AI · First steps
How to use ChatGPT step by step
Create the account, say who you are, ask for a real task and correct the answer. The same step by step works for Claude, Gemini and Copilot.
bairogonzalez.com team, drawing on Bairo's story · Published
To use ChatGPT, just create an account on OpenAI's website or app, write what you need in the message box and have a conversation with the answer: ask for adjustments, cuts, a new explanation. There's a free version, with usage limits, and paid plans. The same step by step works in Claude (from Anthropic), in Gemini (from Google) and in Copilot (from Microsoft). The look of the screen changes, not the way of thinking.
The most common mistake beginners make is treating the tool like a search engine: typing three words and expecting the perfect answer. It works better when you talk to it as you would to someone you've just met who wants to help.
Why AI is not a chatbot
ChatGPT has "chat" in its name, but it isn't the customer-service robot you know. It doesn't follow a fixed script. It works with what you bring, and the more you bring, the more the answer sounds like you.
In Bairo's view, "AI is not a chatbot, but an extension of your consciousness." It's his way of saying that the conversation doesn't replace your thinking: it extends it. You are still the one who decides.
Step by step today
- Go in through the official address or your phone's official app store. There are many fake apps with similar names. Check the developer before installing.
- Create the account with an email, or a Google, Apple or Microsoft account. Protect it with a strong password and, if possible, two-step verification.
- Look at the settings before using it. There are options about memory (what the tool remembers about you between conversations) and about how your data is used. Read, decide and adjust.
- Write a complete first message. A good message has four parts: who you are, what you want, who it's for and in what format:
I'm [who you are]. I need [what you want], for [who will read
or use it]. I want it as [a list, a table, a short text, a WhatsApp
message]. Use simple language. If information is missing, ask first.
- Correct instead of starting over. Reply in the same conversation: "too long, cut it in half," "change the tone," "explain the third item." The conversation keeps the context.
- Use features beyond text. Depending on your plan and device, you can speak by voice, send a photo, upload a PDF or spreadsheet and ask for a summary. For studying, there's a mode that asks you questions instead of handing you the answer.
- Organize by subject. Start a new conversation for each topic. Mixing a cake recipe with a business plan confuses both the tool and you.
- Ask for the source and check it. When the answer includes a fact, a number or a law:
Where does this information come from? List the sources I can
check on my own and tell me honestly which parts of your
answer you're not sure about.
- Finish by asking for the next step. It's the question that turns conversation into action:
Based on everything we've discussed, what's the next small
thing I can do today, in less than 30 minutes?
If the free version hits its daily limit, don't worry: wait, or continue the same task in another assistant. The requests you've learned to write work in all of them.
How Bairo did it
Bairo Leandro Gonzalez Martinez didn't start at the end. He says that, starting over from zero and without knowing how to code, he sat down in front of the computer and spent six months without leaving the house, learning to build with the tools of his own time, one conversation at a time.
Out of those months came the foundation of the platform and the artificial intelligence of CEASA Bank, a financial platform for agribusiness. When the banks refused to integrate the solution, he didn't stop: he focused on building his own technology, leaving the regulated part to those authorized to operate it. For those who follow his story, it's the same principle that guides this step by step: every no is the ground of a yes, and the next question is always the most important one.
Precautions
ChatGPT is a conversation with a company, not a locked diary: avoid pasting documents, passwords and other people's data; confirm in an official source anything involving numbers, dates or laws; use the tool to understand a test result or a contract, but take the decision to the doctor or the lawyer; and remember that the answers carry biases from the texts it was trained on, so be wary when something sounds prejudiced or too certain.