What these tools are
ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Claude are chat tools. You type in ordinary sentences. They reply with text. They don’t know your life, your files, or what’s true unless you give them something to read and then check them.
Free ways to try them exist. What the free version includes changes, and some screens will offer a paid upgrade. You can close that and keep going, or try a different tool. Read the screen before you pay anyone.
Open one and get to an empty box
If someone at work has given you a tool, use that one and read the at-work page before you paste anything from the job. For home, pick a single tool and ignore the others for today.
On a computer, open the tool’s website and look for Sign up, Try, or a chat box. On a phone, the website or the app store both work. Use an email address you are happy to receive mail at. When you can type into an empty box, you are ready. You don’t need to learn the settings.
Try one prompt
Copy the prompt below. Replace the highlighted brackets with a letter or message you want explained, after you have removed your name, address and any reference numbers. Paste it into the box and send it.
If a letter feels too serious for a first go, plan a few meals from what is in the fridge instead. Same idea: you bring the facts, it drafts, you check.
Your first prompt
Highlighted [brackets] are the parts you replace. Only paste information you’re allowed to share with the tool you’re using.
The promptExplain this letter in simple language an everyday person would understand. I have removed my name, address and reference numbers. This is to help me understand the words, not legal, tax or financial advice.
Explain this letter in simple language an everyday person would understand. I have removed my name, address and reference numbers. This is to help me understand the words, not legal, tax or financial advice.
LETTER:
"""
[paste the letter]
"""
1. In three sentences: who it says it is from, what it is about, and whether it asks me to do anything.
2. List every action, date, amount and reference it mentions. Quote the wording.
3. Explain jargon in a few words each.
4. Questions I should ask the sender, and what to have ready.
5. Anything that is a reason to check it is genuine before I pay or reply (rush to pay, odd payment method, contact details that don't match the organisation's own website).
If the letter does not say something, write "not stated". Do not guess.Three safety rules
Leave private details out
Don’t paste passwords, bank card numbers, medical records, or photos of identity documents. For a letter, cover your name, address and account numbers first. At work, don’t paste customer or staff information into a tool your employer hasn’t approved.
Check anything that matters
These tools can be wrong and still sound sure. If you might pay money, reply to an official body, or rely on a fact, compare the answer with the original document or with a proper source such as the organisation’s own website or Citizens Advice.
You still send it
A draft is not a decision. Read it before it goes to another person. If it added a promise, a date or a fact you did not provide, take that sentence out.
Now pick something real
These are ordinary jobs at home: letters, money admin and job hunting. Each one has a longer guide, a prompt and the sources.
- Money and everyday admin
- Understand an official letter
- Review spending and subscriptions
- Write a complaint
- Spot a suspicious message
- Careers and job hunting
- Tailor a CV honestly
- Practise interview answers
Or get one useful idea by email. The newsletter is optional. This page is enough to start.
Sources
- OpenAI, Prompt engineering guide Vendor documentation
- Anthropic, Prompt engineering overview Vendor documentation
- ICO, Guidance on AI and data protection Regulator guidance
- Citizens Advice Charity guidance
- ChatGPT Vendor page
- Claude Vendor page
- Google Gemini Vendor page
- Microsoft Copilot Vendor page
- GOV.UK (HMRC), "Check a list of genuine HMRC contacts" Government guidance