Hi Reader,

Most people use ChatGPT to answer questions, improve writing, or generate ideas.

But it can also access files on your computer, follow a detailed brief, and create a finished file you can continue editing.

For example, imagine you have:

• A monthly report in Word
• Sales results in a spreadsheet
• A team meeting approaching
• No presentation yet

Instead of reading both files, extracting the important information, building every slide, and creating the charts yourself, you can give the complete task to ChatGPT Work.

First, what is ChatGPT Work?

The familiar ChatGPT experience is built primarily around conversation: you ask, and it responds.

Work is designed to go further.

It can use your files and approved tools to complete a larger task and produce something you can review and use—such as a document, spreadsheet, report, or presentation.

To access local files on your computer, you need the ChatGPT desktop app.

Once it is installed:

1. Open the ChatGPT desktop app.
2. Select ChatGPT.
3. Switch from Chat to Work.
4. Either open the relevant folder or provide its full path during the conversation.
5. Approve access if Work requests permission.

Work can then read the files in the approved location without requiring you to attach each one individually.

Access may depend on your ChatGPT plan and workspace settings.

From source files to an editable presentation

For this example, imagine the files are:

• Monthly_Report.docx
• Sales.xlsx

You can begin by opening the folder containing them.

Or, at any point in the conversation, tell Work where the files are located by providing the full folder path.

Then confirm that it can see the correct files:

The files for this task are located at [paste the full folder path]. Confirm that you can read Monthly_Report.docx and Sales.xlsx. Don’t modify either file.

If Work does not already have access to that location, approve the folder when requested.

Then give it a clear brief:

Using Monthly_Report.docx and Sales.xlsx in the folder we just confirmed, create an editable PowerPoint for a 10-minute monthly team meeting.

Create five slides:

1. Monthly overview
2. Sales results, with a chart
3. Main challenges
4. Recommended next steps
5. Decisions for the team

Use clear language and a clean, readable design. Use only facts supported by the files, and label recommendations as suggestions. Ask me if essential information is missing.

Save the presentation as Monthly_Update.pptx in the same folder. Leave the source files unchanged.

If available in your version of Work, you can also select @Presentations when beginning the task.

This brief is much more effective than simply asking:

Create a presentation from these files.

It tells AI what the presentation is for, what it must contain, what standards to follow, where to save it, and what it must not change.

The first draft is not the final step

Once the presentation is ready, open it and review it.

Check the facts.

Check the charts.

Check whether the story makes sense for the people who will see it.

Then request precise changes:

Revise Monthly_Update.pptx:

• On slide 2, add value labels to the sales chart.
• On slide 3, shorten each bullet to one sentence.
• On slide 4, turn the suggested next steps into a numbered action list.
• Keep the other slides unchanged.
• Save the revised presentation as Monthly_Update_v2.pptx in the same folder.

This is where AI becomes considerably more useful.

You are not accepting whatever it produces.

You are directing the work, reviewing the result, and improving it through specific feedback—just as you would with a capable assistant.

The presentation is only one example

The real lesson is not that ChatGPT can make slides.

It is that AI can increasingly take responsibility for a complete piece of work:

• Start with your existing source material
• Follow an explicit brief
• Produce an editable deliverable
• Save it where you need it
• Respond to your feedback
• Preserve the boundaries you establish

The same approach can help you create reports, organize project information, analyze spreadsheets, prepare meeting materials, and improve documents you already use.

The question is no longer only:

What can I ask AI?

It is also:

What complete task could I direct AI to help me finish?

Start with one task.

Give clear direction.

Review the result.

Make it your own.

— Mastering AI Team
Make AI work for you