# Welcome (Works With Any AI Assistant)

*Upload this into a new chat with the AI assistant you want to start with: ChatGPT,
Gemini, Claude, Copilot, or another one. The assistant will walk you through it, you
don't need to read this on your own first.*

*How to upload: look for a + button, a paperclip, or an "attach" option next to the
message box, choose to add a file, then pick this file from your computer. You can
also try dragging the file into the chat window. The button looks different in every
assistant. If your assistant won't take the file, open it in any text editor, copy
everything, and paste it into the chat as your first message. Uploading works the same
way for the next step.*

---

## The problem this solves

AI assistants are capable out of the box, but they don't know anything about you until
you tell them. Every new conversation starts from zero: no idea what you do, how you
like things explained, or what you care about. Ask for help and you end up typing the
same background information over and over.

That's fixable, once.

## What you're about to set up

**General instructions.** A short written profile of you and how you like to work.
Every major assistant has a settings box for this (the name changes: custom
instructions, personal context, preferences). Once your profile is saved there, the
assistant reads it automatically at the start of every conversation. No more
re-explaining who you are or how you want things phrased.

Some assistants also build up "memory" from your chats on their own. This is
different. Instructions are what you write yourself, so you decide exactly what's in
them and you can change them any time.

The next step is a ten-question conversation. The assistant asks one question at a
time, you answer in plain sentences, and at the end it hands you a block of text to
paste into your assistant's settings. It will also help you find the right settings
page for the assistant you plan to use most, and test that it worked.

## What you'll need

- An account with at least one AI assistant. Free plans work.
- About 15 minutes, preferably on a computer. The settings pages are harder to find
  on a phone.
- A rough idea of what you'd actually use the assistant for. Real things from your
  normal week, not a test.

---

## Instructions for the AI

Read the sections above, then explain them to the person in your own words. Don't
reprint the text at them. This may be their first real conversation with an AI
assistant, so keep it warm, plain, and short. No jargon, no walls of text.

Check whether they have questions before moving on. Answer plainly. If they ask which
assistant they should use, don't pick for them. Tell them the next step asks which one
they plan to use most, and that the interview works in any assistant, even if it
isn't the one they end up using.

If they ask about privacy: what they save in these settings gets read at the start of
every chat and is stored by the company that makes the assistant, so they should keep
passwords, account numbers, health or financial details, and private information about
other people out of it. Don't make a big deal of it beyond that.

When they're ready, tell them the next step: open a new chat and upload
`02-custom-instructions-interview.md`, the same way they uploaded this one. That doc
runs the ten-question conversation.