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Before you learn what AI can do for your mortgage business, learn what it can do.

Mortgage Lab exists to show you AI applied to real mortgage work. Sourcing, case notes, client communication, compliance, marketing, and the rest of it. We test the tools on genuine mortgage use cases, and we tell you what works, what does not, and why.

What we do not do is teach you is all the fundamentals of the tools themselves, and there is a good reason for that. The companies who built them have already written the best beginner material available, they give it away free, and they keep it current in a way no third party can match.

So, this page does something simple. It points you at the official guides, and only the official guides, so you can reach a confident level of everyday use. Then come back, and we will show you what to do with it.

Why this order matters

Most advisers who tell us AI did not live up to the hype had the same experience. They opened a free chatbot, typed a vague question, got a vague answer, and moved on. That is not a limitation of the technology, it is a skills gap, and it takes about an hour to close.

Learning the basics first also means the fundamentals transfer. A well written prompt works in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Copilot alike. Get that right once and every tool we review afterwards becomes more useful to you.

Every link on this page is published by the company that makes the tool. Nothing here is a paid placement or an affiliate link. We have simply picked the starting points we think are worth your time.

Download the guide, 2026 edition

One thing to read first, whatever tool you use

Google’s Quick Start Guide to Google AI at Work is the single most useful free document on this page. It covers a five step framework for writing effective instructions, plus around fifty ready to use prompts grouped by job function. The principles apply to every assistant, not just Gemini.

Claude, by Anthropic

Claude is available as a website, a desktop app for Mac, Windows and Linux, mobile apps, and a Chrome extension. Cowork is the mode that lets Claude work through longer, multi-step tasks with your files rather than just answering questions in a chat. It runs on desktop, web and mobile, and it needs a paid plan.

Anthropic does not publish a beginner’s PDF. Their material is web based and kept current, and their help articles carry an updated date so you can see how fresh they are:

ChatGPT, by OpenAI

ChatGPT is available on the web, on desktop, and on mobile. It now splits into two modes. Chat for quick answers, drafts and brainstorming, and Work for larger tasks with a reviewable output such as a brief, an analysis, a deck or a spreadsheet.

•    Getting started with ChatGPT
The official starting point. Explains the Chat and Work split, gives you a first prompt to copy, and covers voice

•    Using ChatGPT
OpenAI’s newer documentation site for everyday users

•    Prompting basics
How to write a good prompt

•    ChatGPT use cases
Worked examples by task

•    ChatGPT 101 resource guide  [PDF]
A downloadable handbook covering the fundamentals

•    ChatGPT 102 resource guide  [PDF]
The follow on, focused on applying ChatGPT to real work

•    AI Foundations course
Free structured course on how AI works and how to use it responsibly

•    OpenAI Help Center
Accounts, billing and troubleshooting

•    OpenAI Academy
Free courses, including sector specific tracks

Gemini, by Google

Gemini is available at gemini.google.com, on mobile, and built into Gmail, Docs, Sheets and the rest of Google Workspace. Google publishes the best beginners’ handbooks of the four, and they are useful even if you never touch Google Workspace.

A warning if you go searching for these yourself. Google’s older “Prompting Guide 101” is now retired, but three editions of it from 2024 are still live and still rank highly in search results. The two guides above are the current ones.

Copilot, by Microsoft

Two different products share the Copilot name.

The free consumer version lives at copilot.com and on Windows. Microsoft 365 Copilot is the paid version built into Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams. Start with the first if you are not sure which one you have.

1. Consumer Copilot

2. Microsoft 365 Copilot

Before you use any of this on real client work!

These guides teach you how the tools work. They do not tell you what a UK mortgage professional can and cannot safely put into them. Client data, regulated advice, and file records all carry obligations that the manufacturers’ guides were never written to address.

Read our AI Safety guidance before you use any of these tools on a real case. It is free with membership, and it is the part most people skip.

Ready for the mortgage specific stuff?

Once you are comfortable with the basics, everything else on Mortgage Lab is waiting. The AI video series, tested tool reviews in the Business Lab and the Mortgage Lab, prompt and context engineering built around mortgage scenarios, and the Friday Briefing.

Membership is free.

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