Learn · AI basics
Learn AI in plain words
14 short lessons, 43 minutes in total. Every example was baked for real, with the real cost. The same lessons live inside GrannyBakes, next to the buttons they explain.
Basics
What AI ovens are, how they read and what they cost.
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What is an AI model?
An AI model is a computer program that has read an enormous amount of text: books, websites, recipes, letters. From all that reading it learned how words…
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Tokens: the bites AI reads and writes
AI ovens don't read letter by letter or word by word. They read in small bites called tokens. Knowing about tokens helps you understand why some messages…
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What does it cost?
With your own API key (the secret password that lets GrannyBakes use your OpenAI account), you pay OpenAI directly for what you bake. There's no…
Settings
The knobs on the oven and what they change.
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Temperature: how adventurous is your baker?
When an oven writes, it picks one word after another. For each next word it has a list of good candidates, some very likely and some a bit unusual…
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Thinking effort: thinking longer vs answering fast
Some ovens can think before they answer. These are called reasoning models. Before writing the answer you see, they write hidden notes to themselves: they…
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Instructions vs messages
Everything you send to an oven is one of two kinds of text. Knowing the difference is the single best trick for better answers.
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Context window: how much your baker can keep in mind
An oven doesn't remember your chat between messages the way a person does. Every time you send a message, GrannyBakes sends the whole chat so far again…
Building
Bakers, utensils, memory, the Pantry and recipes.
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Model types: chat, thinking, pictures, embeddings, speech
Not every oven bakes the same thing. Some write, some think, some paint, and some turn text into numbers. The Models page sorts them by type; here's what…
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Utensils: letting bakers do things
On its own, an oven can only write. It can't open a web page, check today's date or do exact sums; it guesses. Utensils (also called tools) give your…
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Memory: forgets, remembers this chat, remembers facts
An oven itself remembers nothing. Each time, GrannyBakes decides what to send along with your message, and that's what we call a baker's memory. You…
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The Pantry: answering from your documents
An oven only knows what it learned long ago. It doesn't know your prices, your opening hours or your return policy. The Pantry fixes that: you put your…
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Recipes: chaining steps together
A baker does one job. A recipe (a workflow) chains several jobs together: one baker writes a post, another checks it, a picture oven paints a matching…
Smart & safe
Spend less and keep your kitchen safe.
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Saving money: cheaper ovens, shorter prompts, caching
Most bakes cost a fraction of a cent, but a recipe that runs every hour adds up. Here are Granny's three biggest savings, from biggest to smallest.
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Keeping safe: keys, private details, web content
GrannyBakes runs on your PC with your own key, so you're in charge of your kitchen. Here's how Granny keeps it safe, and what you can do.