Quick answer
Good AI course builder brief settings describe a specific audience (who they are and what they already know), pick a depth that matches the result you promise, set the language your students read, and use extra instructions for tone, structure, examples and exclusions. A tight brief means a cleaner first draft; if it misses, change the brief and regenerate.
Key takeaways
- Describe a real student, not “beginners”
- Choose depth from the result, not the amount of material
- Set language for your students, not your source
- Use extra instructions to protect your voice and method
- Re-brief and regenerate if the whole draft misses
In this guide
- What does an AI course builder brief control?
- How do you describe the audience?
- How do you choose the right depth?
- When should you change the language?
- What should go in extra instructions?
- What does a complete brief look like?
- How do you judge the draft and re-brief?
- Frequently asked questions
- The bottom line
This guide answers one question from our main article Turn Your Knowledge Into an Online Course With AI (Courses.gg): how do you set the audience, depth, language and extra instructions so the AI course builder gives you a usable first draft?
📘 Main article: This guide supports our full walkthrough, Turn Your Knowledge Into an Online Course With AI (Courses.gg). Read it for the complete knowledge-to-course path.
Disclosure: Prodify Digital offers a Scale.gg bonus bundle and may earn a commission if you buy through our links. That does not change our assessment.
What does an AI course builder brief control?
When you add a source to the Courses.gg AI course builder, the brief settings decide what kind of course comes back. The same source can produce a beginner quick-start or an advanced deep dive depending on what you tell it.
There are four levers: audience, depth, language and extra instructions. Get these right and the first draft needs far less editing.
How do you describe the audience?
“Beginners” is too vague. Describe a real person: their starting point, their goal and what they get stuck on.
| Weak audience | Strong audience |
|---|---|
| Marketers | Solo coaches who post on Instagram but have never run an email list |
| Beginners | Café owners with no design skills who want to take online orders |
| Everyone | Freelance writers who already use ChatGPT and want repeatable client workflows |
💡 Tip: Include what the audience already knows. That stops the AI wasting your first module on basics your students skipped years ago.
How do you choose the right depth?
Depth is the difference between a weekend win and a full programme. Pick it from the result you promise, not from how much material you have.
| Depth | Use it when | Typical shape |
|---|---|---|
| Light / quick-start | You want one fast result or a lead magnet | A few short modules |
| Standard | You are teaching one complete skill | Several modules with a quiz each |
| Deep | You run a paid programme or certification | Many modules, chapters and topics |
The exact labels may differ in your account; the principle is the same. Smaller is usually better for a first course.
When should you change the language?
Set the language to match your students, not your source. A UK-English blog post can become a course in another language for a different market, and the builder writes the draft in the language you choose.
⚠️ Warning: If you publish in a language you do not speak, have a fluent reviewer check every lesson. AI translation can be confident and still wrong on terms your industry uses.
What should go in extra instructions?
Extra instructions are where you protect your voice and your method. Useful lines include:
- Tone: “friendly, plain English, no jargon”
- Structure: “end each module with a practical task”
- Examples: “use examples from small local businesses”
- Exclusions: “leave out paid-ads tactics; that is a separate course”
- Method: “follow my five-step framework in the order of the source”
What does a complete brief look like?
Here is a filled-in example for a course built from a blog post URL:
| Setting | Example |
|---|---|
| Source | URL of our best email-list blog post |
| Audience | Solo coaches with under 500 followers and no email list yet |
| Depth | Quick-start: one result in a week |
| Language | English (UK) |
| Extra instructions | Friendly tone; one action per lesson; end each module with a checklist download; skip advanced automation |
Working from a video instead? Our guide on turning a YouTube video into an online course outline covers preparing the transcript first.
How do you judge the draft and re-brief?
Read the draft as your target student. Ask three questions:
- Does module one start where this audience actually is?
- Is each lesson one idea and one action?
- Is anything here that I would not teach?
If the whole draft is off, change the brief and regenerate. If only one section is weak, regenerate or rewrite that part and keep the rest. You can always edit, rearrange or build manually.
Building your first course? Follow the full path in our main article. Keep reading on Prodify Digital or visit our bonus page.
Frequently asked questions
What are AI course builder brief settings?
They are the options you set before generating: audience, depth, language and extra instructions. In Courses.gg they shape how your source is turned into modules, chapters, lessons and topics.
How detailed should the audience be?
One or two sentences: who they are, what they already know and the result they want.
Can I change the brief after generating?
Yes. Adjust the settings and regenerate, or keep the draft and edit it manually.
Does the source type change the brief?
The settings are the same, but a topic-only source needs more extra instructions because the AI has less of your material to work from.
The bottom line
The brief is the cheapest place to improve your course. Spend ten minutes on audience, depth, language and extra instructions, and you save hours of editing the AI draft afterwards.
Related posts
- Turn Your Knowledge Into an Online Course With AI (Courses.gg)
- Courses.gg AI Course Builder: Turn Your Content Into a Course
- How to Turn a YouTube Video Into an Online Course Outline
