Start using AI today: five steps on your phone

Many people hear about artificial intelligence (AI) but do not know where to start. Here is a short way in. It takes about ten minutes.

1. Open a browser, not an app store. You do not need to download anything. Go to your phone's browser (Chrome or Safari) and type chatgpt.com or gemini.google.com. Both have a free tier. Installing an app uses more data than opening the website.

2. Sign up with a phone number or email. You will be asked for a name and an email address. This is free. Do not pay anything on day one — the free tier is more than enough to learn on.

3. Start with a question you already know the answer to. This is the trick. Ask about something you know well, for example: "Briefly explain what Tanzania's Land Act says about owning a farm in a village." If the answer contains mistakes, you have learned something more useful than the answer itself: these systems can make things up.

4. Write in Kiswahili. The large AI systems understand Kiswahili. Not perfectly — sometimes they mix words or use bookish Kiswahili. But for everyday questions they work. If you get stuck, write your question in Kiswahili and add: "Answer in simple Kiswahili."

5. Ask three times. The first answer is usually generic. Tell it: "Shorten this", "Give me a Tanzanian example", or "Explain it to someone who has never used a computer." That is where the difference shows.

Remember: do not enter bank numbers, national ID numbers, or other people's private details. What you type may be stored on the company's servers.