Exercise 2: Find a City Service on Golden's Website
Golden's city website has tools for reporting everything from potholes to broken streetlights — but finding the right page often takes more clicks than it should. This exercise uses that as a starting point for a practical lesson: AI with web access can act as a navigator through websites you're not familiar with.
The task
Ask AI to find the pothole reporting tool on the City of Golden's website. Simple enough — but pay attention to how it gets there, and whether the link it gives you actually works.
Prompt
Go to https://www.cityofgolden.gov and find the link or form I can use to [service]. Give me the direct URL so I can click it.
Use an AI tool with web browsing turned on — Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot all support it. Give it the URL and let it navigate.
Check what you got
When AI comes back with an answer, verify it before you click:
Did it give you a specific URL? A good answer includes a direct link — not just "look on the city website under Services."
Is the link real? Click it. Does it load? Does it go to the right page?
Did it explain the path? Some tools walk you through the navigation steps, not just hand you a URL — that's actually more useful, because you can repeat it yourself next time.
If the AI gave you a vague answer, a broken link, or just described where to look without linking you there, try the follow-up below.
If the first answer wasn't quite right
Prompt
That link didn't work — it either went to the wrong page or didn't load. Can you go back to https://www.cityofgolden.gov, navigate through the menu manually, and find the correct place to [service]? Walk me through the steps and give me a link I can actually click.
When AI gives you a wrong link, push back rather than giving up. Telling it what went wrong and asking it to try again more carefully — navigating step by step instead of guessing at URLs — usually produces a better result. This is a broadly useful habit: describe the failure and ask for another approach.
Why this matters beyond potholes
The same skill that finds the pothole form can help you navigate any system you're not familiar with:
- Your county assessor's property tax appeal page
- The right Medicare enrollment form (not just the general Medicare site)
- A hospital's patient portal buried three menus deep
- A state licensing renewal buried under a dozen department names
AI as a navigator — pointing you to the right place in an unfamiliar system — is one of the most practical uses for everyday tasks. You don't need to know the site; you just need to know what you're looking for.