Claude. - by Ruben Hassid - How to AI

How to AI

98.75% of all humans have never tried Claude.

Not even once.

This free guide solves this gap. Claude For Dummies.

You never tried Claude because you either:

This guide is the easiest way to get started with Claude.

1. What is Claude?

Claude is an AI you talk to.

You type something, it types back. It can write, think, summarize, analyze documents, work with your files, and help you make decisions.

You type something you need. You select the model at the bottom right. They just announced the new Claude Opus 4.7 by the way.

It’s made by a company called Anthropic.

If you’ve used ChatGPT before, Claude is the same kind of thing. If you’ve never used any AI, Claude is a great place to start.

How it actually works (in 30 seconds)

You don’t need to understand the engineering.

But 3 concepts will save you from the most common beginner frustrations.

1 - Auto-complete at scale.

Claude predicts the next word, billions of times per response.

This is why Claude sounds confident even when it’s wrong.

2 - Sycophancy.

Claude is trained to be helpful and agree with you (= sycophancy).

Side effect: if you say something false, Claude might nod along instead of correcting you. Don’t trust agreement. You are the one deciding directions.

3 - Tokens.

Claude reads and writes in chunks called tokens.

A token is roughly a word. Every conversation has a limit on how many tokens fit. This is why long conversations eventually becomes too much: the memory fills up.

★ Remember. Claude is an auto-complete machine at superhuman scale. It sounds sure of itself because it’s made to agree with you. It uses tokens to understand you and memorize your conversation (until it can’t anymore).

2. Claude vs. ChatGPT

Claude and ChatGPT are the same species. You talk to both of them the same way. You can ask both of them the same questions. But they have different personalities and strengths (and trainings).

Here’s what’s actually different:

And here’s where ChatGPT still wins:

✓ Tip. You don’t have to pick one. Most people I know use both for different jobs. Claude for writing and long work. ChatGPT for voice, images, and quick search.

Bottom line:

1 - Both AIs are average by default. What you feed them matters more than which one you pick.

2 - Both AIs are infinitely better when you pay for them.

3. How to get Claude (and what it costs)

Go to claude.ai. Sign up with your email.

Three plans exist:

Free. Works in the browser. Limited messages per day.

Pro ($20 per month). Best model (called Opus), more usage, Cowork, Claude Code, Projects.

Max ($100 or $200 per month). Heavy usage of everything.

Team and Enterprise plans exist too.

My rule for picking:

  1. Free if you’re still deciding.
  2. Pro if you plan to use Claude more than 3 times a week.
  3. Max if Pro keeps running out, or you’re running Cowork on long tasks daily.

4. The Three Claudes

“ Claude” shows up in several places. 3 of them matter:

#1. Browser Claude (claude.ai)

You type, you get an answer. Works on the free plan.

#2. Desktop Claude (Mac or Windows app)

Same account as the browser, but installed on your computer.

#3. Cowork (inside the desktop app)

Claude Cowork is Claude running for minutes to hours on your computer, doing a real task while you do something else.

★ Remember. Browser = ask. Desktop = ask + access to your files. Cowork = ask + access + do the work while you get coffee. Cowork is the real magic.

5. How to talk to Claude

If you’ve never typed a prompt before, this section is for you. Five rules:

Rule 1: be specific

The more specific your input, the more specific the output.

Rule 2: give examples

This is the single best thing you can do.

Rule 3: say what you want, not what you don’t want

Tell Claude what TO do.

Rule 4: start short, add detail

Don’t write a 500-word prompt on your first try.

Rule 5: if it gets confused, start a new chat

Long conversations get messy.

⚠ Warning. Claude will always give you an answer. That doesn’t mean the answer is right. Check anything.

6. What Claude is good at

This is a non-exhaustive list for absolute beginners:

7. What Claude is bad at

It will save you from disappointment.

Real-time information. Claude doesn’t know what happened today unless it has a search tool connected.

8. The 3 words that matter

Token

The unit Claude thinks in.

Cowork

Cowork is Claude running for minutes to hours on your computer, doing a real task while you do something else.

Claude Code

Claude running inside your terminal. Built for developers.

10 things to try in Claude your first week

Pick 3 this week. Each one teaches you something the last one didn’t.

  1. Copy-paste 3 of your LinkedIn posts.
  2. Upload a 50-page PDF.
  3. Upload your last 5 meeting notes.
  4. Point Cowork at your Downloads folder.
  5. Paste a messy email thread.
  6. Connect your Gmail to Claude.
  7. Give it a Google Doc you’ve been meaning to edit.
  8. Feed it a spreadsheet.
  9. Paste a competitor’s pricing page.
  10. Give it your calendar for the week.

✓ Tip. Keep a note file called prompts-that-worked.

Your test drive

  1. Go to claude.ai and sign up.
  2. Paste something you wrote recently.
  3. Ask Claude: “Rewrite this in the same voice but sharper, and tell me what you changed and why.”
  4. Run the same prompt in ChatGPT.
  5. Compare. Make up your own mind.

How pros use Claude.

The pros don’t write prompts. They have skills.

It all starts with the simplest prompt

I just typed the command /negotiation-prep and a one-liner.

Ok wait. What just happened?

In short: