You can just talk to it

You don’t have to type. Every one of these apps has a microphone button, and on a phone you can have a spoken conversation with it the way you’d talk to someone on the phone.

For a lot of people this is the moment it finally clicks.

This is the part most people miss, and it’s the whole thing.

With a search engine, you get one shot. You type your words, you get your results, and if they’re wrong you start over with different words.

This is not that. You say something, it answers, and then you tell it what was wrong with the answer. “No, shorter.” “I meant the other kind.” “Say that again like you’re explaining it to my husband.” It adjusts, every time, and it doesn’t get tired of you.

You don’t have to get it right the first time. You’re not supposed to.

Most people send one message, read the answer, decide it was fine or it wasn’t, and close the app. That’s the equivalent of asking someone a question and walking away before they finish.

The first answer is a starting point. The second message is where you tell it what you actually wanted.