Lecture 2: Accessing the Tools and Using Them Responsibly

Now you put Lecture 1 into practice. This lecture walks you through creating your accounts, finding your way around each tool, running your first interactions, and following the ground rules that keep your use of AI responsible. Work through it with the tools open in another window.

The two tools this program uses

You will use two tools most often. ChatGPT, made by OpenAI, and Claude, made by Anthropic. They do similar things and they each have strengths you will come to recognize. Using both from the start keeps you flexible and stops you from depending on a single tool. Later in the program you will also use Notion AI for organizing your work.

Both tools have a free version that is more than enough for this week. You do not need to pay for anything to complete Week 1.

Creating your accounts

The steps are the same idea for each tool. Go to the official website, sign up, confirm your email, and you are in.

ChatGPT

• Go to chatgpt.com in your web browser.
• Click Sign up. Use an email address you check, or sign up with a Google or Microsoft account if you have one.
• Confirm your email if it asks, then sign in. You will land on a screen with a box that says something like "Ask anything."

Claude

• Go to claude.ai in your web browser.
• Click Sign up and use your email, Google, or Microsoft account.
• Confirm your email, sign in, and you will see a similar message box ready for your first question.

Always start from the official address, chatgpt.com and claude.ai. There are imitation sites that copy the look of these tools to steal logins. If a link arrives in an email or an ad, do not trust it. Type the address yourself.

Finding your way around

Both tools share the same basic layout, so once you learn one, the other feels familiar.

• The message box at the bottom is where you type. You type a request, press Enter, and the tool responds above.
• The conversation fills the middle of the screen. You can keep talking. The tool remembers what you said earlier in the same conversation, so you can say "make that shorter" without repeating yourself.
• The sidebar on the left holds your past conversations. Each one is saved so you can return to it. You can start a fresh conversation any time with the "New chat" button.

That is genuinely most of it. The interface is deliberately simple. The skill is not in the buttons; it is in what you ask.

Your first interactions

Try these now, one in ChatGPT and one in Claude, so you feel the difference. Type them into the message box exactly, then read what comes back.

• "Explain what a workforce management analyst does, in three short sentences, for someone new to the field."
• "Write a friendly two-sentence reply to a coworker who asked if I can cover their shift on Friday. I can cover it."
• "Give me five questions I should ask in an informational interview for a customer service role."

Notice three things as you read the responses. First, the tool answered instantly and in clear language. Second, you could immediately tell whether the answer was useful. Third, when you add detail to your request, the answer gets better. That last point is the entire craft of prompting, and you will go deep on it next week.

Using AI responsibly

These rules are not fine print. They protect you, your future employer, and the people your work touches. Follow them from day one.

Verify before you rely

From Lecture 1: the tool can be confidently wrong. Before you act on a fact, a number, or a claim, check it against a trustworthy source. Never submit AI output as final without reading every line yourself.

Protect private information

Do not paste anything into these tools that should stay private: full social security numbers, bank details, passwords, medical information, or a customer's personal records. Treat the message box like a postcard, not a locked drawer.

Be honest about your use

Using AI to draft and improve your work is a skill, and this program teaches it openly. But your final work must be genuinely yours: your judgment, your facts, your voice. In this course, when an assignment asks you to document your AI use, you show your prompts and outputs honestly. That habit will serve you in any workplace.

Stay accountable

The tool drafts; you decide. If something goes out under your name, you own it, no matter which tool helped write it.

What to do before the knowledge check

Make sure both accounts are working, you can find the message box and your saved conversations in each, and you have run at least the three first interactions above. That is exactly what your Setup Verification deliverable asks you to show. Once you have done it, take the knowledge check to confirm the ideas from both lectures landed.

If you get stuck on account creation, bring it to the weekly live session, or reach out to Arc Nova career services, who support learners throughout the program.

Learn. Apply. Advance.