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Give AI a Job Title

Posted on November 2, 2026 by wjimenez275

If you’ve tried ChatGPT, Gemini or Copilot and come away thinking “that was pretty generic,” there’s a good chance the problem wasn’t the AI. It was the question.

Here’s the single easiest fix I know: before you ask anything, tell the AI who to be.

(A quick note for my newsletter readers: I know AI isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, which is why it lives here on the blog now and the newsletter sticks to security and quick tips. If you’re curious, read on. If not, no hard feelings.)

Why it works

Think about calling a help line. If you get someone who answers every question the same way, you hang up frustrated. If you get the person who actually knows the subject and knows how to talk to a regular person, the whole call goes differently.

AI works the same way. Ask it a plain question and you get a plain, middle-of-the-road answer written for nobody in particular. Give it a role first, and it picks the vocabulary, the level of detail and the priorities that a person in that job would use.

How to do it

Start your request with three things:

  1. The job: “Act as a…”
  2. Who it’s helping: a little about you and how much you already know.
  3. What you want back: a list, a short answer, step-by-step instructions, a draft you can edit.

That’s it. Takes about ten extra seconds to type.

Five job titles to try

Copy any of these, fill in the brackets and paste it in.

1. The patient tech support person

Act as a patient tech support person helping someone who is comfortable with email and web browsing but nothing more technical. Explain how to [what you’re trying to do] on my [computer or phone model]. Use numbered steps, no jargon, and tell me what I should see on the screen after each step.

Yes, I’m aware I’m handing out my own job here. Don’t worry, I’m still a phone call away when the steps don’t match your screen.

2. The editor

Act as a friendly editor. Here is an email I wrote to [who it’s going to]. Make it clearer and more polite without making it longer or changing what I’m asking for. Then tell me in one line what you changed.

Great for complaint letters, notes to the HOA and anything you’ve rewritten three times already.

3. The budget travel planner

Act as a travel planner who is protective of my money. I’m planning [number of days] in [place] in [month] for [number of people], and my budget is [amount] not counting airfare. Give me a day-by-day plan, the free things worth doing, and the common tourist traps to skip.

4. The chef who works with what you’ve got

Act as a home cook who hates wasting food. I have [list what’s in your fridge and pantry]. Give me three dinner ideas I can make in under 45 minutes with what I have, and tell me if I’m missing one cheap ingredient that would make a big difference.

5. The doctor’s-visit coach

Act as a patient advocate helping me get ready for a doctor’s appointment about [symptom or condition]. Explain [term or test result] in plain English, then give me a short list of questions to ask my doctor.

This one comes with a big asterisk: AI is a way to walk into the appointment better prepared, not a replacement for the appointment. It can be confidently wrong, and it doesn’t know your history. Use it to come up with good questions, then let your doctor answer them.

A few ground rules

  • Be specific about yourself. “I’m 70 and use an iPad” gets you a very different answer than nothing at all.
  • Push back. If the answer misses, tell it what’s wrong: “Too long, give me the short version” or “I don’t have that menu, I’m on Windows 10.” It doesn’t get its feelings hurt.
  • Keep private things private. Don’t paste in account numbers, Social Security numbers, passwords or anything you wouldn’t put on a postcard.
  • Double check anything that matters. Prices, dates, laws and medical facts should all get a second look from a real source.

Coming up next

Next week: how to use that same trick on a contractor’s estimate or a repair quote before you sign it. I call it the estimate assassin.

And as always, if you get stuck with any of this, or with anything else on your computer, I can connect remotely and help. Schedule a session here, email me at billj@askbillfirst.com, or contact me at AskBillFirst | Contact Us.

Filed under: Future Tech, Quick Wins | Leave a comment »

What’s News in Tech: Passwords

Posted on January 2, 2026 by wjimenez275

A New Year – It May Be Time To Change Your Passwords. 

Happy New Year. I hope the new year arrived safely for you. 
Unfortunately, your accounts may not feel the same way. 
With the beginning of the year, you may want to consider going through your online accounts and changing your passwords, which should be done right away if a site you use has been breached and use a different password for every site. With companies and websites being hacked regularly, there is no doubt that your credentials, including email, usernames and passwords, are being sold around the dark web. 

There are several ways to find out which website or company you’ve signed into has been hacked.
One of the best is Have I Been Pwned. You enter your email address(es) into the form and it will tell you which companies that you’ve signed into have been breached. You absolutely should change your passwords to those sites. Another site to use Avast Hack Check which operates the same way. 

Besides hacks, there are other ways your password could be breached. If a person had your login credentials, user name, email address but not your password, they could try to crack your password. If you haven’t changed your password in a while, or if you use the same password at multiple sites, or you use the same password base but only change a number or letter, it probably wouldn’t take long at all for someone to figure out what your password is. A few examples, taking the most commonly used passwords of 2025 and yes, these are still the top five most common passwords being used, hopefully by none of you:

  • 123456 would be cracked instantly
  • 111111 would be cracked instantly
  • admin would be cracked instantly
  • qwerty would be cracked instantly
  • password would be cracked instantly

Forgive@h3r, which comes up later in this article, would take 400 years to crack.

To test your passwords to see how quickly they could be cracked, you can safely enter them at Security.Org and it will show you how quickly your passwords can be cracked.

What makes a good password? 

  • A password should be at least 12 characters long (ideally 16 characters or more); 45 percent of Americans use passwords of eight characters or less, which are not as secure as longer passwords.
  • A password should include a combination of letters (both uppercase and lowercase), numbers, and characters.
  • You must have a unique password for each online account.
  • A password shouldn’t include any of your personal information like your birthday or address, as identity theft and data breaches can compromise such information. It’s also best not to include any information that can be accessed on social media like kids’ or pets’ names.
  • A password shouldn’t contain any consecutive letters or numbers (i.e. ABCD, 1234, etc.)
  • A password shouldn’t be the word “password” or the same letter or number repeated.

I recently read an article from Mauricio Estrella. He was going through some life-altering things. Per company policy, he was forced to change his password at work every 30 days.

“I’m gonna use a password to change my life,” he recalls thinking.

He continues:

“My password became the indicator. My password reminded me that I shouldn’t let myself be a victim of my recent breakup, and that I’m strong enough to do something about it.

My password became: “Forgive@h3r”

I had to type this statement several times a day. Each time my computer would lock. Each time my screensaver with her photo would appear. Each time I would come back from eating lunch alone.

In my mind, I went with the mantra that I didn’t type a password. In my mind, I wrote “Forgive her” every day, for one month.”

Changing that password changed the way he thought of his former spouse. It was a recurring refrain, he says, a reminder to forgive her, accept the uncoupling, and embrace a recovery from depression.

“In the following days, my mood improved drastically,” Estrella continues. “By the end of the 2nd week, I noticed that this password became less powerful, and it started to lose its effect. A quick refresh of this ‘mantra’ helped me. I thought to myself I forgive her as I typed it, every time. The healing effect of it came back almost immediately.” You can read the whole article here.

Sound like something you can do? Of course. Think about things weighing on your mind. Turn them into a password and Change Your Life.

Using a Password Manager
If you want a secure password but don’t want to have to remember it each and every time, especially when you have a different secure password for each website, get a Password Manager. It can generate a password for each site, save it and apply it whenever you want to sign into that site. Some of you may be thinking that you can do that for free by allowing the browser to save your passwords. I would highly recommend that you do NOT do that. If someone got onto your computer it’s very easy to export those password files and save or upload them. A password manager is secure in that even if someone did try to upload the file the passwords are all encrypted. 

Some of the best Password Managers are:

However, if you’re using a different one, for example, I use RoboForm, continue using it. It’s keeping your passwords safe. Also, learn the features. RoboForm will tell me if I’m using the same password on different sites and it will also alert me to sites that have been hacked. 

Another benefit to using a password manager is that you can install it on the various devices you use and have access to your passwords when signing in on your computer, phone, tablet, etc.

Multi Factor Authentication (MFA):
You’ve probably used MFA or 2-Factor Authentication when you signed into your bank’s website, or other financial or tax websites. 
MFA is a security method where you must prove your identity in two or more different ways before getting access to an account or system. It greatly reduces the chance that someone can break in using only a stolen or guessed password. One way would be your password, but then the second factor kicks in and you get a text or call to your phone with a code. Without that code, you aren’t able to access the site. It protects your login to that site from being hacked. 

Why MFA is important:

  • Usernames and passwords can be stolen through phishing, data breaches, or reused passwords; MFA adds a second barrier even if those credentials leak.​
  • Security agencies and major tech providers report that enabling MFA can block the vast majority of automated account‑takeover attacks, making accounts dramatically safer for both individuals and organizations.

Filed under: 3-Second Tips, Future Tech, Quick Wins, Stay Safe | Tagged: , , , , , | Leave a comment »