Practical and Easy Ways to Use ChatGPT
Explore the user-friendly nature of GenAI and how it can help you creatively and professionally
We are at a transformative moment with generative AI, and no clear instruction manual or road map exists for its use. While there are plenty of helpful tips online from early adopters, this field is evolving so swiftly that the insights shared may need to be updated frequently. In fact, this article might be greatly antiquated within the next six to 18 months.
However, there is a case to begin experimenting so that our generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) literacy can evolve along with the technology.
Today’s post aims to articulate the many creative and practical uses you can experiment with for current chatbots. I want to demystify and remove any intimidation about
GenAI models and reveal that they can be user-friendly. You don’t need a PhD in Computer Science to utilize GenAI. Of course, building a model from the ground up would take computer science expertise, but putting one to work is extremely accessible.
Chatbots like ChatGPT, CoPilot, Gemini and Claude are meant to emulate human thought. So if you are an educator, a parent, a manager, a reference librarian, a consultant, or anyone who works and interacts with people regularly, you’ll find it quite intuitive.
We’ll use ChatGPT version 4.0 as an example—one I’ve used for many hours and often refer to as the workhorse among chatbots. It is often dubbed the workhorse of the models. Unlike traditional search engines—like Google—large language models like ChatGPT understand a lot of the context, meaning, and intent behind requests. The more you use it, the more it will understand and tailor its production.
As a warning—evident on the tool itself—‘ChatGPT can make mistakes’—it shouldn’t be used to create anything that will go straight to publication. It’s an idea generator; imagine it as someone you’re collaborating with, but not as a trusted colleague or a specialist who knows the nuances of you and your business. Supervision is required.
Below, I will share examples from my months of experimenting with this chatbot and offer suggestions on how you can leverage ChatGPT in your daily tasks.
A writing assistant for mundane materials
To be clear, ChatGPT is not a better writer than I am—not yet anyway—but it can help me get started, particularly when I’m pressed for time and resources.
If I need to create a quick general correspondence, ChatGPT is extremely helpful. For example, if I’ve been asked to write a letter of recommendation, I can ask the chat box to give me an example of a letter for [name], telling me when they worked, what they did, and what particular skills and qualities I want to highlight. I’ll also ask for three versions of the letter so I have options for layout and can pick and choose from what I want.
This is a glance at that simple query, not using anything too personal for privacy's sake:
The nuances and the personal touch aren’t there, but getting started helps.
Remember that the more context you provide the model, the better the quality of the content you’ll receive. You can also upload the job description it is targeting to create more meaningful examples.
You could also upload former performance reviews for the candidate to strengthen the reference quality further. However, given that we’re still in the Wild West regarding privacy regulations around GenAI models, I would limit its diet of personal data. In an upcoming post, I will explore how we should develop policies in the workplace to ensure the ethical use of GenAI in the workplace.
A wordsmith prompt for creative materials
Most of my writing time includes content for which I’m excited and engaged with the creation process, though, like anyone, there are times I struggle to articulate exactly what I want out of a sentence.
There are also times when I’m struggling with a sentence. I’ll prompt ChatGPT, “Please generate five variations of this paragraph; write more assertively.” From there, I will get five variations that I will not cut and paste but use as ideas to craft my sentence.
One can also be more robust with their requests. For example, you can take a paragraph you’re working on, ask Chat GPT to produce 20 to 30 versions, and ask for variations in different tones for different audiences. Again, avoid cutting and pasting, but from reviewing the options, gather inspiration for your material.
Brainstorming lists and options
This is ChatGPT's pretty preliminary capacity, but it can easily generate quick shopping lists, to-do, book or movie recommendations, or travel and packing lists.
For this prompt, specify what type of list you need and provide any relevant background that might help shape a meaningful list.
I’ll replicate a similar prompt if I’m struggling with a title or headline for a report or document, I will feed my material to ChatGPT and ask for 10 headlines for the piece. I will not likely use a generated headline verbatim, but it will give me ideas and help me develop something quicker than I could alone.
A humorous but relevant example is when we used ChatGPT to quickly develop a name for a company softball team. Again, it needs supervision and insight. Dewey Decimators didn’t entirely embody the name of our Library’s team, but it was the most popular of the results amongst staff, and that’s what we went with.
Scheduling tasks & planning
Sometimes, I don’t have the patience for administrative scheduling and prioritizing tasks. However, I would greatly benefit from a prioritized to-do list where GenAI can assist.
You can enter your tasks, due dates and responsibilities into ChatGPT and ask it to schedule your week. It might not accurately place everything in order or estimate the exact time each task will take, but it’s a pretty good assistant if you’re short on resources.
A more fun use of ChatGPT’s scheduling and planning abilities would include asking it to make an itinerary for a trip. I prompted ChatGPT to give me an itinerary for a (hypothetical) trip to Lower Manhattan for the long weekend in May 2024. I emphasized that I was interested in food, art galleries and theatre. I entered parameters such as budget and time restrictions. From this, it generated a fantastic day-by-day itinerary of exploring specific neighbourhoods, accompanied by restaurant recommendations, art installations, and independent theatre. I would still explore options on the web and personalize my trip further, but it did give me a structured and reasonable schedule full of suggestions I would not have otherwise considered.
Quick analysis and synopsis
If there is a large report that you want to digest, but it is not important enough to read fully yourself, you can feed it to ChatGPT for a ‘Coles Notes’ like synopsis.
ChatGPT can be used to analyze large files quickly. Its capacity is very robust, but I’ve only used it so far for moderate-sized text or data files rather than video or audio files.
I would never advise allowing someone else—machine or otherwise—to read information you need to absorb and know. However, if you have a fifty-page report that you’d like to have just the key takeaways, you can upload that into ChatGPT.
While many of us are familiar with Excel’s ability to create queries and pivot tables to analyze large amounts of data, we sometimes want a quick reminder. ChatGPT does have the option to download large CSV files and have the data analyzed.
For experimental reasons only, I tested its capabilities by looking at an older data file of 20,000 online ebooks and audiobook titles licensed through a library platform. It included columns such as titles, publishers, BISAC headings, licensing models, number of checkouts, cost per item, etc. I ran several requests: What BISAC type is the most popular? What lending model is most cost-effective? What is the cost per-circ for each lending model?
Cross-referencing by running the actual pivot tables - ChatGPT’s analysis of the data was accurate.
In conclusion, it’s important to recognize that we are just scratching the surface of its possibilities, which will evolve as we explore the technology. What you get out of GenAI involves your experience and literacy with the technology. I encourage you to experiment and explore but to balance its convenience with critical oversight.
Useful articles:
17 Tips to Take Your ChatGPT Prompts to the Next Level
The Dos and Donts of Using ChatGPT in Your Daily Life