Interview Me First: Rebuilding My Website Live with AI

Getting started at 1 p.m.

We start at 1 p.m. Bring a charged laptop. If you have time beforehand, install the desktop app and sign in using the steps below. You are also welcome to arrive a little early for setup help. Advance setup is optional.

1. Install the ChatGPT desktop app. Follow the official desktop quickstart and choose the download for your computer.
2. Sign in with your ChatGPT account. Use an existing account if you have one. There is no need to create a second account or purchase a duplicate subscription.
3. Choose ChatGPT, then Work. Start a new task and select Work locally. If Work or the local option is missing, bring the laptop for setup help. Availability can depend on your account, computer, and workspace settings.
4. Make a small practice folder. Call it “AI Kitchen practice” and select it in the app. Add a short bio, project description, or current website content. One or two reference pages plus a sentence about what you like are useful, too. Use the AI Kitchen website exercise below if you arrive without a project.
5. Check that a preview opens. Try the short setup prompt below. Once you see the page, you are ready. Leave the main exercise until after the demo.

Setup-check prompt

Create a tiny HTML page in this practice folder with the heading “Ready to cook.” Open it in the built-in browser so I can see it. Keep it local; do not publish it.

Try an existing working account first. Free access and usage limits vary; we cannot promise it will cover the whole exercise. Contact Kai about access before buying an additional subscription.

A month on us

AI Kitchen can reimburse one monthly ChatGPT Plus payment, including applicable tax, for current SCU students, faculty, and staff attending this session. Alumni and public attendees are welcome but are not eligible for this reimbursement.

1. Check access before buying. Read the reimbursement instructions and participant form. If you already subscribe, use that account and contact Kai before making an additional purchase.
2. Save your paid receipt. It should show the service, payment date, total including tax, your name/account identifier, and last four payment digits. An unpaid invoice alone is not proof of payment.
3. Complete and sign the prefilled expense PDF. Add your details, SCU ID after your name, actual purchase date and amount, and your signature/date. Leave manager signature and funding fields for Kai.
4. Submit both documents by Friday, October 2, 2026. Use your SCU Google account for the PDF and participant reimbursement form. You do not need to wait for Kai’s manager signature. Keep the emailed response copy.

Paperwork can wait until after the session. Only one month is covered; subsequent charges are your responsibility. Questions, existing subscriptions, or a corrected upload? Contact klukoff@scu.edu. Do not submit bank-account details or a full card number.

Your 40-minute recipe

Choose a small page for yourself, a research project, a club, a lab, a program, or an event. An existing website is optional. Aim for a useful brief, a viewable first version, and one revision you can explain. We will work from 2:05 to 2:45 p.m.

1. 2:05–2:08Name your idea. Write a one-sentence goal and identify what is still unclear.
2. 2:08–2:16Let AI interview you. Answer questions about your audience, purpose, and priorities.
3. 2:16–2:21Add context. Supply useful facts and an example with your reaction.
4. 2:21–2:24Read and correct the brief. Make sure it describes what you want.
5. 2:24–2:36Build and inspect. Ask AI to open a local preview. Click through it and check the facts.
6. 2:36–2:45Revise with a reason. Show a partner, choose one meaningful change, and revise.

Prompts to make your own

Replace the brackets with your own idea or material. Keep the interview, brief, and revisions in the same task.

1. Start with the interview

I want to make a small website for [myself / this project / this group / this event]. Interview me one question at a time before building. Focus on who it is for, what they should understand or do, and what matters most to me. Ask up to three main questions, with a short follow-up when needed. Do not start building yet.

2. Turn the conversation into a brief

Use my answers and these materials to write a short brief: audience, purpose, essential facts, preferences, and scope. Separate facts I supplied from suggestions. Keep it to one page and a local preview. Wait while I read and correct it.

3. Build and inspect

Build the page from the brief I approved, using my source materials. Handle the preview setup and open it in the built-in browser. Check that navigation works and that the page fits a narrow screen. Check the facts against my materials and tell me what you actually checked. Save the files in this practice folder without publishing anything.

4. Make a substantive revision

I want to change [specific content or behavior] because [reason]. Use [my feedback / this updated source] to make the change. Preserve what already works. Reopen the preview, check the changed part, and summarize what you changed.

A meaningful revision could add a missing publication from a CV, update a course or event detail from a newer source, make the contact path clearer, or change which project appears first for your intended audience. Aim for one change that matters. Save the brief and website files; no public publishing is required.

One user prompt can trigger many agent steps. Watch what the AI creates, checks, and changes, then decide what still needs your judgment.

Need help coming up with a project idea?

Try making a new AI Kitchen website: your own one-page introduction to AI Kitchen. Use the material below, then decide during the interview who you most want to reach and what they should do next. This is a practice version you can view locally.

Initial material — use this first

AI Kitchen is a hands-on community at Santa Clara University where people from different disciplines build AI fluency by trying tools, working on real projects, and learning with others. Students from every major are welcome, alongside faculty, staff, and guests. No technical background or application is required. Friday sessions start with a live demonstration, followed by time to experiment. Create a welcoming one-page site that helps a newcomer understand AI Kitchen and find a session to attend. Use https://theaikitchen.org/ and its FAQ for background, and link to https://theaikitchen.org/schedule.html for the session schedule. Keep this practice site local.

Pick an audience, such as a student trying AI for the first time or a staff member curious about using it at work. Choose one main action for that audience. You can use the existing site as a factual source while making your own design choices.

Revision material — introduce after the first preview

Add “What’s cooking on campus?” to the page. At the end of each AI Kitchen session, students, faculty, and staff can give a 30-second invitation to an AI project they are working on and ask for feedback or collaborators. For September 25, this runs from 2:50 to 3:00 p.m. Each project gets one slide with its title, names, a one-sentence description, what help would be useful, and an optional email or project link. Add a clear link to the shared slide deck: https://theaikitchen.org/pitch. Explain that people should sign in with their SCU Google account to add a slide. Keep the rest of the page useful for newcomers, then reopen the preview and check the new link and section.

What’s cooking on campus?

We will save the final ten minutes, 2:50–3:00 p.m., for AI projects from across the university. Students, faculty, and staff can share something they are working on and invite feedback or collaborators.

Add your project slide to the shared deck using your SCU Google account. Everyone at SCU with the link can edit. Choose an unused project slide or duplicate the template, and fill in one slide per project.

• Project title and name(s). Add your role or affiliation if useful.
• One sentence about the project. What are you working on?
• Your invitation. What feedback or collaborators would help?
• Optional contact. Add an email or project link you are comfortable sharing with the SCU community.

Keep to one slide and 30 seconds so we can hear from people across the university. Add your slide before the closing round, and edit only your own project slide.