Courses › AI for Small Business Owners › Lesson 1: AI in plain words, and staying safe
Lesson 1 of 8 from the course AI for Small Business Owners (in preparation). It is still being tested with real people. Check every step against your own work.
What you will be able to do
Explain in plain words what an AI assistant is, ask it a safe question, and check the answer before you use it. About 10 minutes.
AI in plain words
An AI assistant such as ChatGPT or Claude is a program that writes text in reply to what you type. That typed message is called a prompt. It does not know your business, your customers or your prices unless you tell it. It can sound sure of itself and still be wrong.
Map the job on paper first
If a job is messy, AI will not fix it. It will make the mess faster. Before you type anything, write the job as steps on paper: what comes in, what you do, what goes out, and who checks it. Then decide which one step AI might help with.
What never to paste
- Customers’ ID numbers, bank or card details, passwords and addresses.
- Other people’s private files or messages without their permission.
- Anything you would not want read aloud in public. Replace names with [customer].
Practice: one safe question
- Pick one small step from your paper map.
- Ask a safe question with no private details, for example:
I run a small business. Give me a short, polite message I can use to ask a customer to confirm the size and quantity of their order. Do not invent any prices.
- Read the answer slowly. Check names, numbers and promises against what you know.
- Change anything that does not sound like you.
How to check any AI answer
- Does it match the facts you gave it?
- Did it add anything you did not ask for (prices, dates, promises)?
- Would you be comfortable if the customer saw it?
Measure it
Write down how long the message took by hand and how long with AI, including checking. Keep the method only if it really helps.