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Explore and Test Your AI Use Case

40-45 minutesBest for: People comfortable chatting with AI who want to go deeper

What You'll Do

Customize an interview prompt to fit your specific situation, have a focused conversation with AI about how it could help you, and then test-drive your top idea by having AI produce a real sample for you.

1Open your AI tool of choice

2Copy and paste the prompt below into your chatbot

Before you hit send, fill in the bracketed sections with your own details. If a section doesn't apply to you, delete it or change it to something relevant.

The Prompt Template (copy and paste, then customize the bracketed parts before sending)

Prompt - Copy and paste this:
I want to figure out the best way to use AI as a regular tool in my life. Interview me to understand my situation and help me find a specific, practical use case. Here's some context about me: - My work/role: [Describe what you do — e.g., "I manage a small retail shop," "I'm a stay-at-home parent," "I work in an office doing administrative tasks," "I volunteer at a food bank"] - What takes up most of my time: [e.g., "emails and scheduling," "meal planning for my family," "organizing community events"] - Something I wish I had help with: [e.g., "writing professional emails," "coming up with social media content," "planning activities for my kids"] - Any other relevant details: [e.g., "I use Google Workspace at work," "I plan events for 20+ people," "I'm trying to grow my business on Instagram"] Ask me 2-3 focused follow-up questions to clarify my situation and understand what would be most valuable. Then move to your suggestions. After the interview, I want you to: 1. Suggest 3 specific use cases where a free AI chatbot could save me time or effort 2. For each suggestion, explain exactly what I would ask the AI to do and what the output would look like 3. Ask me which one I want to try 4. Then actually produce a real sample of that output so I can see the quality 5. After I've given you feedback on the sample, create a brief project summary (3-4 sentences) describing my chosen use case — what problem it solves, how I'll use AI to help, and what kind of output I'm looking for. Then recommend that I save this summary by either emailing it to myself or using the share link feature. Important constraints: - Only suggest things a free AI chatbot can do — no paid tools, no coding, no image generation, no plugins - Focus on tasks I would do repeatedly (not one-off things) - Be realistic about what AI is good at and what it's not Start the interview now.

4After the interview

Pick your favorite suggestion and ask AI to produce a real sample. Give it feedback and iterate until you have something you'd actually use.

General Tips for All Tasks

Getting Better Results from AI:

  • Be specific — "help me write an email to my landlord about a maintenance issue" works better than "help me write an email"
  • Give context — the more AI knows about your situation, the better its suggestions
  • Push back — if something isn't right, tell AI what to change instead of starting over
  • Iterate — your first prompt is a rough draft, not a final version

If You Finish Early:

  • Try a second use case from your conversation
  • Help a neighbor get started with their task
  • Experiment with asking AI the same question in a different tool (ChatGPT vs. Claude vs. Gemini) and compare the responses

Technical Issues:

  • If the AI tool isn't loading, try refreshing or switching to a different one
  • Make sure you're connected to wifi
  • Ask Connor for help!

Remember:

  • There's no "wrong" way to do this — experimentation is the point
  • AI works best when you treat it like a conversation, not a search engine
  • You can always come back to this in future class sessions