First steps with AI
From zero to your first results — a practical guide for beginners and marketers
What you need to know to get started
What AI actually is
AI isn't a magic box that knows all the answers. It's a tool that processes text, recognizes patterns and generates probable answers based on billions of examples. It works best as a smart assistant — not as an infallible expert.
What AI can and can't do
✓ Can
- Write and edit texts
- Summarize long documents
- Translate between languages
- Generate ideas and brainstorm
- Explain complex concepts simply
- Help with code
- Analyze data and documents
- Answer questions from all kinds of fields
✗ Can't
- Access the internet in real time (most models)
- Guarantee 100% factual accuracy
- Know about events after its training date
- Read your mind — it needs context
- Replace an expert in critical decisions
- Handle confidential data safely
- Remember previous conversations (without setup)
- Always say "I don't know" — it would rather make up an answer
Which tool for what
ChatGPT
The best-known AI assistant, from OpenAI. Great for everyday tasks, writing, translations and general questions.
All-round use, first contact with AIGemini
Google's AI, connected to the Google ecosystem. Works directly with Gmail, Docs and Drive.
Google Workspace users, working with documentsPerplexity
An AI search engine that searches in real time and cites its sources. Every answer comes with citations.
Research, fact-checking, up-to-date informationClaude
Anthropic's AI, focused on long texts, analysis and safe answers. Excellent for complex tasks.
Long documents, analysis, coding, creative writingClaude Code
A command-line tool for developers. Writes, edits and deploys code autonomously.
Developers, vibe coding, automationOpenClaw
An open-source AI agent that controls your computer — sends emails, manages your calendar, reads files and runs commands. Works via WhatsApp, Telegram or Slack.
Personal AI assistant, automation, 50+ integrationsMicrosoft Copilot
An AI assistant built right into Microsoft 365 — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams and Outlook. Works with your company data.
Corporate environments, Microsoft 365, documents and presentationsGrok
xAI's AI with real-time access to data from X (Twitter). Less restrictive than other models, great for trend analysis.
Current trends, social media analysis, unfiltered answersDeepSeek
An open-source model from China that competes with GPT-4 at a fraction of the price. Strong at code, math and reasoning tasks.
Coding, math, reasoning, low-cost APIMistral
A French open-source model focused on speed and efficiency. Mistral Large competes with GPT-4, the smaller models run locally.
European alternative, local use via Ollama, fast inferenceAnatomy of a good prompt
ROLE
Who should the AI be?
CONTEXT
What does the AI need to know?
TASK
What exactly do you want?
FORMAT
What should the output look like?
Where AI hits its limits
Hallucinations
AI can confidently state false information. Always verify facts, numbers and quotes against external sources.
Knowledge cutoff
Models have a date up to which they were trained. They don't know about events after that date — for current info, use Perplexity.
Data privacy
Don't put confidential company information, personal client data or internal documents into AI without your company's approval.
AI as a marketing tool
Where AI saves marketers the most time
Content creation
Posts, newsletters, articles — drafts in minutes instead of hours.
Content repurposing
5 formats from one article — post, tweet, email, summary, headline.
Research and analysis
Summaries of competitors, trends and news in a clear briefing.
Copywriting
A/B variants of headlines, CTAs, product descriptions.
Translations
Localizing content into multiple languages while keeping the brand's tone.
Reporting
Summarizing data and results in a presentable format.
Prompt templates for marketing
Tip from practice
Learn which tasks your chosen AI is best at. Every model has its strengths and weaknesses, and there is no AI that handles every task best.