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Design Your Own Deep-Dive Interview

45 minutesBest for: People ready to build something substantial with AI

What You'll Do

Design your own in-depth interview prompt from scratch, tailored to a specific area of your life where AI could be a real asset. Then run the full interview, and use what AI learns about you to kick off an ongoing project.

1Open your AI tool of choice

2Pick a domain you want AI to deeply understand

This should be something with enough complexity that a thorough interview would actually help. Examples: - Your small business or side hustle - Your role at work (especially if it involves writing, planning, or communication) - A community organization you're involved with - A creative project or hobby you want to develop - Your household management (meal planning, budgeting, scheduling)

3Build your interview prompt

Use the example below as inspiration for structure and depth — but write your own version focused on your chosen domain.

Example Structure (for inspiration — build your own)

Prompt - Copy and paste this:
Example: Deep-dive interview for someone running a community organization I want you to develop a thorough understanding of my community organization — what we do, how we operate, what's working, and where we struggle. After our conversation, create a summary document I can reference when I need help with planning, writing, or problem-solving. Interview me like a consultant who's about to spend six months helping us. Ask follow-up questions. Push me when my answers are vague. Areas to explore: - Mission & Purpose: What do we do? Who do we serve? Why does it matter? - Operations: How do we run? Who does what? What's our budget situation? - Communication: How do we reach people? What's working? What falls flat? - Challenges: What keeps me up at night? What do we keep putting off? - Goals: Where do I want us to be in a year? What would make the biggest difference? - The honest stuff: What am I avoiding? What would I change if I could start over? Start the interview now — one question at a time.

5Write your own interview prompt using the example as inspiration

Tailor it to your chosen domain. Include what you want AI to understand, how it should interview you, key areas to explore, and what it should produce at the end.

6Run the interview, then put the output to work

Answer thoroughly, review what AI produces, then pick a recommendation and have AI help you start on it right away.

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