Build Your Own AI Assistant

We live in a moment where every person, regardless of background, has the chance to shape the technology that shapes our lives. AI now gives everyday people the ability to extend their influence, solve problems faster, and build tools that reflect their goals and values. It gives the opportunity to design intelligence that works with you has never been more accessible.

This book provides a clear and structured path to building custom GPT using OpenAI’s platform. Each chapter offers practical, step-by-step instruction, including how GPT function, how to build your first assistant, add your own knowledge, enable real-world actions, and apply responsible AI principles. The approach is simple enough for beginners yet detailed enough to support real workplace impact across roles and industries. As you go through the book, you will have the technical knowledge of advanced prompting and the awareness of responsible AI to confidently build and manage dynamic, real-world AI solutions.

By the end, you will gain the skills to design GPT that streamline your workflow, multiply your productivity, and strengthen your ability to lead in an AI-driven world. This book invites you to step forward with confidence and start building AI that helps you lead, innovate, and thrive.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
● Understand GPT fundamentals and explore practical real-world use cases.
● Build your first custom GPT using simple, guided steps.
● Apply the Pentagram Framework for structured and consistent prompting.
● Use Few-Shot learning to guide AI behavior more reliably.
● Apply chain of thought strategies for clearer reasoning and explanations.
● Use RAG techniques to ground responses in trusted information.
● Enable real-world actions through OpenAI tools and integrations.
● Apply responsible AI practices to build safe, aligned systems.

WHO THIS BOOK IS FOR
This book is for anyone curious about how AI can amplify their abilities, including professionals, educators, creators, managers, and entrepreneurs who want practical ways to use GPT in their work. It is especially for people who want to build their own AI assistants with no coding required to begin the process.

1. Building with OpenAI GPTs
2. GPT Use Cases and Examples
3. Build Your First GPT in Minutes
4. Pentagram Framework for Effective Prompt Engineering
5. Build RAG-Enhanced GPT for Customer Service
6. Build a Chain-of-Thought Stock Insight GPT
7. Few-Shot Learning for a Receipt Processing GPT
8. GPT Actions and API Integration
9. Mitigating Prompt Injection and Jailbreak Attacks
10. Grounding for Responsible AI

Alina Li Zhang is a senior AI engineer in Silicon Valley, specializing in natural language processing, generative AI, and applied machine learning. She has built and deployed AI systems across multiple industries, including finance, enterprise platforms, and next-generation AI hardware such as AI laptops. Her professional journey spans roles at HP Inc., Stack Overflow, RBC, and IBM, where she worked on projects ranging from multimodal GPT models and on-device AI orchestration to RAG systems, LLM fine-tuning, and financial anomaly detection.

Alina holds a masters degree in computer science from the University of Western Ontario, where she conducted research under the supervision of Professor Marc Moreno Maza. Her academic training laid the foundation for her technical expertise and her commitment to making complex ideas accessible to learners and practitioners.

Alongside her engineering career, Alina teaches part-time as a LinkedIn Learning instructor, where her AI courses have reached more than 190,000 learners worldwide.

Guided by her long-standing motto, serving humanity with AI, Alina is dedicated to helping people use AI with confidence and purpose. She created the Pentagram Framework and the Five Rings of Responsible AI, two practical methodologies designed to help readers build trustworthy, effective, and human-centered LLM systems. Through her writing, teaching, and engineering work, she empowers people of all backgrounds to turn AI into a tool for creativity, problem-solving, and meaningful impact.