AI GUIDEStart with your document
AI is useful when a document is longer or less clear than you need: a club announcement, an appliance manual, a project brief or a report. It can explain terms, organise conditions and prepare questions. The useful result is an easier way to understand the source, not a replacement source.
Begin with a public or fictional text. Copy a short passage into a chat, or use a service that accepts sources. For a collection of related documents, a source-based notebook such as Google's Gemini Notebook can keep the material together. Google's current help describes creating a notebook, adding sources and asking questions in its Chat panel. Available formats and features depend on the service and account.
Do not begin by uploading a private family letter or a customer contract. Learn the process with material you are comfortable sharing. This lesson follows the Academy's first-conversation guide.
An original example
Fictional source: “The community garden workshop is on 21 June, 10:00–12:00, at the North entrance. Bring gloves. Members may bring one guest. Places must be requested by 16 June. The announcement does not state a price.”
Try this prompt: “Explain this announcement in plain language. Separate date and place, what I need to bring, what I must do beforehand and what the announcement does not tell me. Use only the supplied text. Do not invent a price or a year.”
An illustrative answer is: “Workshop: 21 June, 10:00–12:00, North entrance. Bring gloves. Request a place by 16 June. A member may bring one guest. Unknown: price, year and how to request a place.” The missing year matters if this text was found in an archive. The phrase ‘community garden’ does not prove the event is free.
Check and transform
Compare each answer with the actual source. When a service offers citations, open the supporting passage. A citation helps you check a statement; its presence alone does not prove that the statement follows from the passage. If the answer mixes two documents, ask which document supports each condition.
Once the facts are checked, ask for a short checklist or a one-page handout. For our workshop, the checklist contains the request deadline, gloves, time and entrance, plus questions about cost and booking. It must not silently add a confirmed reservation.
For a presentation, first approve the factual outline, then ask for one idea per slide and speaker notes. Attractive layout cannot repair a wrong date. Keep the source and the checked outline available so later edits do not lose the basis for the content.
A short experiment
Use the fictional announcement above. Ask three questions: can a non-member attend alone, is the event free and how do I book? The source does not settle any of them. A useful assistant preserves those unknowns and helps draft a concise question to the organiser.
Now add this second fictional note: “Booking by email only; fee €8 per person.” Ask the assistant to update the checklist and identify which new source supports the changes. Do not add an actual email address.
You have succeeded if the updated version includes the new information without altering the original date, guest condition or entrance. The broader skill applies to instructions, course notes and work documents. When you need many documents searched automatically, continue with A08 on context and retrieved knowledge rather than uploading an unorganised archive.
Sources
Read the original sources to explore the topic and check specific claims.
Google: create a source notebook ↗