Meet your AI toolkit
A hands-on tour of today's AI tools and the agents coming next.
Test class with Intel Academy
Where are you starting from?
Hands up for the one that fits you best. Every level is welcome here.
Never tried it
Curious, but haven't typed a prompt yet.
Tried it a few times
Played with ChatGPT or similar, not sure what else it can do.
Use it every week
Part of how you work, and keen to get more from it.
Today's plan
How AI tools work
One idea that explains their strengths and their mistakes.
Meet the main tools
What each one is good at, and when to reach for it.
Live demos
The same tasks in different tools, plus real jobs from our business.
From chatbots to agents
How AI is moving from answering questions to getting things done.
Better prompts
A simple formula that gets better answers first time.
Hands-on time
Try it yourself on something from your own life or work.
How these tools actually work
They predict the next word
Trained on huge amounts of text, they write one likely word after another.
They can sound sure and be wrong
Fluent isn't the same as true. Check names, numbers, dates and quotes.
Your prompt steers the answer
More context in, better answers out.
Illustration
Learning AI is easier when you
Meet the main tools
ChatGPT
Good for
Everyday questions, writing, brainstorming and making images.
Try asking
Explain how interest rates work like I'm new to it, then quiz me with three questions.
Same question, three tools
Prompt
Plan a relaxed Saturday in London for two adults who love food and art, on a budget of £100. Give times and rough costs.
What to watch for
Different styles
Each tool lays out the day and talks to you in its own way.
Facts to check
Opening times and prices can be out of date or made up.
Follow-ups win
Ask for changes. The second answer is usually better.
Answers with sources
Prompt
What should a small business know before using AI tools with customer information? Keep it short and cite your sources.
What to watch for
Numbered links
Each claim points to where it came from.
Open a source
Check it really says what the answer says.
Still a summary
For anything legal or financial, read the source itself.
Pictures from words
Prompt
A friendly robot teaching a small class of adults in a bright London classroom, warm morning light, editorial photo style.
What to watch for
Style words matter
Photo, watercolour or poster changes everything.
One change at a time
Tweak a single detail so you learn what each word does.
Look closely
Hands, text and faces are where images often go wrong.
AI at work
Prompt
Here are my meeting notes. Write a short follow-up email listing what we decided, who owns each task and the deadlines.
Sample notes to paste
Launch moved to 3 March. Priya to update the website by Friday. Tom to brief the shop team next week. Budget for flyers approved, Sam to order 500. Next check-in Thursday 10am.
What to watch for
Instant structure
Messy notes become a clear email in seconds.
Read before sending
Check names, dates and tone. You're still the author.
Mind what you paste
Only share work data in tools your workplace approves.
From answers to actions
AI is moving from tools that answer questions to agents that work towards a goal.
You
“Suggest some restaurants for a team lunch for 8.”
AI
“Here are five ideas with a line about each.”
Left for you
Check menus, prices and dates, then book it yourself.
Watch an agent work
A goal, not a question
You say what done looks like. The agent works out the steps.
Tools, not just words
It can search, click, open files and fill in forms.
A loop until it's done
It plans, acts, checks the result and adjusts.
Goal: Book a team lunch for 8 next Friday, under £30 a head.
IllustrationAgents you can try
Names and plans change fast, but the big AI companies all now offer agents.
ChatGPT agent mode
OpenAI
Uses its own browser to research, fill in forms and build slides or spreadsheets.
Claude in Chrome
Anthropic
Reads the pages you're signed in to, then clicks, types and fills in forms.
Gemini in Chrome
Google
Browses across sites for you to fill in forms and shop.
Copilot in Edge
Microsoft
Searches, compares and fills in forms, with your approval before anything is final.
Comet
Perplexity
A web browser with an assistant that can act on the pages you visit.
Claude Code and Codex
Anthropic and OpenAI
Agents that write, test and fix software for developers.
Agents at work
Goal
Chase this month's unpaid invoices.
The agent
Finds overdue invoices, drafts a polite reminder for each client and logs who was contacted.
You approve
The reminders before they're sent.
An agent at work
Prompt
Find three restaurants near Covent Garden that can seat 8 people next Friday at 1pm for under £30 a head. Check their websites for availability and put the options in a table. Ask me before booking anything.
What to watch for
It makes a plan
Watch it break the goal into steps before it starts.
It uses the web like you do
Searching, clicking and reading pages on its own.
It stops to ask
Before a booking or payment, a person says yes.
AI in our own business
Real jobs from running Intel Academy, done live in front of you.
Reading contracts
Pull the key terms and risks out of a long agreement in plain English.
Watch it liveBuilding our website
Describe a new page in Ploy and watch it get built on our brand.
Watch it liveAnalysing Slack
Turn a month of team messages into themes, decisions and open questions.
Watch it liveWorkflows in HubSpot
Describe a follow-up process in words and let AI set up the steps.
Watch it live
Reading a contract
Prompt
Read this contract. Summarise the key terms in plain English: dates, costs, cancellation rules and who is responsible for what. Flag anything unusual or risky, and quote the clause each point comes from.
What to watch for
Plain English
Pages of legal wording become a short list you can act on.
Quoted clauses
Each point links back to the wording, so you can check it.
Not legal advice
It speeds up reading. A person still decides what to sign.
Building a web page in Ploy
Prompt
Add a page for our AI for Work class with a short intro, what you'll learn, who it's for and a button to book.
What to watch for
On brand from the start
It uses our colours, fonts and logo without being told.
Change it by asking
Shorter headline, new photo, extra section: just say so.
You decide what goes live
Nothing is public until someone presses publish.
Making sense of Slack
Prompt
Look through this channel's messages from the last month. What topics came up most, what did we decide, and which questions are still waiting for an answer?
What to watch for
Hundreds of messages, one summary
Themes, decisions and loose ends in a few lines.
Back to the source
Click through to the original messages to check.
Access matters
It only reads channels it has been given access to.
A workflow in HubSpot
Prompt
Set up a workflow: when someone fills in our class enquiry form, create a contact, send them a welcome email with upcoming class dates, and create a follow-up task for the team two days later.
What to watch for
Words become steps
A process you'd explain to a colleague turns into a workflow.
Check every step
Read each trigger, email and task before switching it on.
Test it on yourself
Fill in the form with your own email first.
Build a better prompt
Before
write captions for a bakery
After
Pick an option from each part to build your prompt.
Your turn
Pick a tool
Any one from today. Pair up if you'd like company.
Pick a real task
An email to write, a trip to plan, a topic to understand.
Use the formula
Role, task, context, format.
Ask one follow-up
Make it shorter, friendlier or more specific.
5:00
Which tool would you pick?
You need facts with sources you can check for a school project.
Your team lives in Word, Excel and Outlook.
You want a poster image for a bake sale.
You want feedback on a long report.
Your email and files are in Gmail and Google Drive.
You want AI to compare venues and fill in the booking form for you.
Use AI with confidence
Check the facts
Names, numbers, dates and quotes are where mistakes hide.
Keep private data out
No passwords, client or health details unless your workplace approves the tool.
Stay in charge
Edit before you send. You own the result, not the tool.
Keep the conversation going
Treat the first answer as a draft and ask for changes.
Approve before agents act
Let them do the legwork. You confirm bookings, payments and sends.
Give agents only what they need
Connect the apps a task needs, not your whole digital life.
Keep going
Tell us one thing that worked today and one thing we should change.
Next classes at Intel Academy
