How to use ChatGPT: a beginner's guide for South Africans

If you have never used it, this is how to use ChatGPT without wasting time: sign up free, ask for one real thing you need today, and then improve the answer by talking back to it. You do not need any technical skill, and the free plan is enough to start.

This guide walks through signing up, your first prompts with everyday South African examples, how to get better answers, and what you should never type into it.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an AI assistant made by OpenAI. According to OpenAI, you can use it for brainstorming, writing, studying, planning, maths, coding and analysing images and files, and it can search the web when it needs current information. It learnt from huge amounts of human writing, so its answers sound natural. OpenAI’s own help centre also warns that it can make up facts, so treat it like a clever, fast assistant whose work you still check.

How to sign up for ChatGPT, free

South Africa is on OpenAI’s list of supported countries, so you can sign up directly.

1. Go to chatgpt.com, or download the ChatGPT app from the App Store (publisher OpenAI OpCo, LLC) or Google Play (developer OpenAI). For Windows and Mac, use chatgpt.com/download.
2. Choose Sign up for free. You can use an email address or phone number, or continue with a Google, Microsoft or Apple account.
3. Start typing in the message box. Choose New chat whenever you switch to a new topic.

OpenAI’s terms say you must be at least 13, and anyone under 18 needs a parent or guardian’s permission. In supported countries you can also try ChatGPT without an account, but signing in keeps your chat history.

Your first prompts: real examples

The trick is to say what you want, who it is for and what a good result looks like. Here are four prompts you can copy and change.

A CV for a specific job

Here is my CV and a job advert for a junior bookkeeper in Pretoria. Rewrite my CV summary and skills list to match the advert, using only facts from my CV. Then list three things I should add if they are true.

Remove your ID number, home address and references before you paste your CV in. Read every line it writes: it may make your experience sound bigger than it is, and that is your name on the page.

A WhatsApp reply

A customer sent this WhatsApp message complaining that her order is late. Write a short, friendly reply that apologises, says the parcel arrives on Thursday, and offers free delivery next time. Keep it under 60 words.

This works just as well for a tricky family group chat. Ask for two or three versions in different tones and pick the one that sounds like you.

A monthly budget

I take home R14,500 a month. My rent is R5,200, transport R1,400 and I send R1,000 home. Make a simple monthly budget table in rand for food, airtime and data, savings and emergencies, and suggest where I could save R500.

ChatGPT is good at structure and arithmetic, but check the totals yourself. It does not know your bank balance or debt costs unless you tell it, and you should not paste bank statements into it.

A school project, explained without cheating

I am in Grade 10. Explain how photosynthesis works in simple steps, with an everyday example. Then ask me five questions to test whether I understood, one at a time.

Use ChatGPT to understand the work, not to produce it. Ask it to explain, quiz you or comment on a draft you wrote yourself. Check your school’s rules on AI, and never hand in AI-written work as your own.

How to use AI well: getting better answers

Most bad answers come from vague questions. These habits fix most of them:

• Give context. Say who you are, who the result is for and why you need it.
• Ask for a format. A table, five bullet points, a 100-word email, a step-by-step plan.
• Show an example. Paste something you like and ask for the same style.
• Talk back. Reply with “shorter”, “more formal” or “use rand, not dollars” until it is right.
• Ask it to ask you. Try “Ask me three questions before you answer.”
• Check facts that matter. Prices, laws, medical advice and dates need a trusted source.

Writing clear instructions for AI has a name, prompt engineering. Our guide to what prompt engineering is goes deeper.

What not to share with ChatGPT

Assume anything you type could be stored. Leave out:

• ID numbers, passport numbers and banking details
• passwords, PINs and one-time codes
• medical records and other sensitive information
• other people’s personal information, such as a customer’s name and phone number

For a business, this is a POPIA question as much as a privacy one: you stay responsible for customer information you put into any tool. Our guide on putting customer data into ChatGPT explains the rules.

Two settings help. OpenAI says you can stop your conversations being used to train its models by turning off Improve the model for everyone under Settings, then Data controls. Temporary Chat gives you a conversation that does not appear in your history, does not use or create memories, and is not used for training.

ChatGPT free vs paid

The free plan costs R0 and includes unlimited everyday text chats, with tighter limits on uploads, images and voice. OpenAI prices its paid plans in rand in South Africa: Go costs R149 a month and Plus R399, with more usage and better models. Start free and only pay when the limits get in your way. Our ChatGPT free vs paid guide compares every plan.

If you want to use ChatGPT in a small business, Zaiq’s guide on how to use ChatGPT for business covers the business version.

Related guides

• Is ChatGPT free? Free vs Go vs Plus prices in South Africa
• Claude AI free: what you get in South Africa, and when to pay
• AI and POPIA: is your data safe with AI tools?
• DeepSeek AI in South Africa: is it free, and is it safe?