Your First AI Conversation

The Goal

By the end of this chapter you will have chosen an AI assistant, set it up safely, and held a real conversation that produces something useful. You will know what never to type into an AI, and you will learn one technique that most beginners never discover: letting the AI ask you questions first.

Understand: choosing your assistant

You don’t need the “best” AI. You need one that works for you, and you need to learn it well. Use these questions to choose:

Where exactly these settings sit in each app changes often. The online library shows the current menu paths for each tool.

My advice: pick one main assistant and use it every day for two weeks. Later, try a second one for comparison. When an answer matters, asking two different assistants is one of the simplest checks there is.

Understand: setting up safely

Most assistants ask you to create an account, usually with an email address or a Google account.

• Use a strong password that you don’t use anywhere else.
• Don’t share your account with friends. Your conversation history is in it.
• Look in the settings for an option about using your data for training. Decide consciously whether you want it on or off.
• Only download apps from the official app store. Fake “AI apps” that steal data or money exist.

Never type this into an AI

Treat a conversation with an AI like a conversation in a public place. Never type:

• Your M-Pesa PIN, bank details, passwords or one-time codes
• Your ID number, passport number or KRA PIN
• Private information about other people: their phone numbers, health, family problems, secrets
• Confidential information from your employer or your customers

If you need help with a document that contains such details, remove or replace them first. Write “[NAME]” or “[ID NUMBER]” instead.

Understand: what a good conversation looks like

An AI conversation is not a search engine query. It is closer to working with an assistant who sits next to you. Five habits make the difference:

1. One topic per chat. Start a new chat for a new task. Old topics in the same chat can confuse the answers.
2. Start with context. Who are you, what do you want, what is it for?
3. Talk back. If the answer is too long, too vague or wrong, say so. “Shorter.” “More practical.” “That’s not right, because …”
4. Build step by step. First the outline, then each part. Not everything at once.
5. Let it ask you questions. If you are not sure what information the AI needs, ask it to interview you first.

The fifth habit is the most powerful. Instead of trying to write the perfect question, you write:

Before you answer, ask me the questions you need to give me a really good result. Ask them one at a time.

Now the AI collects the information it needs — and you learn what makes a good request.

Understand: talking instead of typing

Many assistants let you speak instead of type. Press the microphone symbol and talk normally. This is useful if typing on a small screen is slow for you, or if you think better when you speak.

Voice uses more data than text. On a small bundle, type; on Wi-Fi, talk as much as you like. The free versions of the main assistants let you speak, but not all of them understand spoken Kiswahili yet — Claude’s voice mode, for example, works only in English. Try it before you rely on it.

See It in Action

Faith wants to write her first CV. Her first attempt is: “Write my CV.” The AI produces a CV for an invented person with a university degree and five years of experience. Useless.

This time she tries the interview technique:

I need a CV for my first job in Nairobi. I finished secondary school in 2025 and have no formal work experience yet. Before you write anything, ask me the questions you need. One question at a time.

The AI asks about her subjects, her grades, what she did in school clubs, whether she ever helped in a family business, which apps she can use, what kind of job she wants. Faith suddenly remembers that she organised the fundraising for her school’s drama club and that she manages her aunt’s online orders on WhatsApp. Neither would have been on her CV.

After eight questions, the AI writes a one-page CV. Faith edits it: she removes one skill she doesn’t really have. Then it is hers.

Kevin has no time to type in his shop. Between customers, he presses the microphone and speaks in Kiswahili:

Nisaidie kuandika ujumbe mfupi wa WhatsApp kwa wateja wangu. Nimepata mbegu mpya za mahindi. Bei ni nzuri. Ujumbe uwe wa kirafiki na mfupi.

The message he gets back is good, but a little too formal for his customers. He says: “Make it simpler, the way people talk in Bungoma.” The second version is one he can send.

Try It Yourself

1. Choose your assistant and create your account.
2. Find the setting about using your chats for training. Decide.
3. Start a new chat and use the interview technique for something you actually need: a CV, a message, a plan for your week.
4. When the answer comes, give at least two pieces of feedback before you accept it.

Copy & Paste Prompt

I want help with: [describe your task in one sentence].
It is for: [who will read or use it].

Before you start, ask me the questions you need to do this really well.
Ask one question at a time and wait for my answer.
When you have enough information, tell me, and then give me the result.
Keep your language simple. I am in Kenya.

Improve the Result

• “Shorter, please. Maximum [number] words.”
• “Make it sound like a young person from Nairobi wrote it, not a robot.”
• “What is missing? What would make this stronger?”
• “Give me two different versions so I can choose.”

Check Your Work

• Did I avoid typing passwords, PINs, ID numbers or other people’s private details?
• Is everything in the result actually true about me?
• Did I change the result so it sounds like me?
• Would I be comfortable if the person receiving it knew AI helped me?

Apply It

Use the interview prompt for one real task this week that brings you closer to your goal from Chapter 1. Save the final result. You will improve it in Chapter 4.

Key Takeaways

• Pick one assistant and learn it well before trying others.
• Protect yourself: no PINs, passwords, ID numbers or other people’s private information.
• One topic per chat. Start with context. Talk back.
• Let the AI interview you when you don’t know what to tell it.
• The result only becomes yours when you check it and make it sound like you.