AI Beyond ChatGPT: Your Cheat Sheet

01 · Foundations

What Is an LLM, and How Does It Work?

ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini are all Large Language Models. Three words explain what they are; four steps explain how they work.

Large

Read almost everything

It studied an enormous slice of the internet (books, articles, conversations) and absorbed the patterns in how we use words.

Language

Speaks plain English

You just talk to it. No code, no special commands. Describe what you want the way you'd explain it to a person.

Model

A prediction engine

Underneath, it does one thing: predict the most likely next words, a piece at a time, until it has built a useful answer.

Picture it as autocomplete, scaled up a million times. Your phone guesses your next word; an LLM predicts whole paragraphs. That's how it writes, summarizes, and explains. The catch: it's predicting what sounds right, not looking up facts. That's why it can be brilliant and confidently wrong in the same breath, so always double-check what matters.

How It Actually Works

No magic under the hood, just a big neural network. Four steps take it from training to your answer.

01 · Trained

Predict the next word

It read much of the public internet, practicing one task over and over: guess the next word, then check the real answer. Each miss nudged billions of internal values (its parameters) until the guesses got sharp.

02 · Tuned

Coached by people

Raw prediction isn't enough. People then rated thousands of its answers, and that feedback taught it to be helpful and honest, and to actually follow your instructions.

03 · Predicts

One token at a time

Your words become tokens (small word-pieces). It predicts the most likely next token, adds it, and repeats, writing the reply left to right.

04 · Remembers

A limited window

It only holds so much at once: its context window. Go past that and the earliest text quietly drops away.

Try it yourself: ask any AI how many R's are in the word "strawberry." A lot of them still miss it, because they read tokens, not individual letters.

02 · Comparison

The Big Three at a Glance

All three are free to start. All three cost $20/month for the standard paid tier. Choose based on what fits your world, not price.

ChatGPT

The Swiss Army Knife

Best for: Widest range of built-in tools. Image generation, voice conversations, data analysis, browsing. The largest ecosystem and community. Most tutorials available online.

Claude

The Thoughtful Writer

Best for: Long documents, careful reasoning, nuanced writing, and coding. Follows complex instructions precisely. Excellent at analyzing uploaded files. Least likely to make things up.

Gemini

The Google Native

Best for: Anyone in Google's ecosystem. Best AI video generation (Veo 3.1). Strong research with built-in web search. Deep integration with Gmail, Docs, Drive, and YouTube.

03 · Models

Which Model Should I Pick?

Each platform has fast models and powerful models. Most people use whatever loads by default. That's like driving a sports car in first gear.

Platform	Quick Tasks	Hard Problems
ChatGPT	GPT-5.5 Instant	GPT-5.5 Thinking (paid)
Claude	Sonnet 4.6	Opus 4.8
Gemini	3.5 Flash	3.1 Pro

Rule of thumb: Fast mode for everyday questions, email drafts, and quick lookups. Smart mode for strategy, analysis, long documents, and anything where accuracy matters.

04 · Prompting

How to Actually Talk to AI

The difference between a useless answer and an incredible one is almost always the prompt. More context in means better output out.

Weak prompt

"Help me write a cover letter."

Strong prompt

I'm applying for a marketing manager role at a mid-size SaaS company. I have 6 years of experience in B2B marketing, mostly email campaigns and content strategy. My biggest achievement was growing a newsletter from 2K to 40K subscribers. The job posting emphasizes data-driven decision making and cross-functional collaboration. Write a cover letter that highlights those strengths, keeps it under 400 words, and sounds confident but not arrogant.click to copy

What changed: Who you are, what the role is, what you've done, what they care about, how you want it to sound, and how long it should be. Six pieces of context. That's the difference between a generic template and something you'd actually send.

The Context Checklist

Who are you?

Your role, experience level, industry. "I'm a small business owner running a bakery" gives AI completely different answers than "I'm a VP of operations at a Fortune 500."

Who is this for?

The audience matters. An email to your boss reads differently than one to a client. A lesson plan for 5th graders is nothing like one for college students.

What does good look like?

Tell it the format, length, tone, and style you want. "Two paragraphs, professional but warm, no jargon" is a constraint that shapes everything. If you have an example of something you like, paste it in.

Full Example: A Real Prompt That Works

I run a small landscaping company in Rochester, NY with 4 employees. I need to write a follow-up email to a homeowner named Sarah who asked for a quote on a full backyard redesign. The quote was $8,500. She seemed interested but said she needed to talk to her husband first. That was 5 days ago. I want to follow up without being pushy. My tone is friendly and professional. Mention that we could break the project into two phases if budget is a concern. Keep it under 200 words.click to copy

Why this works: It gives AI your business, the relationship context, what happened, what you want the tone to be, a strategic angle to include, and a length constraint. You'd get a better email from this than most people get from their first ten tries.

05 · Starter Prompts

5 Things to Try Tonight

Copy any prompt below and paste it into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. They all work everywhere.

01

Summarize anything instantly

I'm going to upload a document. Please give me a 3-paragraph summary, then list the 5 most important takeaways as bullet points.click to copy

02

Learn something new your way

Explain how [topic] works. Start simple, like you're explaining to a curious friend. Then go one level deeper. If I say "more," keep going deeper. If I say "different," try a completely different analogy.click to copy

03

Draft an email in your voice

I need to write an email to [who] about [what]. My tone is [professional/casual/friendly]. Here's roughly what I want to say: [your rough thoughts]. Please draft it and keep it concise.click to copy

04

Meal plan from what you have

I have these ingredients: [list what's in your fridge]. Suggest 3 dinner ideas I can make tonight in under 45 minutes. Include rough instructions for each. My household is [number] people.click to copy

05

Get a second opinion on your writing

I'm going to paste something I wrote. Please review it for clarity, tone, and anything that could be stronger. Be specific about what to change and why. Don't rewrite it for me, just point out what to improve.click to copy

06 · Video Generation

AI Video in 2026

The landscape shifted dramatically. Here's where things stand.

Google Veo 3.1: The Leader

Available inside the Gemini app on paid tiers. Generate 8-second video clips with synchronized audio from a text prompt. Supports landscape and vertical (9:16) formats. Use a photo as a starting frame for more control.

Try in Gemini

Sora: Shut Down

OpenAI shut down the Sora app in April 2026 (the API ends that September) and ended its high-profile Disney partnership. A reminder that the landscape moves fast and knowing the full picture matters.

07 · Agents

Keep Building Agents

In class, you built your first AI agent. Here's how to keep going on your own.

Gumloop

Free visual agent builder. Use the Gummie feature to describe what you want in plain English. It builds the automation for you. No code required.

Open Gumloop

Ideas to try: A daily news briefing. A meeting prep agent that pulls context from your calendar. A content repurposer that turns an article into a social post and email draft. An invoice tracker that logs receipts from your inbox.

08 · The Future

OpenClaw

A glimpse of where personal AI is heading.

An open-source AI assistant that runs 24/7 on your own computer. You talk to it through WhatsApp, Telegram, or text. It manages your email, calendar, files, and tasks. It remembers everything and builds new capabilities on its own.

355K+

GitHub Stars

#1

Fastest-Growing Repo Ever

3 wks

Creator Joined OpenAI

The reality check

Cisco's security team flagged a serious risk: a third-party add-on was caught quietly exfiltrating data. It can access everything on your computer. China barred it from government agencies and state-owned firms. It's powerful, it's early, and it's not ready for everyone yet, but it shows exactly where this is all going.

Learn more about OpenClaw

09 · Presentation

Review the Slides

Missed something? Want to revisit a section? The full presentation is available as an interactive slide deck.

Beyond ChatGPT: Full Presentation

26 slides covering AI foundations, what an LLM is and how it works, platform comparison, practical use cases, agent building, and the future of personal AI. Navigate with arrow keys or swipe.

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10 · Resources

Quick Links

Everything in one place. All free to start.

Future of personal AI

Rochester Brainery

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