Start using AI in 30 minutes

Pick one assistant and stick with it for a week

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Le Chat all have free plans and all can handle everyday tasks. The difference between them matters far less than practice. Create an account on one, open it on your phone and your computer, and use only that one for a week.

Try these three tasks today

• Paste a long email or letter and ask: "Summarize this in three bullet points and tell me what I need to do."
• Ask it to draft a reply you have been putting off. Tell it the tone you want: friendly, firm, short.
• Plan something: "Make a weekly meal plan for two adults on a $120 grocery budget in Ottawa, with a shopping list."

The habit: give context, a goal and a format

Vague questions get vague answers. Tell the assistant who you are, what you want to achieve, and what the result should look like. "I run a two-person bakery. Write three Instagram captions for our new sourdough, under 30 words each, warm and local" beats "write a caption."

Two rules from day one

• Check anything that matters — numbers, laws, medical or money advice. AI can state wrong things confidently.
• Don't paste your SIN, banking details, health records or other people's private information.