Asking AI for the First Time: What to Ask, and What Not to Paste

The programs everyone is talking about are, from where you sit, a box you type into. You write a question in ordinary language and an answer comes back in ordinary language. There is no trick to it, nothing to install, and no way to break it by typing the wrong thing.

What is genuinely worth knowing before you start is narrower than the coverage suggests: which questions these things are good at, which they are unreliable at, and the short list of things you should not type into one. That last part is the bit nobody tells you, so we will get to it properly.

What it is, in one paragraph

Think of an extremely well-read assistant who has read an enormous amount and remembers the shape of it rather than the source. It is very good at language — explaining, rephrasing, summarising, drafting. It is unreliable about specific facts, because it is reconstructing rather than looking up. And it will be equally confident when it is right and when it is wrong, which is the single most important thing to hold on to.

It is not searching the internet unless it tells you it is, and it is not a person, so there is nothing to be polite to and nothing to be embarrassed in front of. You can ask the same question five times in five ways.

Good first questions

These are the ones where it genuinely earns its keep:

"Explain this in plain words." Paste a paragraph of a letter from a bank or a council and ask what it means. Language is the thing it is best at.
"Help me write a polite reply." Say who it is to and what you want to happen. Then tell it to make the reply shorter, or warmer, or firmer.
"What questions should I ask?" Before a meeting with a doctor, a builder, or an estate agent. It is good at producing the list you would have thought of afterwards.
"What is the difference between these two things?" Two insurance options, two phone plans, two ways of doing something.
"I want to do X on my phone. Walk me through it, one step at a time." And when a step does not match what you see, say so, and it will try again.

The single best habit is to keep talking. The first answer is a draft. "Simpler." "Too long." "I did not understand the third point." That is how these things are meant to be used, and it is where most of the value is.

What it is unreliable at

Recent events, prices, opening hours, phone numbers. Check these somewhere else, always.
Anything with a consequence. Medical, legal, and money questions are fine for understanding a term or preparing your questions. They are not a substitute for a professional who knows your situation, and this is the area where a confident wrong answer does the most damage.
Arithmetic on your own numbers. It will produce a figure that looks plausible. If the number matters, work it out with a calculator built for the job.
Remembering you. Some services keep a history and some do not. Assume each conversation starts fresh unless you have been told otherwise.

The rule that covers all of it: if a wrong answer would cost you money, health, or a deadline, verify it elsewhere. Use it to understand things and to write things. Do not use it as the last word on a fact.

What not to type into it

This part matters, and it is the opposite of how our own tools work, so we want to be exact about the difference.

Every one of our tools runs inside your own browser — your file never leaves your device, and you can prove it by going offline. An AI chat service cannot work that way. The program is far too large to run on your computer, so everything you type is sent to their machines, where it is processed and usually stored. Many services also use conversations to improve their systems, though most now let you switch that off in the settings. This is not a scandal; it is simply how they must work. It does mean your side of the conversation is not private in the way a document on your own computer is.

So do not type:

Passwords, or any code sent to you by text message.
Bank account numbers, card numbers, or national identity numbers.
Full medical records or test results with your name attached.
Other people's details. You may be relaxed about your own information. Your daughter's address and your neighbour's phone number are not yours to hand over.

You can almost always ask the same question without them. "My insurer says my claim was declined under clause 7 — what does that usually mean?" gets you the same answer as pasting the whole letter, and gives away nothing.

If you do need to ask about a document

Sometimes the wording is the whole question and you genuinely need to show it. Two steps make that safe enough.

First, send only the part that matters. If it is a twelve-page document and your question is about one paragraph, there is no reason for the other eleven pages to travel. Our Split PDF tool pulls out a single page or a range and saves it as its own file, working entirely on your own computer — the document is not uploaded to us to do it.

Second, take the names out. Replace yours with "the customer" and the other party's with "the company" before you paste. The advice you get back will be exactly as useful, because the meaning of a clause does not depend on whose name is at the top.

Common questions

Can it be wrong about something simple?

Yes, and this surprises people most. It can miscount, misremember a date, or invent a book that does not exist — and it will say it in the same steady tone it uses when correct. Confidence carries no information about accuracy here. Treat every specific fact as something to confirm.

Do I need to pay for it?

The major services all have a free version that is more than enough for the questions above. Paid tiers are faster and more capable, which matters for heavy use and not much otherwise. There is no need to decide anything before you have tried the free one for a fortnight.

Am I being rude if I do not say please, or if I stop halfway?

No. There is nobody there to mind. Close the window mid-sentence if you want to. If it helps you to write naturally then write naturally — but nothing is owed, and no offence is possible.