Youth: Prompt your smart algorithms to generate a look and combination of outfits for next weekends party based on pictures of your clothes; prepare for a jobinterview by asking an LLM to play different types of employers and give critique of the answers Family: Prompt a children's tale together with a child - complete with illustrations • Visualise and expand your ideas for at room you wish to redecorate • Make a theme based food plan (e.g. oriental week, gangster week) and accompanying shopping list pointing you to ingredients on sale – prompt for entertainment and games that would extend the theme. Seniors: Help write you memoirs, catalogue the books on your book shelves based on one or more pictures
First of all, I think it is important to know how broad of a term AI really is. With the recent popularity of ChatGPT I think many people see AI as just language models. This is something that I personally experience when talking to people with less knowledge about AI. This is a misconception, and I would therefore recommend the following activities for a beginner in AI: Tray to make your very own neural network from scratch. This can be just a very simple one, where inputs and outputs are only numbers. This lets the person gain general knowledge about neural networks, which are an essential part of AI. Once comfortable with this simple structure, we can move over to some more complex models such as image recognition or other inputs that are not just numbers. I think this approach will teach a lot more about AI in general, and hopefully expand the knowledge about what AI actually is beyond just ChatGPT and language models.
I think a good exercise would be to first complete a piece of work on your own and then ask AI to do the same task. For example, you could write a summary of an article and then compare it with how artificial intelligence would summarize it. In this way, you can contrast both results and reflect on your own strengths, as well as on the limitations of AI. Through this kind of exercise, you may notice that AI sometimes presents certain ideas in a different way, or that it fails to give importance to aspects that you consider relevant. It also allows you to identify what might be missing from your own analysis and how AI can be useful as a complementary tool rather than a replacement for your work. In addition, comparing both versions can help you become more aware of your writing style, your ability to synthesize information, and the way you prioritize ideas. More generally, I believe that this type of practice helps to develop a critical and balanced understanding of what artificial intelligence can and cannot do. It encourages independent thinking while still making room for AI as a supportive resource, fostering both intellectual autonomy and a more reflective, thoughtful use of technology.
A particularly simple and motivating activity for beginners to experiment with AI is to create their own trivia game. This exercise is easy to implement, fun and quickly provides a basic understanding of how artificial intelligence can be used. First, you choose a topic that arouses personal interest, such as films, history, sports or general knowledge. You can then ask the AI to create a certain number of quizzes on that topic. It can also be determined how difficult the questions should be or whether answer options should be given. Within a short time, the AI provides suitable questions and solutions. In the next step, the quiz can be used interactively. For example, you can ask the AI to ask the questions one after the other and evaluate the answers directly. Alternatively, the questions can be put together in a presentation or document and shared with other people. This creates a playful approach to the technology. Particularly interesting is the possibility of customization. You can ask the AI to change the quiz, for example with more difficult questions, new categories or additional elements such as a point system. In this way, it becomes clear how much the quality of the result depends on the formulation of the request. This activity is great for beginners as it doesn't require any prior technical experience. At the same time, it clearly shows how AI can be used both productively and creatively and offers an uncomplicated introduction to working with such systems.
Here's a simple yet highly educational activity for beginners: use an AI tool of your choice to generate a story in which your child (or godchild, nephew, niece) plays the leading role. Here's how it works: 1. Provide the AI with a few details: Name and age of the child Favourite colour Favourite animal A current topic (e.g. fear of the dark, first day at school, arguments with friends) 2. Formulate a clear task: ‘Write a 5-minute bedtime story with a positive message, simple language and a happy ending.’ 3. Then let it suggest suitable illustration ideas, incorporate dialogue or divide the story into comic scenes. Optionally, you can add images using an AI image generator and design everything as a small PDF. Why is this so valuable? You will learn: how important clear instructions (prompting) are how to improve results step by step how AI can support you creatively And in the end, you will have something personal in your hands – not a technical experiment, but a real experience. The best part is that you will realise that AI is not a replacement for you, but a creative co-author.
One option for beginners is to create a personal quiz with the AI. In a playful way, they learn how to communicate with AI and how results can be controlled in a targeted manner. It's best to start with a topic that interests you – for example, Formula 1, football, films or your own subject. The AI then needs a clear task such as: "Create a quiz with 5 questions on the topic of founding a GmbH, including three possible answers and the correct solution for each." The AI immediately delivers a finished quiz. Now you can experiment: Ask for more difficult questions, add a score or have the quiz incorporated into a story. Specific changes may also be requested, such as: "Formulate the questions for adolescents at the age of 16" or "Make the quiz more difficult for adults." In the next step, the quiz can be averted directly – in class with students or with colleagues and friends. Alternatively, the quiz can also be designed as a small worksheet or digital presentation, for example. This activity shows basic principles in dealing with AI: giving clear instructions, checking results and improving them in a targeted manner. At the same time, you immediately get a usable result that is fun and versatile. In my opinion, this is well suited for the first entry.
An easy and motivating activity for beginners would be to use AI to create a personal bedtime comic for a child. This task is easy to implement, fun and immediately shows what AI can do. For example, you can briefly describe to an AI who the main character should be: "A brave little fox named Leo goes on an adventure in the forest and finds his way back home at the end." The AI can then write a short story with several scenes. In the next step, you can have the individual scenes created as pictures, for example with instructions such as: "Show Leo under the starry sky, drawn in a friendly and child-friendly way." In this way, a small comic with text and pictures is gradually created. If you want, you can also ask the AI to add suitable dialogues, funny speech bubbles or a nice title. This activity is particularly suitable for beginners because no previous technical knowledge is necessary. At the same time, you learn important basics in dealing with AI: formulating good instructions, comparing results and gradually improving them. In addition, you end up with a concrete, personal product in your hand. This makes the experience with AI not only understandable, but also creative, everyday and directly useful.
A very low-threshold entry activity is AI-assisted image editing using a personal photo. Users upload an existing image and then describe, in simple language, the changes they would like to make—for example, changing the background, enhancing colors, or removing distracting elements. The process is straightforward, easy to understand, and often produces impressive results. This direct before-and-after effect frequently creates a genuine “aha” moment for many beginners.
Write a short poem with AI - choose a theme and ask the AI to create a poem, then edit it together to make it more personal.
Give an AI some details about your child—their name, favorite animal, favorite story, or favorite character—and ask for a bedtime story; the result is so personalized that the effect is irresistible the first time you hear it.
A simple and engaging activity for a beginner is to create a short travel plan using AI. For example, you can ask an AI tool to design a 2–3 day trip to a destination you like, including places to visit, food recommendations, and a daily schedule. Then, you can refine it by adding your personal interests, budget, or travel style. This activity helps you understand how to give clear instructions (prompts), how AI responds, and how you can improve the results step by step. It is practical, easy to try, and immediately useful in real life.
