Day 1: What the Heck is Generative AI? (And Why It’s Easier Than You Think)
Hey AI Challenge Crew!
I’m so excited to jump into this little experiment with you. Over the next 14 days, we’ll explore a low-pressure way to engage more deeply with AI — shake off intimidation, learn how to pick a platform, practice writing good prompts, and know what to expect along the way.
First, thank you for joining me. Let’s get curious, experiment, and most importantly — have some fun.
How the Challenge Works
Week 1: We’ll get familiar with what generative AI is, explore the free tools out there, practice writing prompts, and try out personal use cases (meal planning, school emails, job hunting, etc.).
Week 2: We’ll shift into work and professional life — how to use AI as an assistant, speed up admin tasks, and even get help on presentations.
What the heck is Generative AI?
Generative AI is like having a really well-read friend who’s read every cookbook, manual, and blog post.
You give it a spark — a question, a task, an idea.
It takes patterns it’s learned and creates something new: a draft email, a meal plan, a picture, even a bedtime story.
It’s not “thinking” like a person. It’s more like supercharged autocomplete — guessing the next word, step, or image until something useful appears.
Sometimes it gets things wrong (like a friend misremembering a recipe). But most of the time, it saves you time, energy, and brain space. That’s why starting with low-stakes experiments — meal plans, quick thank-you notes, even tightening a toilet seat — is the best way to build confidence.
What Tools You’ll Need
For this challenge, you’ll want:
A platform to try (start with free options unless you already have a subscription). Check below for options.
Your imagination and lived experience — where could you use a little help right now?
Maybe you’re:
Supporting a nonprofit that you volunteer with
Figuring out your next career move
Keeping up with back-to-school emails and kids’ schedules
Looking for an assistant to lighten your workload
AI can help in all of these situations.
A Quick Glance at Four Starter Platforms
What’s a Prompt?
Think of a prompt as the recipe card you hand your robot helper.
If you just say, “Make dinner,” you’ll get something random.
If you say, “Make me a quick chicken stir fry with rice and broccoli in 20 minutes,” your AI helper knows exactly what to do.
That’s prompting — telling the AI what you need, in plain English.
For this challenge, think of prompts with three parts:
Role/context — who the AI should “be” (teacher, assistant, coach).
Task — what you want it to do.
Details/constraints — any specifics (style, length, tone).
Today’s Challenge
Pick a tool from the table above.
Try this starter prompt:
“Act as my personal assistant. Explain in simple terms what AI is, what’s happening ‘under the hood,’ and give me one fun way I can try it today using a free tool.”
Share what you discover! Drop a comment with the tool you chose and what surprised you about the response.
That’s Day 1. Tomorrow we’ll dive deeper into prompts and start applying AI to everyday “life stuff.”
I was supprised that ChatGPT recommended making images in DALL·E 2 as a fun first use of AI.
So I used the prompt Emily provided in Copilot and it shared a very helpful understanding of what AI is. Basically computers being trained to do (with tons of cataloguing of data & patterns) what would before be only human intelligence. Copilot then encouraged me to go to the Craiyon website and play around. I had Craiyon draw candy corns dancing and a lab puppy crying. Both drawings were very accurate and I could download and use (if I had wanted to) in seconds.