A Beginner's Guide to AI Chatbots: What They're Good At and How to Use Them Safely
What AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and Claude can do, how to ask good questions, and the safety rules everyone should follow.
AI chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot and Claude can write, explain, summarise and brainstorm in plain English. Used well, they save real time. Used carelessly, they can confidently give you wrong answers. Here's how to get the good without the bad.
What AI chatbots are good at
- Writing and rewording: drafting emails, letters of complaint, CVs, social media posts, or making something sound more polite or professional.
- Explaining things: "Explain my energy bill terms like I'm new to this" or "What does this error message mean?"
- Summarising: condensing long documents, terms and conditions or meeting notes.
- Planning: meal plans, revision timetables, trip outlines, to-do lists.
- Brainstorming: gift ideas, business names, ways to solve a problem.
What they're not good at
Chatbots predict likely-sounding text. Most of the time that's accurate, but sometimes they make up facts, figures or references and present them confidently. This is often called "hallucination". Many can now search the web, which helps, but you should still:
- double-check anything important, especially health, legal, money and tax information
- ask for sources and open them yourself
- treat answers as a helpful first draft, not the final word
How to ask good questions
The more context you give, the better the answer. Compare:
"Write an email to my landlord."
"Write a polite but firm email to my landlord. The boiler has been broken for 5 days, I reported it on Monday, and I'd like a repair date by Friday. Keep it under 150 words."
Useful tricks:
- Say who it's for: "Explain this for a 12-year-old" or "for a small business owner".
- Give an example of the style or format you want.
- Ask follow-ups: "Make it shorter", "Give me three options", "What have you assumed?"
- Ask it to check itself: "What might be wrong with this answer?"
The safety rules
- Check the app's privacy settings. Many let you turn off chat history or stop your conversations being used for training.
- Be wary of fake AI apps. Download chatbots only from official app stores and check the developer name.
- Remember that AI can also be used by scammers to write convincing messages and even clone voices. Our phishing guide explains how to stay safe.
Try this today
Pick a task you've been putting off, such as a tricky email or a confusing letter, and ask a chatbot to help you understand it or draft a reply. Then edit the result in your own words. That's the sweet spot: AI does the heavy lifting, you stay in charge.