How to tell AI about you, so it stops sounding like a brochure

One block of text. Paste it once, and every answer gets sharper from then on.

CB Chris Britton · 3 minute read

If you've tried AI and gotten back something bland, this is why: it doesn't know you yet. Every tool has a place to store that context. Almost nobody fills it in.

01Find the box

It's usually two clicks from the main screen.

Claude: your name → Settings → Profile
ChatGPT: your name → Settings → Personalization → Custom instructions
Gemini: Settings → Personal context

02Paste this and fill in the brackets

Your "about me" profile

Here is what you should know about me. Use it in every reply
unless I tell you otherwise for a specific task.

WHO I AM
[Role], [field], [how many years].

WHAT I'M WORKING ON
- [Project or goal, one line]
- [Project or goal, one line]

WHO I'M USUALLY WRITING FOR
[My audience. Their level, what they care about.]

HOW TO WRITE BACK TO ME
[Plain and short. / Thorough. / Skip the preamble.]

NEVER
Invent facts or numbers. If you're not sure, say so.

Delete any line that doesn't apply. That's the whole step.

03Put it to the test

Ask for something you actually need today.

The test request

Using what you now know about me, draft [the thing I need
today]. Keep it to [rough length]. First pass, we'll refine it.

Then ask again in a fresh chat with the profile turned off. If the two answers barely differ, your profile is too vague. Add the specific detail, not more words.

⚠ Watch out for

Nothing sensitive. No client names under NDA, no health details, nothing you wouldn't want stored.
Short beats long. Five tight lines outperform two pages, every time.
Keep it current. A stale profile steers confidently in the wrong direction.

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The PDF version, template included, for your email. That's the only time we ask.

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← All guides

Your first ten minutes with AI

Pick one real task. Finish it with help. That's the whole guide.

CB Chris Britton · 2 minute read

If you keep meaning to "sit down and learn AI" and haven't, stop planning and do this instead. The first time is the only hard part.

01Pick the task

Something small, real, and yours today:

A reply you've been putting off
A rough email that needs to sound right
A long thread you need the gist of
A decision you keep going in circles on

02Say it like you'd tell a colleague

Open Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini, any of them, then explain the situation in full sentences, not keywords.

How to open

I need help with [the task]. Here's the situation:

[Two or three sentences: who I am, what happened, what I
need to get out of this.]

Give me a first version. It won't be right yet, and that's fine.

03Push back, then use it

The first answer will be close, not right. Say what's off: "too formal," "cut it in half," "you missed that the deadline moved." Then actually send it, save it, or paste it in. That's the part that makes it stick.

⚠ Watch out for

It will be confidently wrong sometimes. Check anything that matters.
Nothing confidential goes into a free tool.
The first one feels slow. The third one won't.

Your one next step

Make it reliable instead of hit or miss

Right now the answers vary because the tool doesn't know you. That's a five-minute fix, done once.

Read: tell AI about you →

Keep this guide

The PDF version, template included, for your email. That's the only time we ask.

One email. No drip of junk. Unsubscribe any time.