing else. Two minutes, once.

• Upload a PDF and ask it questions

  Upload a PDF to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and ask what you want to know, with page numbers so you can check, plus the rule that stops it guessing.

• Use the cheap model for the boring 80 percent

  Most of what you ask an AI does not need the clever model. Switch the routine stuff to the small one: it is faster and saves your limit.

• Write to a company that owes you (and get a reply)

  A refund, a repair, a deposit, a cancelled flight. One prompt writes a short, firm, polite letter with your reference numbers and a deadline.

• Your first automation: a message that sends itself

  Automation sounds like a project. It is not: it is one prompt you already use, on a timer. The smallest version, and how to tell if it is worth more.

• Your first ten minutes with ChatGPT

  Download it, skip the tour, and do four things that show you what it is actually for. Ten minutes, no card, and you will know whether it is for you.

Tools

• ChatGPT: the one everyone has heard of

  The most used AI assistant. Chat, voice, pictures, file reading and a paid plan that also includes Codex, a coding agent most subscribers never open.

• Claude: the best writer of the big assistants

  Anthropic's assistant. Less padding, more willing to say it is not sure, and the paid plan includes Claude Code, the agent that built this site. No pictures.

• Gamma: a slide deck from a paragraph

  Gamma makes slides from a topic or your pasted notes. Get a designed deck in minutes if you would otherwise fight PowerPoint for hours.

• Grammarly: the writing checker, now trying to be a writer

  Grammarly is the spelling and grammar checker for your browser and apps, with AI rewriting added. Still best at small fixes; a chat app wins at rewriting.

• Lovable: describe an app, get a working one

  Type what you want in plain English and get a working web app with a login, hosted, in minutes. Astonishing for a first version; the hard part comes after.

• Midjourney: the picture maker people pay for on purpose

  A paid image generator with a distinct, polished look. Better than the free tools when the picture is the product; overkill when you just want a birthday card.

• Notion AI: the assistant inside your notes

  Notion AI can search, summarise and draft across your notes, tasks and documents. Good if you already use Notion; no reason to move in for it.

• Perplexity: search that shows its sources

  Perplexity is an AI that searches the web first and answers with clickable citations. Better than a chatbot for recent facts, worse for writing.

• Suno: type a description, get a song

  Suno makes a song from a description or your own lyrics, with vocals, in a minute. Useful for jingles and gifts, no replacement for a musician.