Train the Trainer
What’s all this AI fuss about?
Tuesday 28 April, 2pm · Brian McColm
Where we’re going
Four things, one hour
1 · What it is
pages 3–6
In plain English, and why it isn’t the same as Googling.
2 · What it’s doing
pages 7–12
To your family, your grandchildren’s school, your doctor, and jobs.
3 · Having a go
pages 13–19
On a computer, on a phone, and how to ask so you get a good answer.
4 · Staying safe
pages 20–26
What not to type in, what it gets wrong, and the scams built with it.
Stop me whenever. Ask the same question twice — the second answer is usually better than the first.
The questions people actually ask
Everything on this list gets answered today
About AI itself
What is it, really?
Is it just Googling?
Does it cost money?
Will it get things wrong?
About being safe
Can it spy on me?
What if I do it wrong?
Is it taking over?
Will it replace my doctor?
About using it
Can it explain a letter from the hospital?
Help with recipes?
Teach me something?
Write my emails?
These are your students’ questions, in their words. Not one of them is silly.
Part one
So what is it?
A very well-read assistant who has read almost everything, and will talk to you about any of it.
You type a question in ordinary words. It answers in ordinary words. That is the whole interface.
You don’t need to know how it works to use it — any more than you need to understand electricity to turn on a light.
A knowledgeable friend
One who happens to have studied medicine, law, cooking and gardening — and is never busy.
A library that answers back
Ask a question, get a plain answer. No shelves, no catalogue.
Why now
This is one of the big ones
Every few generations something arrives that changes everything after it. We are standing in one.
1440 · Printing
Knowledge stopped belonging only to the people who could afford a scribe.
1880s · Electricity
Light, refrigeration, hospitals. Everything downstream of a switch.
1990s · The internet
Everyone, everywhere, connected at once.
And now this one — which is happening in your lifetime, not your grandchildren’s.
Part one
It is not the same as Googling
Google
Finds pages. Hands you a list of blue links. You go and read them and work the answer out yourself. Everybody gets the same list.
AI
Has a conversation. Writes an answer for your situation. You can say “simpler” and it tries again. Nobody else gets your answer.
Google is the library catalogue. This is the friend sitting next to you.
That is the single most useful sentence you can give a student. It resets what they expect before they type anything.
Part two
It is already in your family
This is not a technology story. It is a story about the people you talk to on Sundays.
You
Shopping, banking, health, keeping in touch. Quietly, already, in things you use.
Your children
In their thirties and forties. It is changing what their job is and what is expected of them this year, not one day.
Your grandchildren
In the classroom now. It is shaping how they study, write and think.
Understanding it is how you stay in the conversation with all three.
Part two · the classroom
What is actually happening in schools
What it gives them. A patient tutor at any hour. Help with writing at ten at night. Real support for a child with dyslexia. Less paperwork for a teacher.
What worries people. Is it cheating? Is it doing the thinking? Teachers were handed it without training. And not every family has the same access.
A Year 10 in Sydney can type “explain photosynthesis like I’m twelve” at eleven at night before an exam, and get a lesson. Free.
Part two · medicine
A second pair of eyes that never gets tired
Finding things earlier
Australian radiology is trialling tools that read a chest X-ray before the specialist does, and flag what to look at.
Giving time back
Writing up consultation notes, so the doctor is looking at you rather than a screen.
Watching overnight
Noticing a patient’s numbers drifting, and telling a nurse before anyone would have noticed.
Alongside your doctor. Never instead of them — and the doctor always makes the call.
Part two · work
And it is taking jobs. Say so plainly.
Your students’ children are living this. Pretending otherwise costs you their trust.
Cuts announced over the past two years, and still running. Not all of them are AI — but a great many are named as AI by the companies themselves. Check any figure the morning you use it.
Part two · work
What you can tell them to do about it
Use it, don’t fear it
The people keeping their jobs are the ones who picked it up first.
Keep the human part sharp
Listening, judgement, leading a room, being kind. None of it can be automated.
Stay in touch with people
Most jobs still come through somebody who knows you.
And think three years ahead, not thirty. What am I learning this year, and what does it let me do next?
Part three
There are three, and they are all free to start
ChatGPT
The famous one. A good all-rounder, and the one your students will have heard of.
Gemini
Google’s. Already sitting in Gmail and on Android phones.
Claude
What we are using today. Built to be careful and straight with you, and the easiest to talk to.
No card, no cost, no commitment. Any of the three will do everything in this hour.
Part three · do it now
Let’s have a go, this minute
1 · Go to claude.ai. Type it in the address bar at the top — not into Google. Press Enter.
2 · Find the box at the bottom. It looks like the box you send a text message from, because that is exactly what it is.
3 · Type a sentence and press Enter. Ordinary words. No special phrasing.
4 · Read it, then ask another. That second question is where it stops being a search box.
Try one of these
“Write me a birthday message for my friend turning 80.”
“What does atrial fibrillation mean?”
“Three easy dinners using chicken.”
Part three
How you ask changes what you get
Be specific
Not “tell me about blood pressure” — but “explain what my blood pressure tablet actually does, simply”.
Say who you are
“I’m 72 and my doctor mentioned atrial fibrillation.” The answer changes completely.
Push back
“Simpler.” “Shorter.” “Just the key points.” It redoes it instantly and never sighs.
You cannot break it, and you cannot embarrass yourself in front of it.
Part three · on a computer
On the computer at home
1 · Open your browser. Edge, Chrome or Safari — whichever one you already use.
2 · Type claude.ai in the address bar. The long white strip at the very top.
3 · Sign up with your email. It sends you a code. Type the code in.
4 · Bookmark it so you never have to type it again.
Any computer
Windows, Mac or Chromebook. There is nothing to install and nothing to buy — it is a website, like the news.
Part three · on a phone or iPad
And on the phone — where you can just talk to it
1 · Open Safari or Chrome and go to claude.ai.
2 · Sign up with your email, same as on the computer.
3 · Tap the little microphone and say your question out loud. No typing at all.
4 · Share, then Add to Home Screen. Now it sits on the home screen like any other app.
This is the one that lands
For a student whose typing is slow or whose hands are sore, speaking the question is the moment the whole thing suddenly makes sense.
Part three
What to actually use it for
Understanding a letter
The one from the hospital, the insurer, or the solicitor. Paste it in and ask what it means.
Writing something awkward
A complaint. A condolence card. A note to a neighbour about the fence.
Learning a thing
Anything at all, explained at whatever level you ask for, as many times as you like.
The rule of thumb: if you would ask a well-read friend, you can ask this. There is no question too small or too odd.
Part four · safety
What never to type into it
Keep these to yourself
Bank or card numbers.
Tax File Number, Medicare number.
Passwords and PINs.
And it remembers now
New in 2026 — it carries things forward between conversations instead of starting fresh. Useful. Also a reason to think before you type.
Not because it is a dodgy website — it is a real company with a real reputation. Because there is never a reason to.
Think of a helpful stranger on the bus. You’d happily ask directions. You wouldn’t hand over your PIN.
Part four · safety
The scammers have it too
This is the part your students most need from you, and the part they will repeat to their friends.
The voice on the phone
“Services Australia” saying your payment is on hold. The voice can now be made to order. Hang up. Ring 132 300 yourself.
The email that reads properly
Scam emails used to be full of mistakes. That tell has gone. Spelling is no longer evidence of anything.
Video of a real person
A convincing fake of someone you recognise. If it is shocking, that is a reason to doubt it, not to believe it.
Anyone urgent, asking for money: stop, hang up, and ring somebody you trust.
Part four · limits
What it is bad at
It makes things up
Confidently, and in the same tone as when it is right. That is exactly what makes it dangerous. Check anything that matters.
It can be behind — so tell it to look
It learned up to a point in time, but it can now search the web, free accounts included. If it matters, say “check that”.
It cannot do anything
It will write the complaint. It cannot send it. You are always the one who acts.
Trust, but check. It is a very good first draft of an answer — never the last word.
Part four
“Will it replace my doctor?”
It can help you
Understand the words on the letter.
Write down what to ask before you go in.
Make sense of results afterwards.
It cannot
Examine you.
Diagnose you.
Prescribe anything.
Take responsibility.
It helps you walk in prepared. It does not replace the person who examines you.
Part four
“Is it going to take over the world?”
In the films
It wants things. It has plans. It resents us.
In front of you
It has no wants at all. It sits there doing nothing until somebody types something.
Closer to a very clever calculator than to anything with a plan. Which is not the same as saying there is nothing to think about — the jobs are real, the scams are real. Just not the film.
Part four
Six rules to hand a student
Never the private stuff
No passwords, PINs or bank details. Ever.
Check what matters
Health, money, legal. Verify with a person.
You decide
It suggests. You are the one who chooses.
Ask again
“Simpler.” It never gets impatient.
If it feels wrong, stop
Close the tab. Ring somebody.
Enjoy it
It is meant to make the day easier.
Take this home
Five to try tonight
“Write a thank-you note to my neighbour who watered the garden.”
“My doctor said type 2 diabetes. Explain it in plain English.”
“I have eggs, cheese and spinach. What can I make?”
“A relaxing three-day trip from Sydney for two people who like gardens.”
“Explain how solar panels work, as simply as you can.”
claude.ai
Free. Any browser. Any device. Nothing to install.
This is the part that is for us
Using it to be a better trainer
Before the lesson
“Explain [topic] for someone who has never used a smartphone.”
“What might a 75-year-old ask about this?”
During the lesson
Don’t know the answer? Ask it together, in front of them. That teaches the skill better than knowing would have.
After the lesson
“Turn these notes into a one-page handout.” Then send it. Ten minutes, and they have something to keep.
Your prep, your backup and your demonstration — all the same tool.
The hour, in six lines
What we covered
A well-read friend
Not a search engine. A conversation.
Already in the family
Your children’s work, your grandchildren’s homework.
Free, and easy to start
claude.ai, an email address, done.
Ask better, get better
Say who you are. Then say “simpler”.
Never the private things
And check anything that matters.
You are in charge
It suggests. You decide. Always.
Every session, kept
CP Train the Trainer
This hour is recorded and sitting on the club’s own site, with the slides, the notes, and a box to ask what it didn’t answer.
train.computerpalshq.com
Missing the afternoon no longer means missing the hour.
And the ask
What stumped you this week?
A member asked you something and you didn’t quite have it. That is not a gap in you — it is the next session, and you are the only one who knows about it.
Put it in the box. It becomes training for all of us, and the answer goes up where everyone can find it.
The whole loop
A member asks you.
You flag what stumped you.
It becomes an hour like this one.
Some of it goes out to members.
We only get better as a club if we all pitch in and ask.
Questions
There are no silly ones. Ask away.
And if one comes to you on the drive home — the box on the site is open all week.
Computer Pals Northern Beaches · get started tonight at claude.ai
Back slides · not part of the hour
If somebody asks about the money
Use these only if the question comes up. They are here so you are not caught out.
Who is building it
Microsoft with OpenAI, Google, Anthropic, Meta, Amazon, and Musk’s xAI.
The chips
NVIDIA makes almost all of them, and went from about $300 billion to over $4 trillion in three years.
The sheds
Microsoft, Google and Amazon are each committing tens of billions to data centres.
Figures move fast. If you are going to quote one, check it that morning.
Back slides · not part of the hour
It is already all around them
Banking
ANZ, CBA and NAB all use it to spot a fraudulent transaction in the moment it happens.
Shopping and telly
Every “you might also like” on Amazon and Netflix.
Farming
Australian farmers flying drones over crops to see which paddock needs attention.
Most of your students have been using it for years without being told.
Thank you
Go and have a play with it
Nothing in this hour needs remembering. The site has it all — the video, the slides, and the box for the question you think of tomorrow.
train.computerpalshq.com
