Everyday Use: putting AI to work in real life

The second level — Tuesday evening — is the most hands-on of the three. This is where AI stops being an abstract idea and starts being genuinely useful in your actual day-to-day life.

Bring your laptop; we'll be trying everything together.

Hour one — Asking good questions

The single biggest thing that separates a frustrating experience from a delightful one is how you ask. This skill is often called "prompting," and it sounds technical, but it's really just clear communication.

We'll practise giving the AI enough context, being specific about what you want, and gently steering it when the first answer isn't quite right. You'll learn a few simple, reusable phrases that dramatically improve your results — the difference between "tell me about pensions" and getting exactly the plain-English summary you were after.

Hour two — Staying safe and thinking critically

Confidence comes from knowing how to protect yourself, so we dedicate a full hour to it. We'll cover what's safe to share and what isn't, how AI is being used in modern scams (and how to spot them), and why you should never blindly trust an answer.

We'll revisit "hallucinations" — when AI states something false with complete confidence — and build the healthy habit of double-checking anything important. This hour alone tends to leave people feeling far more secure, not just with AI, but online in general.

The goal isn't to fear the technology — it's to use it with your eyes open.

Hour three — Everyday life admin

Then we put it all to work on real tasks. This is the fun part. Together we'll use AI to:

• Draft and polish an email or a letter
• Summarise a long document or article into a few clear points
• Plan a trip, an event, or a weekly menu
• Understand a confusing form, bill, or piece of jargon
• Prepare sensible questions to ask a doctor or professional

You'll walk out with two or three tools you can genuinely see yourself using at home that very week. That's the whole point — practical AI for real life.