Ask it something daft and see what happens
This is a draft
The steps below were written but have not yet been performed end to end on a real machine, and the time is planned rather than measured with a stopwatch. Four of the twelve checks are outstanding. The teaching is sound; treat the timings and the failure list as provisional. What that means
After this you will be able to
Use one of these tools once, with nothing of yours in it, so the first time is not at work.
Skip this if you have already used one for anything at all. This one is only for the very first time.
There is no right answer in this lesson and nothing to get wrong. That is deliberate. You cannot learn something you are frightened of failing at, so the first go happens here, where failure is not available.
People laugh during this one, which is not something that happens much in digital skills training.
What you need
- Any device with a browser.
- No account. No cost. Nothing installed.
- Nothing of yours goes into it. That is the whole point.
The steps
- Open any free chatbot in a browser. Do not sign up.You should see a box to type in, usually at the bottom of the screen, and some suggested questions above it.
- Ask it to explain something you already understand perfectly, in the style of somebody who does not. "Explain a kettle as if you are a Victorian ghost."You should get something silly and quite well written. Notice how confident it sounds about a thing that is complete nonsense.
- Ask it to do the same thing again, worse. "Now do it badly."It will do that too. It will do anything you ask, which is both the useful part and the problem.
- Ask it a question about itself: "what are you bad at?"You should get a list. Some of it will be accurate and some will be the answer it has been trained to give. Both are worth seeing.
Try this one first
"Write a short poem about a stapler that has given up."
You will get a poem. It might even be quite good. The thing to notice is that it did not hesitate, ask what you meant, or say the request was odd — and that same lack of hesitation is what it brings to a question it should have refused.
If it goes wrong
You feel silly doing this. Everybody does for about two minutes. Then most people ask it four more things.
It refuses your daft request. Ask it why, and then ask it something adjacent. Finding the edges is a genuine part of the lesson, not a detour.
You want to ask it something real. Not in this lesson. Go and do lesson 3 in AI Fundamentals first, the one about what is safe to put in — and then ask whatever you like.
Do today
Ask it one thing with no right answer and no consequence. Read the whole answer. Notice how sure of itself it sounds.
Where else this works. Trying something once, somewhere nothing is at stake, is how to meet every tool you get handed from now on.
Practice card for this lesson — one page of A4, no email address needed.
Did this work? If it did not, say what happened — hello@howtobedigital.com
Every failure anybody sends in ends up in the section above.
Checked by a person · not auto-published
Published 14 July 2026 · Last checked 14 July 2026
8 of 12 checks passed — see which four are outstanding
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