What AI can and can't do
Learn where AI can help with your work, what to check, and which task to try first.
Prevents mistakes like "The delivery that nobody promised".
Help me with this task: [what you need]. Use these notes: [add the relevant information] Don't add facts or promises that aren't in the notes. If something essential is missing, ask me. Keep the result [describe the length and tone].
Learn where AI can help with your work, what to check, and which task to try first.
Imagine you run a small printing shop. A customer asks when their wedding cards will arrive.
You ask AI:
Write a polite reply saying the order is being printed.
It gives you:
Your wedding cards are being printed and will reach you by Friday. Thank you for your patience.
Sounds ready to send.
Except you never said Friday. The printer hasn't confirmed a date.
The AI wrote the reply and added a promise. You needed only the first part.
This is the habit to build: look for what the AI added.
AI builds its answer in small pieces, using patterns learned during training and the information available in your conversation.
Those patterns help it write emails, explain ideas and organise messy notes. They can also produce details that sound right without being true.
In the printing example, a delivery date fits naturally into a customer reply. That doesn't make Friday your delivery date.
Some AI tools can search the web, read files or calculate. Those features give them more information to work with. They still need the right source for your question.
Your next request could be:
Write a short WhatsApp reply. The cards are being printed. We don't have a delivery date yet. Don't promise one.
A suitable reply would be:
Your cards are being printed. We'll share the delivery date once it's confirmed.
You supplied the fact that mattered.
5 to 10 minutes. No AI tool needed yet.
You'll write down one real task from your week: what you want, what you'll give the AI, and what you'll check. Those answers are most of your first request, almost word for word.
Choose something that takes longer than you'd like: a weekly update, a customer reply or notes you regularly tidy.
Here's a filled example:
| Question | Example |
|---|---|
| What do you want help with? | Drafting the Friday update for our team WhatsApp group. |
| What will you give the AI? | This week's completed work, delays and confirmed next steps. |
| What will you check? | Names, dates and whether unfinished work is described as finished. |
| What changes if this goes well? | Friday's update takes five minutes, not thirty. |
Answer those four questions in the Your tasks worksheet below. One sentence per answer is enough. Use “Add task” if you want to compare another task; one is enough to begin. “More details” has optional choices about the kind of work.
The course comes back to this task. In Lesson 11 you decide how much of it AI may do on its own.
Your answers save automatically in this browser. Export a copy to keep on your device; worksheet text doesn't sync when you sign in.
Your tasks
One task from your week, and how you'll check it. Your first request comes from these answers.
Before using the reply, compare it with your notes. Look especially at names, numbers, dates and promises.
If you can't say how you'll check the result of your chosen task, choose an easier task first.
Your task stays saved in this browser. In the next lesson you'll set up an AI tool and give it the background it needs for your work.
The rest of the course follows one sentence:
Point it at an outcome, give it your context, check what comes back, keep what worked, and only then let it act.
Each phrase is a part of the course, in that order. Letting the AI act comes last on purpose. Everything before it is what makes that step safe.
For now, remember:
Give it the facts. Check what it adds.