Lesson 9 — Meet the platforms (hands-on).
In Lesson 7 you saw the 2026 product map — chat, thinking modes, research, images, search, agents. In Lesson 8 you set your privacy rules before pasting any real data.
Today you actually open the apps and find those features in the UI. Not to become a power user overnight — just to stop living in the chat box alone.
By the end (~55 minutes)
- Toured ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini (and optionally Grok).
- Found the model/mode pickers and at least one non-chat feature per app (where your tier allows).
- Started a personal cheat sheet (screenshots or notes) for Lesson 10's comparison lab.
- Passed a checkpoint on two platforms minimum.
Before you start
- Recommended: Lessons 7 and 8 done — you'll recognise the map, and you'll follow the lab rules.
- Accounts: Sign in to at least two of chatgpt.com, claude.ai, gemini.google.com. Grok is optional (grok.com).
- Time: Nine short pages — mostly clicking, not reading.
- Lab rules (from Lesson 8): use green or anonymised amber data only. For any test message, use the fictional Example Ink tattoo studio — never a real client.
You are helping a fictional tattoo studio "Example Ink" in Leeds. Write three social post ideas for a flash day — no real people, no prices over £200.
- This lesson is not: installing AI on your PC, running the comparison lab (that's Lesson 10), or upgrading to paid tiers.
Quick bit of honesty before you start: I still find buttons I'd missed six months earlier. The menus move. The point was never perfection — it's knowing where to look before you judge which app wins a task.
Continue — my guesses about where things live, which you'll prove or disprove next.