I help a lot of non-technical folks use ChatGPT, and the pattern is always the same: they type three or four words, get a generic answer, and conclude AI “doesn’t really work for them.”

The fix is almost never a cleverer prompt. It’s context. Before the request, paste a few lines about who you are, who you’re serving, and what you’re trying to do. The same question then produces something specific and usable.

Two things that consistently help beginners:

• End requests with “ask me 5 questions before you answer” so the model pulls context instead of guessing.
• Keep a reusable paragraph describing your situation and paste it at the top of every chat.

Curious how others here explain this to non-technical users — does the “context, not cleverness” framing land, or do you use a better mental model?