AI KITCHEN  ·  THE RESOURCE

Welcome back to
the Kitchen.

Everything we cooked in Session 1 lives here, plus the recipes we keep adding every week. Free, open, and built for the people in that room on April 18.

Start with the recap Jump to the recipes ← Back to the assessment
KITCHEN SESSION 1 · APRIL 18, 2026

What we cooked together

A written version of the two hours we spent in the lobby. Skim it, share it, come back when you need it.

THE SESSION, START TO FINISH
9:30
Mise en place
Welcome, neighbors, coffee
9:45
The brief
How AI actually works
10:15
Cook time
Your first recipe
11:00
Plating
Your kitchen roadmap
11:15
Family meal
Q&A, connection

What AI actually is

You are the Head Chef. AI tools are utensils in your kitchen. A better knife is useful. But the bottleneck was never the knife — it was the recipe. You design the system. AI executes steps inside it.

It's not a search engine
It generates new text. It doesn't look things up.
It's not magic
It predicts the most useful next word, millions of times over.
It's not always right
It can confidently say wrong things. Your judgment still matters.
It is already useful today
Even basic use can save hours of your week right now.

Pick a utensil and start

The tool matters less than the thinking behind it. Any of these will work with the framework you learned.

BY OPENAI
ChatGPT

The tool that started the mainstream AI wave. Great all-rounder for writing, coding, and Q&A.

The chef's knife. Versatile, everywhere, gets the job done.

Open ChatGPT →
BY ANTHROPIC
Claude

Known for thoughtful, nuanced responses and handling long documents. Made with safety in mind.

The mandoline. Precise, careful, great for nuanced work.

Open Claude →
BY GOOGLE
Gemini

Built into Google products. Strong at search-connected tasks and multimodal work.

The stand mixer. Powerful when connected to everything else.

Open Gemini →
THE CORE FRAMEWORKS

Four frameworks worth memorizing

These are the ones that compound. Everything else in the recipe library is built on top of these four.

FRAMEWORK 01

The 4D AI fluency framework

From Anthropic Academy · anthropic.skilljar.com

01
Delegation
Deciding which tasks are right to hand off to AI — and which aren't.
Deciding what the kitchen handles and what the chef keeps.
02
Description
Giving AI clear, specific instructions so it can actually help you.
Writing the recipe before you hand it to the line.
03
Discernment
Critically reviewing AI output — not just accepting it at face value.
Tasting the dish before it goes to the table.
04
Diligence
Using AI responsibly, ethically, and safely over time.
Running a clean kitchen, every service.
FRAMEWORK 02

The 5-step recipe framework

Adapted from Nicola Battoia's AI Systems Design · watch the original

1
Evaluate
Is this a good use case? Repetitive task? Manageable if AI gets it wrong? Start with tasks where a mistake is cheap and learning is fast.
"You'd test a new utensil on prep work, not on your signature dish."
2
Decompose
most important
Break it into steps. This is the most important and most skipped step. Most bad AI output is a decomposition failure, not an AI failure.
"Nobody writes 'make lasagna' as one step. You write out every layer."
3
Architect
How much AI, how much human? Pick the right level of involvement. Three full steps of thinking before you touch a single tool.
"Design the kitchen before you pick the utensils."
4
Build
Now open Claude or ChatGPT. Note how late in the process this comes. The tool matters less than the thinking that came before it.
"The best knife doesn't help if you don't know what you're cutting."
5
Evaluate (again)
Test the output against your criteria. Define "good" before you build, not after. Without this step, you are tinkering forever.
"Taste the dish. Every time. And adjust the recipe."
Treat this as a cycle, not a checklist. Each pass makes the recipe better. Step 2 (Decompose) is the hardest and the highest leverage.
FRAMEWORK 03

RCTF — structure every great prompt

Role · Context · Task · Format

THE BLACK BOX
Write me a marketing email
AI guesses everything. Output is generic.
R
Role
Tell AI who it should be
You are an experienced small business marketing consultant…
C
Context
Give the background it needs
I run a 3-person bakery in San Jose. We sell custom cakes and want more local customers.
T
Task
State exactly what you want
Write 3 short Instagram captions promoting our weekend cake sale.
F
Format
Specify length, tone, or structure
Keep each caption under 150 characters. Friendly and upbeat tone. Include a call to action.
You don't need all four every time — but the more you write into your recipe, the better the dish.
FRAMEWORK 04

The 5 levels of AI complexity

Where are you, and what's your next step?

L1
Single Prompt
Starter
One question, one answer. Your first ingredient. "Rewrite this email in a warmer tone."
L2
Chained Prompts
Session 1 goal
A sequence where each prompt builds on the last. Following a recipe step by step. "Now adjust the tone. Now shorten it."
L3
Connected Tools
Sweet spot
AI connects to your email, calendar, files. Your kitchen is now running itself. "Draft replies to my last 10 emails."
L4
Human-in-the-Loop
Advanced
AI runs autonomously, pauses at your defined checkpoints. Sous chef handles prep, Head Chef approves.
L5
Multi-Agent
Frontier
Multiple AI agents hand off tasks to each other. A full brigade running the whole service.
TINKERING
Where most people start
  • • "Let me try this and see what happens"
  • • Each session starts from scratch
  • • Results are inconsistent
  • • You are reacting to the tool
  • • Wins don't compound
DESIGNING
Where the value lives
  • • "What outcome do I need, and what are the steps?"
  • • Each session builds on the last
  • • Results are consistent because the recipe is written down
  • • You are directing the tool toward a known target
  • • Wins compound into hours saved every week
THE RECIPE LIBRARY

Ten starter recipes

Written in RCTF format, tagged by archetype and level. Copy, paste into Claude or ChatGPT, fill in the brackets, taste, adjust. New recipes drop every week.

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The Weekly Recipe newsletter drops one new one, one tip, and the next session date every Sunday morning.

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KEEP COOKING

Three ways to stay in the Kitchen

📬
The Weekly Recipe

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Free. Unsubscribe anytime. No spam, just recipes.

🍳
Kitchen Sessions 2–4

Level 3: Connect AI to your real tools.
Level 4: Loops with human checkpoints.
Hands-on every session.

Dates announced via the newsletter →
🤝
Hype Network

For career coaching, community, and a room full of people moving up their own kitchen roadmap.

Visit hypenetwork.org →
REFERENCES FROM THE SESSION