Session 1 · Phase 1, Foundations
What AI Really Is (and Isn't)
What it can do, what it can't, and your first real conversation.
Saturday, September 19, 2026 · 10:00 AM Central (US) · 4:00 PM Kinshasa · 5:00 PM Lubumbashi · Zoom
You do not need to be good with computers. If you can send a WhatsApp message, you have everything you need for this session.
Missed it live? Watch the replay below, do the homework, and join us next Saturday. Anyone who joins by October 31 can still earn the certificate.
Register for the seriesWhat you take away
By the end of this session, you can…
- 1
Explain in one sentence what an AI assistant really is, and why it is sometimes wrong with great confidence.
- 2
Hold your first real conversation with an AI assistant, from your phone or computer, about something in your own life.
- 3
Spot a mistake in an AI answer and fix it yourself, instead of giving up or taking it at face value.
The scenario
Maman Grâce and Papa's 70th
Maman Grâce lives in Dallas. In three weeks her father turns 70. She wants to bring the family together: about sixty people in Dallas, plus the uncles and aunts in Kinshasa who will follow on WhatsApp video.
It is all in her head and none of it on paper. Tonight, between work and the kids, she has ten minutes on her phone. She needs:
- a to-do list so nothing gets forgotten between now and the party;
- an invitation message in French, warm, ready to paste into the family WhatsApp group.
This is her first conversation with an AI assistant. She does not know how you talk to one. She has no magic words. She is simply going to explain her situation, the way she would to a niece who had time to help.
What the class did with it
Angel walked through the case on screen and showed why it works before anyone typed a word: Grâce says who she is, what she wants, for whom, and in what form. That is the context, and it is already the whole method. Nobody needs to be an expert to do this today.
And you?
You do the same thing for a real event in your life: a birthday, a baptism, an association meeting, a matanga, a parents' meeting. If nothing comes to mind, take Grâce's event. The case on one page is here, and the worksheet walks you through it.
Read the case on one pageBefore you practise
Three things, ten minutes, once
If you are watching the replay instead of the live class, do these first. Otherwise the exercise is twenty minutes of hunting for a password.
Pick one assistant, create the free account
ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot or Grok. It does not matter which. Everything in the series works on all five.
Run the thirty second test
Ask it to introduce itself in three sentences. If it answers, you are ready.
Register on Zoom once
One registration covers all sixteen Saturdays. Zoom emails you your own link. Keep that email.
The Session 1 pages
Everything for Session 1, on your phone
No PDF to download. Each page opens in your browser, reads well on a phone, and prints if you prefer paper.
This week's homework · September 20 to 26
Your profile, in ten minutes
On Saturday Angel talked about the profile: a page that tells the assistant who you are, so you stop re-explaining yourself in every conversation. Here is how to build one, for real. Open your assistant, paste this exactly, and answer its questions the way you would answer someone who has just met you.
I want you to learn who I am, once and for all, so that I stop re-explaining myself in every conversation. Interview me. Ask your questions one at a time, not all at once, ten questions maximum. Ask me who I am, what I do, my family, my languages, my work or my studies, what I want to accomplish this year, and how I like to be answered. When you are done, write a one-page summary of me that I can paste at the start of any conversation.
- 1
Answer its questions one at a time. Short answers are fine. Skip anything you do not want to share.
- 2
Keep the page it writes: in your notes, in a document, emailed to yourself. It does not matter where. That is your profile.
- 3
On Saturday, we use it. Bring it.
One rule before you write your profile
Put in it what you would tell a colleague you trust. Never a social security or passport number, bank details, passwords, or anyone else's medical record.
An AI assistant is a brilliant intern. It is not a safe.
After class
The replay
We planned 45 minutes. The class ran almost two hours, and the room stayed to the end. Two versions: watch the highlights first.
Highlights
16 minWatch this one first. The sixteen minutes the room will remember, including the participants who spoke.
The full class
79 minThe whole session, taught in French, minus the passages where the shared screen showed participants' data. The questions and answers are in the second half.
Both videos are unlisted on YouTube: anyone with the link can watch, but they do not appear in search. The passages where the shared screen showed participants' email addresses were cut. Your data stays yours.
What was taught
Session 1 in five ideas
- 1
The brilliant intern
An AI assistant has read every library in the world and has never met your family. What it knows well, it does well. What it knows poorly, it does anyway, in the same tone.
- 2
Context is the most important word of the series
Context is everything the assistant can see while it answers: who you are, what you want, for whom, in what form. Give it the context and the answer is about your life, not a generic one.
- 3
It is sometimes wrong, calmly
An assistant predicts the most likely words; it does not know whether they are true. It does not say "I am not sure". So what matters, you verify: a name, a date, a price, a verse, a proverb.
- 4
You do not need to be an expert
Maman Grâce knows no technical words. She explains her situation the way she would to a niece. That is already the method, and anyone can do it today.
- 5
The shortcut: your profile
Instead of re-explaining yourself every time, write a page about who you are and give it to the assistant. The easiest way to write it is to ask the assistant to interview you. That is this week's homework.
"Instead of building a context every time you talk to your AI, you can create what is called a profile. The profile is, in a way, introducing yourself to your AI."
The sentence to remember
An AI assistant is a brilliant intern who has read every library in the world, but has never met your family.
Give it the context, check what matters, and it will save you hours.
Next Saturday
Session 2 · The Art of Asking: Prompting Basics
Saturday, September 26, 2026 · 10:00 AM Central (US) · 4:00 PM Kinshasa · 5:00 PM Lubumbashi · Zoom
How to phrase a request so you get a good answer on the first try. We take Maman Grâce's message and make it three times better with four extra lines. Bring your profile.
CBNEXT × CDMA AI Teaching Series · Community Dream Makers ACT · dmact.org · Free · Certificate after 10 sessions