Getting Started
The safest first steps: what AI is, what to ask, what to pay for, and when to verify.
33 stories (23 articles · 10 videos)
Start here
A few good first pieces before you browse the full feed.
6 min readWhat AI actually is (and isn't): a no-hype primer
AI in 2026 means one specific thing for most people — and it is not what the movies told you. A plain-English explanation of what is really going on, what it does well, and what it does not.
New to AI
6 min readYour first hour with ChatGPT: a click-by-click walkthrough
A guided sixty-minute tour of ChatGPT — from signing up to your first real win. Every button, every setting that matters, in order.
New to AI
6 min readThe seven things you can ask ChatGPT on day one
The blank input box is the hardest part. Seven copyable prompts that turn an empty conversation into a real win on your very first day.
New to AIMore in this topic
7 min readChoosing an online course: the claims worth verifying before you pay
A course landing page promises accreditation, a hiring rate, and an expert instructor. AI cannot verify any of that from memory — it can only help you build the checklist and find the primary source for each claim.
New to AI
7 min readTutor-mode prompts: getting AI to ask questions instead of just answering
Left alone, a chatbot answers your question directly and completely, which feels efficient and teaches you very little. A small set of prompt patterns that make it hint, question, and withhold, so the productive struggle stays yours.
New to AI
7 min readAI for job hunting: CVs, cover letters, and interview prep
A practical AI workflow for the job hunt — tailoring your CV to each role, drafting cover letters that sound like you, rehearsing interviews out loud, and the steps most candidates skip.
New to AI
7 min readAI for learning a new skill: a 30-day self-study plan
A structured 30-day approach to using AI as a personal tutor and curriculum designer. Four weeks, four phases, with the exact prompts and the habits that make learning stick.
Beginner
6 min readAI for travel, recipes, and life admin
The low-stakes, high-frequency wins that turn AI from a curiosity into a habit. Real prompts for trip planning, meal planning, household admin, and the small decisions that eat your week.
New to AI
7 min readAI image generation 101: Midjourney vs DALL·E vs Flux
A practical first guide to AI image generation in 2026 — the three main tools, what each is best at, the universal 6-part prompt template, and the line between "good enough for work" and "clearly AI-generated."
Beginner
6 min readAI as your personal editor: fix any writing in under a minute
Three small prompts that turn any AI into a careful, fast editor — without it rewriting you into someone you are not. One pass each for clarity, tone, and grammar.
New to AI
7 min readUsing AI to read long documents, contracts, and PDFs
Drop in a 40-page document and get the parts that matter — the decisions, the risks, the things you would otherwise miss. A practical workflow for using AI to read what you do not have time to read.
New to AI
6 min readAI vs Google: when to search, when to ask
Search and AI assistants are not interchangeable. A practical guide to which tool fits which question — with side-by-side examples and the cases where you should use both.
New to AI
6 min readThe difference between a bad and good prompt (5 before/after examples)
Five real prompts shown in their weak version and their better version, with a short note on what changed. The fastest way to upgrade your AI output without learning any jargon.
New to AI
6 min readUsing ChatGPT to write emails you actually want to send
Most AI emails sound like AI. A practical workflow for using ChatGPT to draft, sharpen, and finish the emails you would actually press send on — without the robot smell.
New to AI
7 min readChatGPT Voice mode: talking to AI like a friend
Talking to AI feels strange for about ninety seconds, then it becomes the most natural interface there is. A practical guide to voice mode — what it is great at, what it is bad at, and how to actually use it.
New to AI
6 min readYour first "Custom GPT": a personalised assistant in 10 minutes
Build a personalised AI assistant — your own tutor, recipe helper, or work coach — by filling in a form. No code, no setup, ten minutes.
New to AI
6 min readFree vs paid ChatGPT: what the upgrade actually buys
A jargon-free comparison of free ChatGPT, ChatGPT Plus, and ChatGPT Pro — what changes when you upgrade and how to tell if you actually need to.
New to AI
7 min readLearning anything faster with AI: from "explain like I'm 12" to practice quizzes
A four-prompt loop that turns any AI into a private tutor — explainer, examples, practice, and feedback. Works for any topic, any background.
New to AI
6 min readPrivacy 101: what ChatGPT remembers, sees, and shares
An honest look at what AI assistants actually do with your data — what is stored, what is used for training, what the privacy settings really mean, and the three changes worth making today.
New to AI
6 min readSharing images with AI: what you can (and shouldn't) upload
Modern AI can read photos, charts, screenshots, and handwriting almost as easily as text. A practical guide to what works, what doesn't, and the thirty-second privacy checklist before you upload anything.
New to AI
7 min readThe ten AI myths holding you back
The persistent beliefs about AI that keep otherwise sharp adults from even trying it. Each one addressed honestly — with what's true, what's exaggerated, and what to do about it.
New to AI
6 min readChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot — which should a beginner pick?
Four mainstream AI assistants, picked apart in plain English. A non-technical guide to choosing your first AI based on what you already use and what you actually want from it.
New to AI
6 min readWhy AI gives confident wrong answers: a beginner's guide to hallucinations
AI does not lie the way a person does. It can generate fluent false specifics because plausibility and verification are different jobs. Here is what is going on, why it happens, and how to avoid being burned.
New to AI
10 minutesLearn 80% of Perplexity in under 10 minutes!
Jeff Su. Jeff opens with the spectrum the article hinges on — ChatGPT and Gemini at the "creative" end, Perplexity and Google Search at the "accurate, real-time, sourced" end — and then shows you the third option in action. The Olympics-medals comparison in the middle is the cleanest "this is when you ask a chatbot, this is when you Google" demo we've seen. After watching, you'll have a third tool in your search routine and a working rule for picking between the three.
New to AI
15 minutesIs ChatGPT Plus Worth it? Here's My Updated Review for 2025
Ryan Doser. Ryan walks through every feature actually gated behind the $20 tier — usage caps, advanced voice mode, image and Sora limits, custom GPTs, the reasoning-model tier — and contrasts it with current free alternatives like Claude, Gemini, and Perplexity. The view count is on the lower side because the topic is narrow, but this is the cleanest current side-by-side that doesn't dissolve into hype, which is why we picked it over the louder "Plus changed my life" videos.
New to AI
14 minutes101 Ways To Use AI In Your Daily Life
Tina Huang. Tina Huang sorts a hundred-plus everyday AI use cases into productivity, daily life, learning, careers and relationships — and crucially walks through each one fast, with the actual prompt or screen on display. It's the most efficient way to see what "asking ChatGPT something" can actually look like beyond the seven examples in the article, without sitting through a 40-minute course.
New to AI
34 minutes"Generative AI" is not what you think it is
Acerola. A developer-essayist works through the "AI is just slop / AI is magical / AI is theft" trio of myths with patience and code on the screen. If the article's myth #4 or #7 ("it's just plagiarism," "it's just plagiarism but for art") nagged at you, this is the video that earns the right to disagree with you.
New to AI
12 minutesWhat We Get Wrong About AI (feat. former Google CEO)
Cleo Abram. Cleo Abram walks through both the "it will kill us all" and "more profound than fire" extremes, asks Eric Schmidt the awkward questions, and lands on a sober middle. The framing — "we're living inside a trolley problem" — is exactly the spirit of the article: neither dismiss the technology nor catastrophise it, just understand what it actually is.
New to AI
36 minutesAndrew Ng: Opportunities in AI - 2023
Stanford Online. Andrew Ng, one of the people who actually built the field, talking plainly about what AI is good at, what it isn't, and where the realistic opportunities sit. A useful counterweight to social-media takes — same calm, no-hype tone as the article, just with more depth on the "where is this actually going" question.
New to AI
8 minutesLarge Language Models explained briefly
3Blue1Brown. The cleanest eight-minute mental model of an LLM on YouTube. Grant Sanderson walks through "next-word prediction," parameters, training, and reinforcement learning from human feedback without ever drifting into hype. Watch it right after the article and the phrase "AI is just autocomplete on steroids" stops being a slogan and starts being a useful shorthand.
New to AI
19 minutesEvery AI Model Explained
Tina Huang. A calm 19-minute map of the major model families — OpenAI's GPT line, Anthropic's Claude, Google's Gemini, plus the open-source players — and which tier inside each family is worth your time. After the article tells you "pick one and stick with it for a month," this video tells you what the dropdown menu inside that one is actually offering. Honestly opinionated without being a hot take.
New to AI
36 minutesEvery ChatGPT Feature In 37 Minutes
Tina Huang. A patient, sidebar-by-sidebar tour of the current ChatGPT app. Useful when the article gets you logged in and you want someone to point at every icon and tell you what it does — voice mode, custom GPTs, projects, memory, the lot — without skipping straight to "advanced prompting."
New to AI
39 minutesChatGPT Tutorial: 35 Tips I Wish I Knew Sooner
Matt Wolfe. Recorded in late 2025, so the screens still look like the screens you'll see today. The first third — plan comparison, account setup, dialling in your settings — is exactly the click-by-click ground the article covers, and the back half (projects, canvas, files, branching) gives you a preview of what's actually behind each menu item before you go exploring.
New to AI