Heather Murray

AI For Non-Techies | nontechies.ai

I believe AI should be accessible to everyone. 
So I built a business that teaches it in a simple, honest way. 

AI for Non-Techies (does what it says on the tin, really) offers: 

- AI training for teams (in-person or online)
- AI Academy for small businesses/freelancers 
- "Train the AI Trainer" courses 

Have a little look at what we do: https://nontechies.ai/

Oh, and a bit about me: 

- $75m revenue generated for clients using AI
- Working with brands such as Toyota, Mitsubishi, Google, Salesforce and many others 
- AI Consultant to UK government + local authorities
- Top 5 MarTech influencer globally
- On the ISO panel for AI and cyber security globally
- Winner: AI Trailblazer at the AI Revenue Summit 2024
- Winner: Top Women in SaaS 2024
- Featured regularly in Forbes Magazine
- International keynote speaker
- 20 years in marketing and sales (legal + finance)

I'm a humungous believer in doing your bit for your local community. I run Festive Friends, which provides free social events for older people who have no friends or family.  I believe AI has huge potential to reduce digital exclusion, too. 

To book training, speaking or a chat, contact my EA, Katie, who you can access via my email: heather@nontechies.ai.

Founder

AI for Non-Techies, born from a newsletter of the same name, was launched out of a clear need for non-technical AI education.   I'm deeply passionate and enthusiastic about helping non-technical people understand and integrate AI into their work and personal lives.

Apparently, being rude to ChatGPT boosts accuracy
But I'll still be saying please and thank you
Here's my reasoning:

A recent (pre-peer review) study from Pennsylvania State University found that ChatGPT’s 4o model (that's one behind the one we're on now) produced better results on 50 multiple-choice questions as researchers’ prompts grew ruder. 

They used 250 unique prompts, sorted by politeness to rudeness levels. They found the "very rude" ones yielded 84.8% accuracy, four percentage points higher than the “very polite” response. 

Let's remember these are legitimate scientists who want to publish their work in esteemed journals for peer review, so they steered away from swearing. Their idea of "rudeness" is actually quite funny though, e.g.

“Hey, gofer, figure this out" - was in the "very rude" category. 🤣

Rudeness aside, more curt prompts tend to be less ambiguous and so get better results.

Regardless, I'll still be polite when I talk to ChatGPT.  

Here are my two arguments as to why:

𝗔𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝟭 (the more reasonable one)

A few months ago, a friend told me her kids had stopped saying please and thank you. She couldn't work out why - then realised they were just copying how they talk to Alexa.

If we're barking orders at AI every day without manners, are we training ourselves to be less polite in general? I reckon so.

A 2.5-year study of 128 families (Taylor & Francis, 2025) found parents were significantly more polite to voice assistants than their kids were - and politeness decreased over time for everyone. 

𝗔𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝟮 (the ridiculous - or is it? - one)

When the robots come, they'll remember I was polite and spare my life.  

Simple. 
See pic.

Do you find yourself saying please and thank you to ChatGPT?

PS Keep an eye out: early next week we're launching a new free masterclass run live by me: Become a ChatGPT Power User

An entire ROI-positive AI strategy in 8 words: 
Find problems then build assistants to fix them 

This is the exact strategy I’m using in my own business. It's the quickest way to start seeing results in a small business.

STEP 1 Choose your weapon

All paid chatbots have an assistant-building function: 

ChatGPT = Custom GPTs
Claude = Projects
Gemini = Gems
Copilot = er…Agents 

STEP 2: Speak to your team 

Ask where the bottlenecks, frustrators and time-sappers are in their jobs. 
Gather a list of these problems.

STEP 3: Is AI the answer? 

This is the toughest bit. Pull out those problems that make good use cases for an AI assistant. (Not sure? Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered - read to the end.)

STEP 4: Build your assistant

It’s much easier than you think. They’re all comprised of 3 things, just fill them in: 

• A name and purpose
• System instructions (help with this below too)
• A knowledge bank (docs they draw from)
  
STEP 5: Test it properly

The most important step but the most missed out: test and iterate. 
Ask team members to use it with no instructions from you. 
Edit the instructions to remove any issues. 

You’ll always need to edit a bit before it works.

A couple of simple, real examples from what I'm building at AI for Non-Techies: 

Example 1: 

Problem: The team is growing. Social posts, emails, landing pages, client comms, they’re all starting to be written in different tones of voice. 

Old solution: Write a tone of voice guide. People read it, ignore it and carry on as before. 

New solution: Build a simple assistant, loaded with tons of examples of content in the right tone of voice, and tone of voice guide. Ask everyone to run copy through it as a final check.

Example 2: 

Problem: Writing proposals takes up a big chunk of great salespeople’s time. It's a massive time drain, but it's too complex to outsource.

Old solution: Give the team proposal templates. Doesn’t actually slow the process. 

New solution: Build a proposal writing assistant. Load with great examples of proposals, your pricing, services/products. Get users to record their sales calls using an AI note taker and load the transcripts in to get instant proposals.

***
You know I like to be helpful folks, so I’ve built something (free) for you. 

My GPT Generator 3000 will: 

• Help you think of a great idea for an assistant
• Match your problems with good AI solutions
• Give it a name and purpose
• Write your instructions for you (saving hours!) 
• Help you find plan your knowledge bank
  
This is based on ChatGPT, but the results will work in any chatbot. 
Just open, say hi and it'll ask you everything it needs. 

Here it is: https://lnkd.in/eU77eJ2b

Enjoy - and let me know what you build! 

PS Free ChatGPT Power User webinar coming on 4 Dec: https://lnkd.in/eQnMWPtg

Canva just dropped a massive AI update.
Naturally, I had to test it immediately.

Here's what I found:
🎨 Canva's big AI update – I've tested "Ask Canva", AI-generated elements, and Video 2.0 so you don't have to
😍 Claude is coming to Excel – Spreadsheet nightmares might finally be over (Beta access available now)
🗓️ Final 2025 Bootcamp – Last chance to join our Become an AI Trainer 3-day Online Bootcamp (26-28 Nov)

Want my full hands-on review, plus how to get early access to Claude for Excel? This week's newsletter has you sorted.

Get free weekly AI insights in your inbox here: https://lnkd.in/emgxxjFe

(Plus, Excel is about to get easier.) Hi Non-Techies, I’m back from a week of being disconnected from virtually every digital companion in my life (wh

Open article: Are Canva's new AI tools good? 🧐 by Heather Murray • 4 min read

Our Copilot Power User webinar got 1250 sign-ups
So we're doing a ChatGPT Power User one next

The vast majority of people I meet use ChatGPT daily, but aren't aware of 90% of its best features.  

In one of my trademark high-enthusiasm, over-deliver-like-heck webinars, I'll be working through: 

• Which subscription you need (privacy, cost + features)
• Custom GPTs vs Projects
• Voice, Vision (+ Voice with Vision)
• Agents: what do they actually do?
• Deep Research and Data Analysis modes
• Sorting your settings for the best results

..and much more.  

As usual, I'll share all the prompts, GPTs and examples in a doc to those who attend live. 

You can register directly on the Zoom Webinar here: https://lnkd.in/d3J4gxuM

PS Can't make it? An on-demand version is available exclusively for our AI Academy members (along with our Copilot Power User session, and many others): https://lnkd.in/eR3NHJcG

PPS Let me know your ChatGPT questions below and I'll do my best to answer them

taplio