ChatGPT Tutorials: Learn OpenAI's ChatGPT

What ChatGPT is, and how its features fit together

ChatGPT is a conversational assistant: you ask in plain language, it answers, and you refine the answer in the same conversation. Around that core sit the features that make it general-purpose. GPTs are custom assistants built for a repeated task, such as drafting a particular kind of document or answering questions in a particular style, so you do not have to re-explain the job every time. Canvas is a side-by-side editing space for drafts and code, where you can revise a piece of text or a program without losing it in the chat scroll. Voice mode lets you talk through a question hands-free, which suits brainstorming, practice, and explaining. Deep research tackles multi-source questions by gathering and comparing material before answering, and image generation turns a text description into a visual for a post, a slide, or a draft design.

The mistake most beginners make is treating all of that as one feature. It is not. Chat is for quick questions and drafts. A GPT is for a job you repeat. Canvas is for a document or a program you will revise several times. Voice is for thinking aloud. Deep research is for questions where the sources matter and a fast answer is not enough. Image generation is for visuals, not for facts. The tutorials in this hub teach each feature in its own place, with the job it actually fits, so you can choose deliberately instead of defaulting to plain chat for everything.

How to work through these tutorials

Start with getting started and prompt engineering. ChatGPT responds well to the same pattern the other hubs teach: state the goal, the audience, the format, and the constraints, and give it the material it needs instead of asking it to guess. After the basics, follow your work. Writers go to writing and editing, then research and summaries. Developers go to the coding assistant tutorial, then data analysis. Business owners go to business use cases, then automation, SEO audits, and social media. Creators go to images and media, video and animation, and social media presence.

Every tutorial uses the same checking discipline. Read the answer before you use it. Correct it in the same chat when it is close but wrong, naming exactly what to change. Verify facts, numbers, names, and quotes against a trusted source before publishing or sending. Test code before shipping it. Keep private data, passwords, and sensitive customer information out of prompts unless you have checked how the tool handles them. ChatGPT is a strong drafting and thinking partner; it is not a verified source, and the tutorials never treat it as one.

An example prompt to try first

This prompt shows the pattern in action: a clear task, the material supplied, the format requested, and a rule against inventing facts. Replace the bracketed parts with your own task.

Turn these rough notes into a structured draft:
[paste your notes]
Audience: [who will read it].
Format: a short introduction, then headings with 2-3 bullet points each, then a closing paragraph.
Tone: plain and factual. Length: about 400 words.
Do not invent statistics, quotes, or sources. Flag anything that needs checking.

What ChatGPT is best at, and where to be careful

ChatGPT is strongest as a general tool: it covers chat, voice, images, research, custom assistants, and document and code editing in one place, which makes it a good default if you want to learn one assistant deeply. Its breadth is also its risk: it is easy to use plain chat for a job that needed deep research, canvas, or a GPT, and to accept a fluent answer without checking it. Features, limits, and pricing change over time, so check the current plans and feature list inside the app before you build a business process on any one feature, and never present AI-generated text or images as verified fact or real photography without checking them first.

Frequently asked questions