0.3Creating an account & first exchanges
The essentials in 30 seconds
- Getting started takes five minutes: a free account is enough for the whole start of this guide — conversation area, history, attachments.
- One topic = one conversation: a clean thread per topic with explicit titles keeps answers relevant and retrievable.
- Set privacy from sign-up: locate the option for using your conversations and restate the context with each new thread.
Threaded mini-case — Amine organises his first exchanges
Amine, project manager in Algiers, creates his free account and first mixes everything into a single thread: meeting preparation, email draft, various questions — answers become confused. He restarts cleanly: one conversation per topic with explicit titles, a look at the privacy settings, and a first genuinely useful conversation about ordering his tasks for the day. His exchanges become crisp and retrievable.
Standalone case for this section: it returns in the lesson, the diagram, the script and the 48h challenge of section 0.3.
1. An interface similar everywhere
Getting hands-on takes five minutes: a free account is enough for the whole start of this guide. Every assistant’s interface looks alike: a conversation area, a discussion history on the left, the option to attach files, and sometimes a model choice (fast versus powerful). Amine finds his way immediately: seen one assistant, seen almost all.
2. Three hygiene habits
From the start: one conversation per topic (don’t mix everything into a single thread), explicit conversation titles, and a look at the privacy settings (the option for using your conversations for training is set to your preference). These three gestures cost two minutes and prevent months of confusion.
3. Memory stops at the thread
The assistant remembers what came before within the thread, not between threads: with each new topic, open a new conversation and restate the context (except explicit “memory” features). Amine makes it his reflex: new topic, new thread, two lines of context — and answers that stay relevant.
🔎 Concrete example — 🔎 Concrete example — One topic = one conversation
Mixing everything into one thread → old contexts pollute answers.
One clean thread per topic → relevant, retrievable answers.
→ explicit conversation titles to find your way.Reading: Amine compares his catch-all thread and his tidy threads: the relevance gap is obvious.
Lesson: check the training option from sign-up, then never mix topics again.
Section vocabulary
- Conversation (thread)
- A continuous exchange with context memory: the assistant remembers what came before INSIDE the thread, not between threads.
Simple example: Amine prepares his meeting in a dedicated thread: the assistant keeps the meeting context during the exchange.
What it is not: a memory shared across all conversations in the account.
Reflex: stay in the same thread while the topic continues.
- New conversation
- The reflex with each new topic: a clean thread prevents old contexts from polluting answers.
Simple example: Amine opens a fresh thread for his email draft instead of continuing the meeting thread.
What it is not: a simple title change on the same old thread.
Reflex: new topic = new thread + two lines of context.
- Attachments
- Most assistants accept documents and images: the basis of “summarise this file” uses.
Simple example: Amine attaches his agenda to get a proposed prioritisation.
What it is not: automatic access to every file on the computer.
Reflex: attach only the useful document, never sensitive data in a non-approved tool.
- Privacy settings
- The account options: use of your conversations for training, history management, deleting threads.
Simple example: Amine locates the training option from sign-up and sets it to his preference.
What it is not: an automatic guarantee that nothing is kept by the vendor.
Reflex: open settings before the first real use, and tidy up threads.
In practice — In practice — Setup and first reflexes
- Create a free account on the assistant of your choice (or sign in to the company one).
- Open settings: locate the training-on-your-data option and set it to your preference.
- Start a first useful conversation: “Help me prepare my day: here are my 6 tasks, suggest a priority order with justification” (list real tasks).
- Open a NEW conversation for another topic — the one-topic = one-thread habit starts now.
Ready-to-say script — sharing the method with a colleague (30 s)
“I created my free account and took three reflexes: one topic per conversation with clear titles, privacy settings checked from sign-up, and context restated with each new thread. Try it with your real tasks for today, you’ll see the difference.”
Say it while showing your own titled threads; have the account and the first two threads created right away.
Copy-paste template — my starter checklist
ACCOUNT CREATED (free / business): _______________
PRIVACY SETTINGS CHECKED: _______________
FIRST USEFUL CONVERSATION (today’s tasks): _______________
SECOND THREAD OPENED (one topic = one thread): _______________Business tool
Signing in to the account provided by the organisation: same reflexes (one topic = one thread), with the confidentiality framework already managed by IT.
Personal account
Amine starts on a free account in Algiers: generic tasks with no internal data only, settings checked before first use.
Pair
Two colleagues create their accounts together: each opens their first two threads, then compares titles and settings — hygiene settles in as a pair.
Mobile
On a phone: same rules, stricter — explicit titles from creation, history cleaned regularly.
✓ Best practices
- Open one topic = one conversation, with explicit titles.
- Set privacy from sign-up.
- Restate the context with each new thread.
✗ Common pitfalls
- Mixing everything into a single thread (polluted answers).
- Ignoring the training option on your data.
- Believing the assistant remembers from one thread to another.
Key takeaways
- A free account is enough to learn — levels 0 to 3 of this guide are practised without paying.
- One topic = one conversation: the discipline that keeps answers relevant.
- Check the privacy settings from sign-up (training option).
- The assistant does not remember from one thread to another (except explicit “memory” features): restate the context.
48h challenge — apply tomorrow
Create your account, check the privacy settings, start a useful conversation on your real tasks, then open a second thread for another topic with an explicit title.
- My account is created and my settings are checked.
- I held a first genuinely useful conversation.
- I apply one topic = one thread with explicit titles.
Frequently asked questions
May I use my personal account at work?
For generic tasks with no company data, generally yes (depending on the internal policy). As soon as internal information comes into play: company-approved tool only — the whole point of level 5. The boundary is simple: if you would be embarrassed for the information to leave the organisation, it doesn’t go into a personal tool. Like Amine: public drafts on the free account, internal data on the approved tool.
What happens to my conversation history?
It is stored by the vendor, viewable and deletable from settings. With the training option off (or in a business offering), your exchanges are not used to improve models. Get into the habit of tidying your threads, especially if you pasted content you prefer not to keep.
Which hygiene habit should you adopt from the start?