I had been learning Esperanto for more than ten years before I started studying AI. At first, they were two separate interests. Then I began combining them. I used AI to build an Esperanto vocabulary game, improve it through repeated prompting and testing, create an Esperanto children's story, and even design banners for an Esperanto congress. Along the way, Esperanto became something unexpected: my personal AI laboratory. 🎮 From learning Esperanto to building with it My first big experiment was simple: could I turn my Esperanto vocabulary into a working web game even though I wasn't an experienced programmer? With Gemini Canvas, I did. 🔗 I built my first Esperanto word game with AI and discovered that an idea could become a working web app without starting from traditional coding. But improving the game was harder than creating the first version. Prompts could fix one feature and break another. I learned to make smaller changes, test them carefully, and save working versio...

 A few months ago, I wondered if I could build an Esperanto vocabulary game with AI. I wasn't a programmer. I was a first-year AI student in my 50s—but I had been learning Esperanto for more than ten years. So I combined something I knew well with something I had only just begun learning. Today, that small experiment has grown into an English–Esperanto vocabulary game I can share with learners around the world . Wait... I Made a Web Game? The project started with Gemini Canvas. I asked AI to help me create a simple vocabulary game, and much faster than I expected, I had something working on the screen. My reaction was basically: Wait... I made a web game? Then I actually started using it. Buttons needed fixing. Mobile usability needed work. Sounds and interactions had to be tested. My “simple game” wasn't so simple anymore. The Real Problem: 2,300+ Words I thought coding would be the hard part. I was wrong. The vocabulary became harder than the code. Languages don't match p...

When AI Makes Everything Easasier, What Should We Still Do Ourselves? I spend a lot of time learning AI these days. In my 50s, I'm back in college studying AI, trying new tools and often thinking: “Wow. You can do that with AI too?” Then I went to see Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey with my daughter. For nearly three hours, I watched an enormous world unfold on the screen. But what stayed with me afterward wasn't only the story. It was the human effort behind what I had just watched. And suddenly, I found myself asking a very different question: “If AI can do so much for me, how much should I still do myself?” 🎬 Why Did Doing It the Hard Way Feel So Powerful? So much of that world had been created through real locations, physical sets, practical effects, performers, and painstaking work in front of the camera. And there I was, someone who spends almost every day discovering ways to make things faster and easier with AI. I love what AI lets me do. It has helped me learn a...

  I Asked Gemini to Show Me What I Didn't Know—Here's What Happened When I started studying AI in my 50s, I ran into a strange problem: I didn't know what I didn't know. If I didn't know a feature existed, how could I ask AI about it? AI could answer my questions. But my questions were still limited by what I already knew. So I tried something different. I asked Gemini to help me discover what to ask next. 💡 So I Gave Gemini One Extra Job In Instructions for Gemini , I added one simple rule: “Whenever I ask a question, suggest two related features or ideas that could help me learn or do more.” I wasn't asking for longer answers. I wanted Gemini to show me the next door I didn't know was there. Then one day, it did. 🌐 Google explains how Instructions for Gemini can be used to give Gemini preferences and instructions that apply to your chats. 📊 I Was Just Working on a Google Sheet I was using Google Apps Script to organize data in Google ...

 When I started learning ChatGPT, I quickly discovered something: Reading about a feature and actually trying it are two very different things. Voice, images, memory, projects—there were so many features to explore that I sometimes wondered: “Where should a beginner start?” So I decided to make something I would have found useful myself: a simple practice site where beginners can try one ChatGPT feature at a time. 1. 🖐️ Don't Just Read About ChatGPT—Try It As I've been learning ChatGPT feature by feature, I've noticed that doing one small experiment often teaches me more than reading a long explanation. Take Voice, for example. You can read about what it does—or you can open ChatGPT, speak one sentence, and experience it yourself. The same is true for other features. That's why I designed the exercises around a simple idea: Pick one feature. Try it. See what happens. No need to master ChatGPT first. 2. ⏱️ One Feature, About Five Minutes The practi...

Could ChatGPT actually find one of my real files in Google Drive? I decided to test it with something I genuinely use: my own blog data . I already had spreadsheets containing my blog titles and permalinks stored in Google Drive. Instead of downloading a file and uploading it manually, I wanted to see what would happen if I connected Drive directly to ChatGPT. 🔗 This was my first deeper experiment after discovering ChatGPT Plugins and deciding to learn them one at a time. 1.  How I Connected Google Drive to ChatGPT If you're a beginner and want to try this yourself, the connection is fairly simple. Step 1. Open ChatGPT Settings Click your profile icon → Settings . Step 2. Open Apps Go to Apps , find Google Drive , and select Connect . Step 3. Choose your Google account Sign in with the Google account that contains the files you want to use. Step 4. Review the permissions Google will show what ChatGPT is requesting access to. Read the permissions carefully before continuing. ?...

 When I started studying AI at university in my 50s, I began writing about what I learned on my blog. At first, my reason was simple: I didn't want to forget what I had learned. But writing changed the way I studied. The moment I tried to explain an AI feature to another beginner, I often found myself stopping halfway through a sentence. “Wait—do I actually understand this well enough to explain it?” That's when I realized something unexpected: I wasn't just recording what I had learned. I was studying it again. ✍️ Writing Exposed the Gaps in My Understanding During a lecture or hands-on experiment, it's easy to think, I understand this. Writing about it is different. When I try to explain something in simple language, the gaps become obvious. Do I really understand this term? Am I describing this feature correctly? Could another beginner follow my explanation? My blog started as a place to save what I learned. It gradually became a place where I disc...

While learning ChatGPT step by step, I came across something called Plugins . My first reaction was simple: “Plugin? What exactly am I supposed to do with this?” The name sounded technical, and when I opened the Plugin Directory, there were so many options that I wasn't sure where to begin. But then I noticed something familiar. Google Drive. I already use Google Workspace regularly for studying, blogging, and organizing my files. That immediately changed my question from: “What is a plugin?” to: “Wait—can I use the tools I already use with ChatGPT?” 🔗 Exploring plugins became one of the next steps after I asked ChatGPT to help me learn its features one by one. 1. 🔌 So, What Is a Plugin? I didn't need a complicated technical definition to get started. The simplest way I understood it was: A plugin gives ChatGPT additional capabilities for a particular kind of work. 🌐 OpenAI's Plugin Directory lets users discover plugins that add capabilities and ...

Thirty years ago, when I first entered university, writing a report meant putting pen to paper . By my second year, professors began asking us to type assignments on a word processor. A few years later, another change arrived: “Submit your report by email.” I still remember creating my first email address. Each new technology meant learning something unfamiliar all over again. And now, more than 30 years later, I'm a college student again—this time in my 50s, studying AI. 1. 📟 I Grew Up Alongside Technology My generation didn't grow up with smartphones. We learned new technology as it appeared . I still remember carrying a pager. When it beeped, I had to find a public phone to call back. Then came mobile phones. Then smartphones. And now, AI. 📟 Pager → 📱 Mobile Phone → 🌐 Smartphone → 🤖 AI Technology kept changing, and I kept learning. Sometimes, though, I wondered: “How many more new things do I have to learn?” Then I returned to university in my 50s. This time, I had ...

I had just paid for ChatGPT Plus . Then I opened ChatGPT and realized something: “Okay... now what am I supposed to learn first?” There were so many features. Voice, images, file uploads, Search, Deep Research, Memory, Projects... I had paid for more capabilities, but I didn't yet know how to use most of them. So I did something surprisingly simple. I asked ChatGPT to teach me ChatGPT. And that turned out to be one of the most useful things I've done since upgrading. 🔗 In my previous post, I shared why ChatGPT started feeling so different to me—and why I finally decided to upgrade . 🤔 Paying for Plus Didn't Mean I Knew How to Use It I'm an AI student in my 50s, but that doesn't mean every new AI feature feels intuitive to me. Quite the opposite. When I see a new button, I often wonder: What does this do? Is this different from something I already use? Should a beginner even learn this yet? After subscribing to ChatGPT Plus, I could have randomly clicked thro...

For a long time, my AI subscription rule was simple: 💎 Gemini: Paid 💬 ChatGPT: Free As an AI student in my 50s, I couldn't justify paying for every AI tool I wanted to explore. Gemini already had a clear place in my life. I use a Samsung Galaxy phone, rely heavily on Google Workspace for studying, and use Google's AI tools for travel and everyday tasks. ChatGPT was useful too—but the free version seemed enough. Then, this summer, something changed. I noticed the change before I knew about the updates. And eventually, I did something I hadn't planned to do. I subscribed to ChatGPT Plus. 1. 🤔 I Felt the Change Before I Knew Why During my summer break, I've been organizing what I learned in my first semester as an AI student and turning those experiences into blog posts. That means I've been using AI almost every day. A few days ago, I even wrote about how I use Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude together . But as I kept switching between these tools, ChatG...

 Yesterday, I shared how I use Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude for different parts of my daily life and learning . As an AI student in my 50s, I'm still figuring out what each tool does best. But while exploring ChatGPT more seriously, I realized something I had overlooked. I thought getting better at ChatGPT meant learning how to write better prompts. Then I opened the settings. And I discovered that before becoming better at talking to ChatGPT, I could also set up ChatGPT to communicate better with me. If you're new to ChatGPT too, here are the settings I found most useful to understand first. ⚙️ Where I Started: Settings → Personalization On the web version of ChatGPT, I opened my profile and went to: Settings → Personalization This was my real starting point. Until then, I had mostly thought of ChatGPT as a blank chat box: I ask a question, it gives me an answer. But the Personalization settings showed me that I could adjust how ChatGPT communicates with me and give it informat...