Behind the tools you will be using sits one technology: the LLM (Large Language Model). It is the engine powering most conversational assistants.

The minimum vocabulary

• LLM: a model trained to understand and produce natural language.
• Prompt: your request, the instruction you give the AI.
• Token: a fragment of a word. Models reason in tokens, not in letters.
• Hallucination: when the AI invents something false but states it with complete confidence. Watch out for this one.

The main consumer assistants

• ChatGPT (OpenAI) — the best known, and highly versatile.
• Claude (Anthropic) — praised for writing and for analysing long documents.
• Gemini (Google) — built into the Google ecosystem.
• Copilot (Microsoft) — built into Windows and Office.

They all work on the same principle: you write a request, the AI answers. The differences lie in style, integrations and the limits of the free tier.

Trainer’s tip: do not lock yourself into a single tool. A good AI trainer knows two or three assistants and can pick the right one for the job.