If you're still using your chatbot like it's Google, stop. Stop it right now, Axios' Megan Morrone writes.

• Why it matters: Generative AI is fundamentally different — and far more useful — when you treat it like a collaborator and check its work.

🧑‍🏫 Think of yourself like a coach and the AI like the best player on your team. Then run the play.

• You're not alone if you're leaving value on the table.
• 🧰 Anthropic put out an AI Fluency Index today that showed people aren't using its Claude tools to their full advantage.
• The company assessed "AI fluency" using a framework developed with professors Rick Dakan and Joseph Feller.

📉 Stunning stat: "In only 30% of conversations do users tell Claude how they'd like it to interact with them," per the report.

• 🔁 Train the bot with the old adage: "Help me help you."

The big picture: Generative AI keeps getting smarter and producing magical-seeming outputs, from code to legal briefs to possible medical diagnoses.

Reality check: The more polished the output, the less users question it, the index shows.

💡 Some best practices based on the report:

1. 💬 Keep prompting: Treat the first response as a draft. Iterate, ask follow-ups, push back and refine. Ongoing back-and-forth is the strongest marker of real fluency.

• Example: "You got that wrong. Try again" or "Why did you give that answer?"

2. 🔍 Be skeptical of polished answers: When output looks great, pause. Check the facts, probe the reasoning and ask what might be missing. Don't lower your guard and drop your critical thinking.

• Example: Try your prompt with different chatbots and see if you get the same answer. Or ask: "Fact-check yourself and show me your sources."

3. 🛠️ Set the terms: Don't just prompt — instruct. Tell the AI to flag uncertainty or challenge your assumptions. Being explicit up front changes the dynamic.

• Example: Use global instructions and custom settings that most tools offer so you don't need to rewrite the same rules every time.

The bottom line: AI fluency is core to your experience with the chatbot, no matter which one you pick. It's not always them; it's you.

Share this story.

Charlie McMormick, a recent college grad and self-described dedicated Axios reader, is currently teaching math and science at a high school in Guatemala.

• 🌋 He hiked Volcán Tajumulco — the tallest peak in Central America — and snapped this photo from the summit just before sunrise.

"You can see other volcanoes in Guatemala's slice of the ring of fire!"

Thanks for reading! Send photos from your travels to [email protected].