mekat.
Try a lesson

AI for beginners: a plain-language guide

You don’t need a technical background to use AI well. This guide explains what today’s AI tools are, what they’re good and bad at, and a simple way to start.Updated September 29, 2026

What “AI” means today

When people say AI today, they usually mean generative AI: tools that produce text, images, audio or video from a request. Chatbots such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Copilot are built on large language models, which learn patterns from huge amounts of text and predict what words should come next.

That is why they write fluently, and also why they can be confidently wrong: sounding right and being right are different things. An AI chatbot doesn’t “know” facts the way a reference book does, and it can make up details, a problem often called hallucination.

What AI is good at

  • Drafting: emails, messages, outlines and first versions you then edit.
  • Explaining: a topic in simpler words, or from a different angle.
  • Summarising: long text into key points, which you check against the original.
  • Brainstorming: options, questions to ask, names or ideas.
  • Organising: lists, plans, tables and checklists.

What AI is bad at

  • Facts you can’t check, especially recent events, numbers and quotes.
  • Sources: it can invent citations and links.
  • Decisions about health, money, legal matters and safety, which need a qualified person.
  • Knowing you: it only knows what you tell it, and it tends to agree with you.

How to start in five steps

  1. Pick one tool. The free versions of ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude or Copilot are enough to learn with.
  2. Start with a low-stakes task, such as planning a week of meals or rewriting a message.
  3. Say what you want, who it’s for and what the result should look like. For example: “Write a friendly 100-word reminder to my team about Friday’s meeting, with the time and room.”
  4. Follow up to fix one thing at a time: “Shorter.” “Less formal.” “Add a line about parking.”
  5. Check the result before you use it, and keep private details out of your requests.

Words worth knowing

  • Prompt: the request or question you type.
  • Model: the AI system behind a tool. One app can offer several models.
  • Context: the information the AI can see in the conversation, including what you paste in.
  • Hallucination: when AI states something false or invented as if it were true.
  • Agent: an AI that can take actions, like browsing or filling in forms, not just reply.

How Mekat helps beginners

Mekat is built for people starting from zero. Its first stages, “Start here” and “How AI works”, explain one idea at a time with short lessons, hands-on practice and spaced reviews, with Scout the meerkat as your coach. See how Mekat works or try a mini lesson.

Quick answers

What is the easiest way to learn AI?

Use one AI chatbot for small, everyday tasks, and learn a few habits: say clearly what you want, follow up to improve the answer, check facts and keep private information out. A short structured course, like Mekat or the free Elements of AI, adds the concepts behind those habits.

Do I need to know coding to use AI?

No. Today’s AI chatbots work with plain language. Coding helps only if you want to build AI tools yourself.

Is AI always right?

No. AI chatbots can be confidently wrong and can invent sources. Check anything important with a trusted source or a qualified person.

Sources

Written by the Mekat team at Martinez Solutions LLC, Glendale, Arizona. Spotted something out of date? support@martinezsolutionsaz.com