Set up the apps

Before the practice lab, get one app ready. Start with Claude, and add ChatGPT when an exercise compares the two. A free account is enough. There are three steps.

Download the Claude app, open it, and sign in. No account yet? Sign up at claude.ai. You must be 18 or older, in a supported country or region.¹

It runs on macOS 13 or later, Windows 10 or later and, in beta, Linux (Ubuntu 22.04 or later, Debian 12 or later).²

Download the ChatGPT app, open it, and sign in. No account yet? Sign up at chatgpt.com.

It runs on macOS 14 or later and Windows 10 or later.³,⁴

Step 2. Make two choices before your first message

The app keeps a copy of what you type. Two switches decide what happens to that copy.

Training: may the company use your chats to train its later models? If you are not sure, turn it off.
Memory: may the app save notes about you, and use them in later chats?

Choose now, because turning training off later covers only your new chats. It cannot take back what training has already used.

Turning training off does not make a work file safe to upload. Your company's rules decide what may go in, and Chapter 10 teaches how to decide.

To find the switches, click your name at the bottom left, then Settings.

Training: open Privacy, and find Help improve our AI models.⁵
Memory: open Your Claude, and find Generate memory from chats. In older versions of Settings, it is under Memory.⁶

For one chat you do not want kept in your history, click the ghost icon at the top right of a new chat. Claude calls this an incognito chat. It adds nothing to memory and is not used for training. Anthropic still keeps a copy for a time, 30 days by default.⁷

Training: open Data controls, and find Improve the model for everyone.⁸
Memory: open Personalization, and find Enable memory.⁹

For one chat you do not want kept in your history, choose Temporary in a new chat. It adds nothing to memory and is not used for training. OpenAI may still keep a copy for a time, up to 30 days.¹⁰

Step 3. Make it ask before it acts

For your first jobs, choose the setting that asks you first.

Under the message box, next to the model menu, a setting says Auto. Change it to Manual.

In Auto, Claude keeps working without asking about each step, and automated safety checks run before it acts. In Manual, it asks before each action, and you allow or deny it.¹¹

On a free account you may not see this setting. That is fine, because a free account cannot reach your folders or the browser.

Claude's message box in the desktop app, as it looked on 29 October 2026. Under the box, two controls are boxed. On the left, Project or folder, where you choose a folder for Claude. On the right, Auto, the setting you change to Manual. Between them is the model menu.

At the top left, make sure the menu says ChatGPT, not Codex.
At the top, switch from Chat to Work. If you see no switch, carry on.¹²
Under the message box, open the permissions control, and choose Ask for approval. ChatGPT then works inside any folder you give it, and asks before it edits other files or uses the internet.¹³
The computer icon at the right of that row sets where the chat runs. Keep On your computer.¹⁴

ChatGPT's Work message box in the desktop app, as it looked on 29 October 2026, with its permissions menu open. The menu asks how ChatGPT's actions should be approved. It offers Ask for approval, which is boxed, Approve for me and Full access. The control that opens the menu, set here to Full access, is boxed too.

You are ready

Go on to the practice lab. The rest of this page is optional.

Optional: give it a folder, and let it use a browser

The practice lab does not need this. It shows what the desktop app adds: the AI works in a folder on your own computer, and uses a browser inside the app. On Claude, this needs a paid plan.

Download the practice lab's files, brightline-lab-f00.zip, and unzip them. Then give the app that folder.

Under the message box, open Project or folder, and choose the folder you unzipped.¹¹

Under the message box, open Choose project, and choose New project.
Give the project a name. Under Source folders, click Add, and choose the folder you unzipped.
Click Create project.¹⁵

ChatGPT's Create project window, as it looked on 29 October 2026. It has a box for the project's name, and under Source folders, the line "Add a folder on this computer" with an Add button, which is boxed. At the bottom is Create project.

Try it

Send this message:

Read office-orders.csv in this folder. List each supplier, with how many orders it has this week. Save the list in this folder as suppliers.md.

A new file appears in your folder. It should list five suppliers and seven orders in all.

Then try the browser:

Open claude.com/pricing in the built-in browser, and tell me what the Pro plan costs.

On ChatGPT, use chatgpt.com/pricing and the Plus plan. A browser opens next to the chat, and the AI reads the page while you watch. The app asks for your permission before it uses a new site.¹⁶,¹⁷ If it asks you to upgrade, skip this.

Which plan has what

On a free account	Claude	ChatGPT
Chat	Yes	Yes
Work in your folders	No¹⁸	Some¹⁹
The built-in browser	No²⁰	OpenAI does not say¹⁷
The coding tool (Claude Code or Codex)	No²	Some¹⁹

Paid plans include more of these. We checked this table on October 28 and 29, 2026. Plans change often, so trust what your own app shows.

If your Claude message box still shows Chat and Cowork, your account has not moved to the new app yet. Choose Cowork for the folder and the browser.²¹

If ChatGPT's Windows app asks you to upgrade, use chatgpt.com in your browser.⁴

Optional: the Claude app without a Claude plan

The Claude app can also run on a model from another company. The appendix shows how, and what you give up.