Just Ask Boomer

Nobody tells you the hardest part of AI. It’s not the technology. It’s the front door — which app, do I pay, and what am I signing up for. I stood at that door for a month. My dog walked through it in an afternoon.

Boomer’s note: “He researched ‘best AI 2026’ for four weeks. The answer was: pick one, it’s free, type a sentence. Four weeks. Let’s save you the month, shall we?”

🐾 Boomer’s Promise, before you start: everything in these lessons, you’ll do by hand first — copy, paste, ask, check. That’s how learning works. But hear this now, so you never feel overwhelmed: you won’t have to remember any of it. Once you can ask clearly — the only real skill here — you can ask the AI to remember the steps and do them for you, on a schedule, while you sleep. Uncle doesn’t run his own systems by hand anymore; he learned these lessons, then hired AI staff to run them. By Lesson 9 you’ll see exactly how. Relax. Asking is the whole job.

What this lesson does

Gets you from “I’ve never touched AI” to sitting in front of a working chatbot with an account. Three minutes to read, about ten minutes to actually do — and it answers the two questions everyone’s silently asking: does this cost money and is it safe.

The two questions first

Does it cost money? No. Every major chatbot has a free version, and free is plenty for everything in this series. A free account needs an email address and a password — no credit card, ever, for the free tier. If a screen asks for payment, you’ve wandered onto the paid upgrade page; back out, the free door is there.

Is it safe? Can it see my bank account? No. A chatbot only knows what you type into it. It cannot see your bank account, your files, your photos, or anything else on your computer. One sensible habit from day one: don’t type sensitive personal or financial details into any chatbot — not because it’s spying, but because good habits are easier to build than break.

How to do the thing

Step 1. Pick ONE. For your very first, I suggest Perplexity (perplexity.ai) — you can try it without even making an account. (Claude at claude.ai and Gemini at gemini.google.com are equally fine; we’ll meet all three properly later in the series.)

Step 2. Open your web browser — the same one you use for everything else — and type perplexity.ai in the address bar. Phone or computer, both work.

Step 3. Look at the page. One text box, mostly empty space. That box is the entire product. You are not missing anything.

Step 4. Try it with no account: type any question and press Enter. It answers. You’ve used AI. (Yes, already.)

Step 5. When you’re ready, make the free account so it remembers your conversations: click Sign Up, enter your email, pick a password — or use the “Continue with Google” button if you have a Gmail address, which is one click instead of three.

Step 6. Write your password down somewhere you trust. Not a tech tip — a kindness to your future self.

What could go wrong

“It’s asking me to upgrade to Pro.” Every free tool advertises its paid big brother. Look for the small “maybe later,” “skip,” or X — free continues underneath. You need Pro for nothing in this series.

“I got an app store instead of a website.” Also fine — the free official app works the same as the website. Just check the maker’s name matches (Perplexity AI, Anthropic for Claude, Google for Gemini). Knockoff apps with similar names exist; the real ones are free.

“I made the account and now I’m staring at the empty box.” Perfect. That’s exactly where Lesson 2 starts.

Boomer’s verdict

“Ten minutes, zero dollars, one password. The door was never locked. 9/10 — one point off because Uncle wrote his password on a banana.”

🕐 Uncle Tries It — Try It Too (under 2 minutes)

Go to perplexity.ai right now — no account, nothing — and type: “Explain what an AI chatbot is, in three short sentences, for a total beginner.” Press Enter. Congratulations: the door is behind you.

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🐾 Join the Rescue Mission while he figures it out.