Ask for a plain-English summary of the news with your morning coffee
David Au, a retiree who writes the AI123.ca blog and says he's 80, starts most mornings by asking ChatGPT to summarize the day's world news in simple English, so he gets the big picture without scrolling through headline after headline.
What they did
With his coffee or a cup of warm water, he types short requests like "Summarize today's global news in simple English" or "Explain the latest geopolitical issue in plain language." If an answer doesn't make sense, he asks again in a different way. He also uses ChatGPT to polish his blog posts and practice his English, and he says the ideas and the thinking stay his own.
How it went
He says he gets a structured summary that helps him understand the big picture quickly, and that the daily habit keeps his mind active. What he values most is the patience: "When I don't understand something, I ask again. And again."
Worth knowing
Some AI tools only know events up to a certain date unless they can search the web, and any summary can leave out or garble key facts. Ask for the source and date of each item, and check anything important with a news outlet you trust. On contested topics, ask it to describe each side fairly instead of telling you what to think.
Try it yourself
Copy this into ChatGPT (or any AI assistant). Replace the parts in [brackets] with your own details.
Summarize today's top [world / U.S. / local: name your area] news in simple English. Give me [5] short items, each in two or three sentences, with the source and date for each one. If you can't look up today's news, tell me that first instead of guessing. Then explain one story more fully, in plain language, as if I'm new to the topic. Where people disagree, describe each side fairly.
Source: David Au, AI123.ca, Feb 11, 2026. Read the original →
First-hand account by the person who did it. Summarized in our own words. Spotted a mistake or want this removed? Tell us.