foundations · Level 1
The free AI toolkit: how to choose tools and stay safe
A calm way to pick free AI tools, test them properly, spot the fakes and build a small starter stack of your own.
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Start with the essentials
The short answer
Many AI tools offer a free tier with limits on use, features, quality or commercial rights, and some may use your inputs to improve their service. Pick a job first, shortlist two tools, test both on the same real task, and read each tool's own pricing and privacy pages for the current terms before you rely on it. Treat look-alike apps and pressure to pay with suspicion.
What you will learn
- You will be able to name the main categories of AI tool and match them to jobs you actually do.
- You will understand how free tiers typically work, and what to check before you rely on one.
- You will be able to find a tool's current free terms and privacy settings on its own pages.
- You will be able to test two tools fairly and choose between them.
- You will be able to spot fake AI apps and common scams, and know what to do if you are caught out.
- You will have a small starter stack and a set of personal safety rules.
Who it is for
Anyone starting out with AI who wants to pick tools sensibly and safely. It suits people who want to use AI at work, make videos or build a website. No technical knowledge is needed.
Before you start
- None. It helps to have read What is AI? and Your first prompts, but it is not essential.
Learn in your browser · Chapter 01 of 06
The map: nine kinds of AI tool
AI tools come in many kinds. Knowing the categories helps you choose a tool for a job, instead of collecting apps for their own sake.
Start with jobs, not products. The table shows nine common categories. The names in the last column are examples of well-known products that exist at the time of writing (September 2026). They are examples, not endorsements, and they are not a complete list.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Category | What it helps with | Examples (not endorsements) |
|---|---|---|
| Chat assistants | Answering questions, drafting, explaining, brainstorming | ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot |
| Writing and editing | Grammar, tone and rephrasing your own text | Grammarly, DeepL Write |
| Images | Illustrations, mock-ups and social graphics | Adobe Firefly, Canva |
| Audio and voice | Turning text into speech and speech into text | ElevenLabs |
| Video | Generating short clips and editing by text | Runway, Descript |
| Coding help | Explaining, suggesting and fixing code | GitHub Copilot, Replit |
| Research and notes | Summarising your sources, searching with references | Gemini Notebook (formerly NotebookLM), Perplexity |
| Presentations | Turning an outline into slides | Gamma, Canva |
| Automation | Connecting apps so tasks happen by themselves | Zapier, Make, IFTTT |
Categories overlap. A general chat assistant can already draft, summarise, brainstorm, explain and help with simple code. Many people start with one chat assistant and add a specialist tool only when a job clearly needs it.
Try it yourself · Activity 01
10 minMap your own jobs
Find out where a tool could genuinely help you.
- List the tasks you do every week that involve writing, finding things out, making images, sound or video, or repeating the same steps.
- Next to each task, write the category from the table that might help.
- Circle the one task where saving time would matter most.
Which category did you not expect to need? Which one are you happy to ignore for now?
Learn in your browser · Chapter 02 of 06
How free tiers work, and how to check the terms
A free tier is usually a taster of a paid product. Once you see the pattern, you know what to look for.
A free tier is a version of a tool you can use without paying. Companies offer one to let you try the product, to attract people who may upgrade later, or to learn from how people use it. There is nothing sinister in that, but it explains why free plans have limits, and why it is fair to ask what the tool gets from you in return.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Typical limit | What it means for you | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Usage caps or credits | The tool slows down or stops when your allowance runs out | Does it reset daily, monthly or never? |
| Fewer features | The best features may be paid | Is the feature I need included? |
| Lower quality or size | Smaller images, shorter clips or slower service | Is the result good enough for my purpose? |
| Watermarks | The output carries the tool's branding | Can I publish it as it is? |
| Commercial-use limits | Free output may be for personal use only | May I use it for work, a channel or a client? |
| Data use | Your inputs may help improve the service | Can I switch that off? |
| Trials | Free now, paid later | When does billing start, and how do I cancel? |
Here is how to check a tool's current terms:
- Reach the tool's own website by typing its address yourself, or by using a link from a source you trust. Do not use an advert or a link in a message.
- Open the Pricing page, usually in the menu or footer. Read the free plan. Note what is included and what is limited.
- Open the Terms of Use. Search the page (Ctrl+F on Windows, Cmd+F on a Mac) for words such as commercial, own, restrict and watermark.
- Open the Privacy Policy and the tool's settings. Search for train, improve, retain, delete and opt out.
- Write down what you found and the date you checked. Check again before any big project.
Try it yourself · Activity 02
20 minRead the small print
Take one tool you already use, or are curious about, and read its own pages.
- Find its Pricing page. In your own words, write what the free plan includes and its main limits.
- Find its Terms. Write down whether you may use its output for work or for a public video or website, and who owns the output.
- Find its privacy information. Write down whether your chats or uploads may be used to improve the service, and whether you can switch that off.
- Put today's date at the top of your page.
What surprised you? Would knowing this have changed how you have used the tool so far?
Learn in your browser · Chapter 03 of 06
Choose and test: a four-step method
The best tool is the one that does your job well, safely, within limits you can live with. A simple fair test beats a hundred review articles.
- Name the job in one sentence, for example: 'Turn my rough notes into a tidy weekly update in ten minutes.'
- Shortlist two tools. Two is enough to compare. Choose them from the categories above or from someone you trust.
- Run the same real, non-sensitive task through both, and score each one.
- Decide, note the date, and set a reminder to review your choice in a few months.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Score it on | Ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Result | Is the output good enough that I would use it after a light edit? |
| Time | Did it save me time overall, including checking the result? |
| Ease | Could I use it again without re-learning it? |
| Limits | Are the free limits enough for how often I need it? |
| Privacy | Do I understand what it does with my inputs, and can I control it? |
| Exit | Can I export my work and delete my account if I stop using it? |
Try it yourself · Activity 03
25 minHead-to-head test
Compare two tools for one real job using the four steps.
- Write your job in one sentence.
- Choose two tools in the same category and note when you checked each one's free terms.
- Give both the same non-sensitive input and instructions, then save both results.
- Score each tool from one to five on the six criteria in the table.
- Write down which you would keep and why.
Did the tool you expected to win actually win? What decided it?
Learn in your browser · Chapter 04 of 06
Spotting fake AI apps and scams
Whenever a technology becomes popular, imitators and scammers follow. A few habits keep you safe.
Fake AI apps and AI-themed scams follow familiar patterns:
- Look-alike names: an app or website with a name almost the same as a real product, with an extra word or a changed spelling.
- Adverts posing as official downloads: anyone can pay for an advert, so an advert or a top search result is not proof that a site is genuine.
- Free trial traps: a demand for card details to 'verify' you, followed by regular charges that are hard to cancel.
- Software you must install to 'unlock' the AI, or browser add-ons that ask for permission to read and change everything on every website.
- Promises of easy money: 'AI trading bots', secret income schemes and claims that AI will make you rich with no effort.
- Links from strangers, or from a hacked friend's account, urging you to try a new AI.
- Imitated voices and faces: AI can be used to copy a real person's voice or video, so a caller who sounds like a relative or your boss but presses you for money is a warning sign.
The UK's National Cyber Security Centre lists tell-tale signs of phishing, meaning scam messages and calls that try to manipulate you. They fit AI scams well: authority (pretending to be someone official), urgency (a short deadline), emotion (fear, hope or curiosity), scarcity (a rare chance or offer) and current events (a topical hook). Scammers try to gain your trust quickly and pressure you into acting without thinking.
Before you download, sign up or pay, run the five-second check:
- Stop. Is anything rushing you?
- Find the publisher name in the app store or on the website. Does it match the company you expect?
- Reach the official site from a link you trust, or type the address yourself.
- Look at what it asks for. Card details for a free trial, broad permissions or an unusual download all deserve a pause.
- If a call or video asks for money or secrets, hang up and check through a number or contact you already know.
Try it yourself · Activity 04
10 minSpot the fake
Here are three invented scenarios. For each one, list the warning signs and say what you would do.
- Scenario A: An advert for an 'AI app' says: 'Unlimited everything, free for life. Enter your card to prove you are human. Offer ends in ten minutes.'
- Scenario B: A browser add-on that promises AI summaries asks for permission to read and change all your data on all websites.
- Scenario C: A friend's social media account sends you a link to 'the new AI that pays big daily earnings' and tells you to hurry.
- Match each warning sign you found to one of the five tell-tale signs.
Which sign would have caught you out most easily? What will you do differently?
Learn in your browser · Chapter 05 of 06
Privacy and safe use
A free tool still runs on a real company's computers. What you type or upload leaves your device, so decide what goes in.
When you type or upload something into an online AI tool, it is sent to the company's computers. What happens next depends on the tool, the plan and your settings: it may be stored, reviewed or used to improve the service. Free and paid plans can treat data differently, so read the current privacy information for the plan you are on.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Traffic light | What belongs here |
|---|---|
| Green: fine to paste | Public information, your own non-private writing and made-up examples |
| Amber: think first | Work documents, customer details and anything under a confidentiality agreement. Check your organisation's rules first |
| Red: never paste | Passwords, secret codes, bank or card details, identity numbers, and other people's private or health information |
- Use the tool's data controls. Look for the setting that decides whether your chats are used to improve the service, and for any temporary chat mode, and read what that mode really does.
- Anonymise before you paste: swap names, places and numbers for placeholders such as Person A and Company X.
- Protect each account with a strong, unique password and two-step verification where the tool offers it.
- Be careful what you connect. Giving a tool access to your email, files or calendar is a bigger decision than pasting a paragraph. Grant only what you need and review it later.
- Check who owns the output and whether you may use it commercially, especially for anything you publish or sell.
- Remember that you are responsible for what you publish. Check the facts, check that nothing copies other people's work, and say when AI helped where honesty or the rules require it.
Try it yourself · Activity 05
10 minAnonymise it
Practise removing identifying details before you ask an AI for help.
- Write a short made-up paragraph modelled on a real situation, such as a message you need to send to a colleague.
- Replace every name, place, phone number and account number with a placeholder.
- Ask a free chatbot to improve the tone of the anonymised version.
- Put the real details back yourself, on your own device.
Did the AI need the real details to help? What does that tell you?
Learn in your browser · Chapter 06 of 06
Your starter stack worksheet
A starter stack is a small set of tools, one for each job that matters to you, plus a few personal rules. Build yours now.
Aim for five tools at most. Many beginners need only a chat assistant and perhaps one tool for their main creative job, such as images, voice, video or presentations. If you plan to make YouTube videos or a website with AI, the next workbooks show you how, and this stack is your foundation.
Scroll sideways to see every column.
| Job | Tool I chose | Free terms checked on | My privacy setting | Review date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday questions and drafting | ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| Images or graphics | ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| Voice, video or presentations | ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
| A job of my own | ________ | ________ | ________ | ________ |
Then write three personal rules. For example: 'I never paste passwords or other people's private details.' 'I check any fact I am going to repeat.' 'I check current terms before I pay for anything or use a tool for work.'
Try it yourself · Activity 06
25 minBuild your starter stack
Turn this workbook into a small, safe set of tools that fits your life.
- Take the tasks you listed in the first exercise and choose up to five where a tool would help most.
- For each job, choose one tool using the four-step method, or decide to do it without a tool.
- Fill in the worksheet: the tool, the date you checked its free terms, your privacy setting and a review date.
- Write your three personal rules at the bottom of the page and put it where you will see it.
Which job will you test first this week?
Try it yourself · Activity 07
10 minThe monthly check-up
Do this once a month to keep your stack safe and lean.
- Open each tool's pricing and privacy pages and look for changes.
- Drop any tool you did not use, and delete its account if you can.
- Review your passwords and any accounts you have connected to your tools.
- Note any scam messages you spotted and what gave them away.
What did you change this month, and why?
Well done. You can now choose free AI tools with confidence, check their terms, avoid the fakes and protect your information. Next, the workbook on making YouTube videos with AI puts a small stack to work, and the one on building a website with AI does the same for the web.
Keep learning
The complete workbook
This workbook helps you choose and use free AI tools without wasting time or taking risks. You will learn the main kinds of tool, how free tiers typically work, how to check a tool's current terms yourself, how to test two tools fairly, how to spot fake apps and scams, and how to protect your privacy. It ends with a worksheet for your own starter stack.
- 01The map: nine kinds of AI toolRead here · 1 exercise
AI tools come in many kinds. Knowing the categories helps you choose a tool for a job, instead of collecting apps for their own sake.
- 02How free tiers work, and how to check the termsRead here · 1 exercise
A free tier is usually a taster of a paid product. Once you see the pattern, you know what to look for.
- 03Choose and test: a four-step methodRead here · 1 exercise
The best tool is the one that does your job well, safely, within limits you can live with. A simple fair test beats a hundred review articles.
- 04Spotting fake AI apps and scamsRead here · 1 exercise
Whenever a technology becomes popular, imitators and scammers follow. A few habits keep you safe.
- 05Privacy and safe useRead here · 1 exercise
A free tool still runs on a real company's computers. What you type or upload leaves your device, so decide what goes in.
- 06Your starter stack worksheetRead here · 2 exercises
A starter stack is a small set of tools, one for each job that matters to you, plus a few personal rules. Build yours now.
Also inside: a 8-point checklist, a glossary of 10 terms and 10 questions and answers to test yourself. 7 hands-on exercises, each with a worked answer at the back where the workbook gives one.
The PDF is free. We ask for your name and email before downloading. Read the privacy notice at the download form. Free to download and use for personal learning, study groups and inside your own team. Please do not resell the workbooks or republish them as your own. Link people to trust-agent.ai instead.
Get your free PDF workbook
Enter your name and email, then download the complete workbook. This form also works without JavaScript.
Test yourself
Questions and answers
Are free AI tools really free?
Often yes, within limits. A free tier typically restricts how much you can use, which features you get, the quality or size of the output, or how you may use the results. Some are trials that become paid plans. Read the tool's own pricing page for the current terms.
Which free AI tool is best?
There is no single best tool. It depends on your job. Name the job, shortlist two tools, test them on the same real task and keep the one that suits you. Any names in this workbook are examples, not endorsements.
How do I find out what a tool's free plan includes today?
Go to the tool's own website, open its Pricing page and read the free plan. Then read its Terms and privacy information. Terms change, so note the date you checked and look again before any big project.
Will a free tool use my data?
It might. Some tools may use your inputs to improve their service unless you switch that off, and practices differ between plans. Look for the tool's data controls and privacy policy, and never paste secrets or other people's private data.
Can I use free AI output commercially, for example in a video or on a website?
It depends on the tool's terms. Some free plans limit commercial use or add watermarks. Read the terms on ownership and permitted use before you publish or sell anything. If they are unclear, choose another tool or ask the provider.
How can I tell if an AI app is fake?
Warning signs include a look-alike name, an advert instead of an official link, pressure to act now, card details demanded to 'verify' you, unusual permissions and promises of easy money. Check the publisher and reach the official site by a route you trust.
Are AI browser extensions safe?
Some are, but extensions can see and change the pages you visit, so treat them with care. Install only from a source you trust, check the publisher and the permissions requested, and remove any you no longer use.
Is it safe to let an AI tool see my email or files?
It is a bigger decision than pasting one paragraph. Grant only the access the job needs, read what the tool will do with it, and review or remove access later. Do not connect work accounts without your organisation's approval.
What should I do if I think I have been scammed?
Contact your bank at once if money or card details are involved, change any password you shared, keep screenshots and report it. In the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre has pages for reporting scam emails, texts, websites and adverts.
How many AI tools do I need?
Fewer than you think. Many beginners do well with one chat assistant and perhaps one specialist tool for their main creative job. Each extra tool is another account and another place your information lives.
Write as you go
My notes
Use this scratchpad for your own notes, working or answers as you read. Notes are saved in this browser on this device. Downloading makes a local copy; it does not send your notes to Mickai.
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Review your work
Work through the exercises and questions, then compare your reasoning with the worked answers. A scored exam and verifiable certificate are not yet available for this course.
Review the questionsLearn the language
Key terms
- Free tier
- A version of a tool that you can use without paying, usually with limits on use, features or how you may use the results.
- Credits
- A pool of usage units that a tool gives you. When they run out you wait, upgrade or stop. How and when they renew varies by tool.
- Watermark
- A visible mark or logo that a tool adds to its output, often removed only on a paid plan.
- Terms of use
- The rules you agree to when you use a tool, including what you may do with it and with what it produces.
- Privacy policy
- A company's statement of what personal data it collects, how it uses that data and what choices you have.
- Opt out
- To switch off a particular use of your data, for example the use of your chats to improve a service.
6 of the workbook's 10 terms. The complete glossary is in the workbook.
Follow the evidence
Sources and checks
Facts last checked: .
These workbooks use AI assistance. See how the workbooks are made.
- Phishing scams: how to spot and report themNational Cyber Security Centre (UK)
- How to spot a scam email, text message or callNational Cyber Security Centre (UK)
Created by Mickarle Wagstaff-Irons - Micky Irons with the Mickai team. Published by Mickai LTD. Last updated 25 September 2026.
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