One assistant, one real reply

A message has been waiting since this morning. You know roughly what to say. By the end of this lesson, you'll have a free AI assistant on your phone, a reply you actually sent, and the first page of your Hours-Back Kit.

Choose in one minute

An AI assistant is a chat app that answers in plain words. ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude all work for this course. The order is not a ranking.

Three questions decide it:

1. Is it available where you live? The box below has the official lists.
2. Do you already have the account it needs? Gemini opens with a Google account. ChatGPT and Claude let you sign up with an email address.
3. Does it answer naturally? Send it one sentence and read the reply.

Then stop choosing. How you ask matters more than which one you picked.

Set it up on your phone

1. Open your phone's official app store and search for the name.
2. Check the developer name under the app title before you install. Look-alike apps exist.
3. Sign in. Confirming your email or phone number is normal. No payment is needed; skip any paid plan or trial.
4. Press and hold the icon and move it to your home screen.

Can't install apps? Use the website in your phone's browser: chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, or claude.ai. If you are under 18, check the age rule in the app's terms before you sign up. Age rules differ between the three apps.

A picture to keep in mind: the assistant is like a new colleague on their first day. They know a lot about the world and nothing about you. So you say who you are and what you need before you ask.

Your first real reply

Example: Amara, an office administrator at a small catering-equipment supplier in Manchester, England, has had a supplier's email since the morning. The supplier wants to move Thursday's delivery to next week. Stock runs out on Friday, so she can't agree, and she has been putting the reply off.

On the bus home, she pastes the prompt below into a new chat, adds the email without the sender's name, and writes her point roughly: "can't wait till next week, we run out Friday, could they deliver half on Thursday."

To use a prompt card on your phone: tap Copy on the card. In a new chat, press and hold in the message box, then tap Paste. Tap each bracket, delete it, and type or dictate your own words.

I work as [your job and type of workplace].
I got this message from [a customer / my manager / a supplier]:
"[paste the message here, with names and phone numbers removed]"
What I want to say, in my own rough words: [your point]
Write 2 versions of my reply: one short, one more polite. Each under 60 words, ready to send by [email / work chat].
Use only the facts I gave you. Do not invent anything, and do not add promises.
Write in plain, friendly English. Short sentences. No buzzwords. Use the spelling common in [country].
If any [bracket] above is still empty, ask me for it before you answer.

We tested this prompt with Amara's email in November 2026. The short version ended with her own idea, asked politely: "Could you deliver half on Thursday and the rest next week?" Nothing was added. Amara picks the polite one, swaps one phrase she'd never use, and sends it.

What comes back is a draft. Read it, change what doesn't sound like you, then send it. You're responsible for what you send.

One privacy rule for today: do not paste passwords, ID or card numbers, or other people's personal details. Remove names and phone numbers first. More on this in lesson 4. No AI allowed at work? Practice on a personal message.

Where this goes next

Each of the next seven lessons adds one skill: the four-part prompt, photos and voice, checking answers, messages in your voice, summaries, reports and slides, and a weekly routine.