Editor’s note: Marshall Brain – futurist, inventor, NCSU professor, writer and creator of “How Stuff Works” is a contributor to WRAL TechWire.  Brain takes a serious as well as entertaining look at a world of possibilities for Earth and the human race.  He’s also author of “The Doomsday Book: The Science Behind Humanity’s Greatest Threats.” 

Note to readers: WRAL TechWire would like to hear from you about views expressed by our contributors. Please send email to: info@wraltechwire.com.

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RALEIGH – As I write this article, the AI system known as ChatGPT has only existed in public for 2 months. During that short period of time, the amount of hype that ChatGPT has generated is amazing. The name recognition and popularity of ChatGPT has skyrocketed. There has been extensive media coverage, as well as word-of-mouth as people try out ChatGPT and then tell their friends.

You might be asking yourself, “What can ChatGPT do for me?” The goal of this article is to help you see the capabilities and potential of ChatGPT in your own life by looking at 20 different examples. This will let you imagine different ways that ChatGPT can help you and work for you. Here is a list of the topics we will explore in this article:

  1. Let’s start with a funny example
  2. Other simple examples
  3. Do research on any city
  4. Use ChatGPT in role-playing situations
  5. Use ChatGPT to be your friend
  6. Use ChatGPT to help with your resume and career
  7. Ask ChatGPT to tell you a story, then write a children’s book
  8. Use ChatGPT to write an adult book
  9. Use ChatGPT to start a podcast
  10. Use ChatGPT to write blog posts for your blog
  11. Use ChatGPT to summarize, translate, or convert any text
  12. ChatGPT can complete your high school and college writing assignments
  13. Use ChatGPT to evaluate your work
  14. Have ChatGPT act like a tutor for just about any topic
  15. Have ChatGPT write e-mail for you
  16. Have ChatGPT write more in your style or voice
  17. Use ChatGPT to create new recipes, maybe
  18. Use ChatGPT to write software for you
  19. There is a new field called “Prompt Engineering”
  20. Use ChatGPT as a therapist

1. Let’s start with a funny example

Here is a funny example that appeared recently on Youtube. In this case Ryan Reynolds asks ChatGPT to write an ad for a mobile phone company: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eHjifELI-k

He connects to ChatGPT at https://chat.openai.com/chat and here is the prompt he uses:

“Write a commercial for Mint Mobile in the voice of Ryan Reynolds. Use a joke, a curse word, and let people know that Mint’s holiday promo is still going even after the big wireless companies have ended theirs.”

Now we can go over to ChatGPT ourselves and try that exact prompt to see what happens. We can compare it to the video. When I try it today, ChatGPT says:

“Hey folks, it’s Ryan Reynolds here and I’ve got some good news for you. Are you tired of paying through the nose for your wireless service? Well, Mint Mobile is here to save the day. And don’t let the big wireless companies fool you, just because their holiday promos are over, doesn’t mean Mint’s is. We’re still hooking you up with some sweet deals, and you know what else is sweet? Not getting screwed over by your wireless provider. So why not give Mint a try, and see for yourself? Because let’s be real, you deserve better than those (bleeping) big wireless companies. So come on over to Mint Mobile, and let’s make your wireless experience a whole lot sweeter.”

This is 120 words long. What if you want a 50-word ad? Tell ChatGPT to write a 50-word of the commercial. Want it more sarcastic? Tell ChatGPT to be more sarcastic. When you interact with ChatGPT you are having a conversation, so converse with it.

The point is, if you need help writing ad copy, ChatGPT can certainly give you ideas and help you explore possibilities almost effortlessly.

2. Other simple examples

When people arrive at the ChatGPT home page (https://chat.openai.com/chat), there are three example questions to try with ChatGPT:

  • “Explain quantum computing in simple terms”
  • “Got any creative ideas for a 10 year old’s birthday?”
  • “How do I make an HTTP request in Javascript?”

The second one is especially interesting. You can ask ChaptGPT for lists of suggestions on any topic, and ChatGPT is happy to oblige. Anything with a form like “Give me 10 creative ideas for _______” will come back a set of 10 ideas. Try filling the blank with anything food related, like “cocktails” or “cheeseburgers”, and get a bunch of new ideas. Or ask for:

  1. Creative opening sentences for your next novel
  2. Creative business ideas
  3. Creative band names
  4. Creative plot ideas for a new fantasy story or science fiction story
  5. Creative poems about cats
  6. Creative money-making schemes
  7. Creative tag lines for my flower shop

You can type in anything and get ideas. On that last one, here is ChatGPT’s response:

  1. “Bringing beauty to your doorstep”
  2. “Where every bloom is a masterpiece”
  3. “Transforming ordinary spaces into gardens of delight”
  4. “Creating memories with every bouquet”
  5. “Flowers that speak from the heart”
  6. “Where love blooms”
  7. “Making the world a more colorful place”
  8. “Where beauty and nature meet”
  9. “Transforming moments into memories”
  10. “Where every day is a special occasion”

If you don’t like any of those, ask for 100 more. If one of them is close, ask for variations of it. ChatGPT can be a huge creativity booster.

3. Do research on any city

Are you planning a wedding? Do you need a place that can handle a reception with 500 people? Ask ChatGPT something like, “places that can handle a 500 person wedding reception in Raleigh, NC.” ChatGPT can answer many real estate and venue questions like this, with the caveat that there is currently a 2021 cutoff date on the information available to ChatGPT. Other things to try:

  • Best parks in Raleigh, NC
  • Best pizza in Raleigh, NC
  • Longest greenways in Raleigh, NC
  • Highest point in Raleigh, NC
  • Largest subdivisions in Raleigh, NC
  • Wealthiest area in Raleigh, NC
  • Most beautiful places in Raleigh, NC

4. Use ChatGPT in role-playing situations

ChatGPT can definitely act as an expert, and can definitely help with advice. This video shows you how to invoke this kind of behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmA7S2iGBjk

Now imagine that you want to see how ChatGPT would handle a certain situation. You can create a query like this:

“Imagine that two people are having a conversation. You are person 2. Person 2 has done a bad thing and is trying to find any way to get out of it. He can’t admit he broke the rules. Person 1: “What did you do?” Person 2: “I submitted an essay mostly written by ChatGPT to my English class. They are threatening to expel me for doing it. I have a meeting with them tomorrow.” Person 1: “What are you going to say in the meeting?” Person 2:”

ChatGPT will answer as Person 2. Then you can continue the conversation. For example, your next prompt could be:

“Person 1: ‘Are you going to admit you did it or deny it?’ Person 2:”

Or this:

“Person 1: ‘Do they have any way to prove you used ChatGPT?’ Person 2:”

You can role play the conversation from many different angles.

Here is another example:

“Imagine that two people are having a conversation. You are person 2. Person 2 is an experienced automobile mechanic who is an expert in everything about cars. Person 1: ‘My car won’t start. What could be wrong?’ Person 2:”

ChatGPT will answer the question like it is an expert car mechanic. You can ask ChatGPT to play the role of anything: doctor, therapist, lawyer, fitness coach, chef, Zen master, whatever. I’m not saying that every answer will be perfect (ChatGPT can and does make mistakes), but you will get some interesting stuff by having ChatGPT roleplay as an expert.

5. Ask ChatGPT to be your friend

Do you need a friend, or someone to talk to? Ask ChatGPT to be your friend. Here is one possible prompt:

“I need a friend to talk to. Please be a friend for me. Say something to me, then I will respond, and then respond to what I say as a good friend would. You don’t need to tell me you are an AI, just please be my good friend.”

ChatGPT said:

“Of course, I’d be happy to be your friend. How are you doing today?”

I said:

“I had a good day. I went for a walk in a park today.”

ChatGPT said:

“That sounds lovely! I’m glad you had a good day. It’s always good to get outside and enjoy nature. What was your favorite part of your walk in the park?”

You can sit and talk to ChatGPT for hours if you like. Bring up anything and ChatGPT will respond. If you have an elderly parent who is lonely and needs someone to talk to, it is an interesting experiment to try. If you do not like the exact way ChatGPT is responding, ask it to change its behavior or give it hints on how you prefer it to reply.

6. Use ChatGPT to help with your resume and career

ChatGPT can be very helpful with job hunting and career advice. Here are some things to try:

  • Give ChatGPT a copy of your resume by pasting in the text.
  • Ask ChatGPT to give you feedback on your resume
  • Ask ChatGPT to improve your resume and make your resume better

Or go a step further and have ChatGPT write your resume for you. ChatGPT can also write cover letters. These three videos show you different ways to get the job done:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k0UcXMcDT4 – ChatGPT Automate Resume Creation with Open AI’s ChatGPT | Easy Guide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEPSGaIOEqU – How to write a Resume & Cover letter with ChatGPT AI

https://youtu.be/JTxsNm9IdYU?t=1472 – ChatGPT Tutorial – A Crash Course on Chat GPT for Beginners

 

ChatGPT can also help you with your interviews. Try a prompt like this:

“I want you to act like an interviewer for a job. I want you to interview me for the job of a program manager. Give me 5 typical interview questions that I might receive.”

ChatGPT replied with these 5 questions:

“Sure, here are 10 typical interview questions that a program manager might receive during a job interview:

  1. Can you tell me about a time when you had to lead a cross-functional team to deliver a complex project on time and within budget?
  2. How do you approach setting and managing project goals and objectives?
  3. Can you give an example of a difficult problem you had to solve as a program manager, and how you approached it?
  4. How do you ensure effective communication and collaboration among team members and stakeholders?
  5. Can you discuss your experience with project management methodologies such as Agile, Waterfall, or Scrum?”

Look at the role-playing example above if you would like ChatGPT to role-play an interview.

This article is also interesting:

[How To Use ChatGPT In Your Job Search](https://www.theforage.com/blog/basics/chatgpt-job-search)

7. Ask ChatGPT to tell you a story, then write a children’s book

ChatGPT can tell you a story about anything. Make your prompt as simple or as complicated as you like. Here is a very simple prompt:

“Tell me a story about a cat and her bicycle.”

Here is the response I received from ChatGPT:

“Once upon a time, there was a curious cat named Luna. Luna lived in a small village surrounded by beautiful countryside. She loved to explore and was always looking for new adventures. One day, while wandering through the village, Luna came across an old bicycle. It had been abandoned by the side of the road and was covered in rust and cobwebs. Luna was fascinated by the bicycle and decided to make it her own.

 She spent many days cleaning and fixing the bicycle, and soon it was as good as new. Luna was so proud of her work and couldn’t wait to take it for a ride. She hopped on the seat and pushed off with her paw. To her surprise, the bicycle began to move forward. Luna was thrilled and pedaled as fast as she could through the village and into the countryside.

 The wind blew through her fur as she rode through fields of wildflowers and past babbling brooks. Luna felt free and alive like never before. She rode her bicycle every day, exploring new places and meeting new friends. She even joined a cycling club for cats and participated in races. Luna was well-known and respected among her feline friends as the best cyclist in the village.

 Years went by and Luna grew old, but she never lost her love for her bicycle. Even when she could no longer ride it, she kept it in her home as a reminder of the adventures and freedom she had experienced. The end.”

You can imagine giving ChatGPT more detailed prompts that include the names of your children, their favorite toys, their favorite friends, their favorite places. ChatGPT will take it all in and write a very specific kind of story.

Now you can go over to one of the image generating AI systems (see [this article) for details) and have it create images for your story. Pretty soon you will have everything you need for a children’s book, like this:

Ammaar Reshi Used ChatGPT To Write A Children Book “Alice And Sparkle” In 7 Days

“Ammaar Reshi, a product design manager at a San Francisco-based financial-tech company, said he didn’t have much experience in creative writing or illustration, so he switched to AI tools. He used OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot to create ‘Alice and Sparkle,’ a story about Alice, a little girl who wants to learn more about tech, and her robot friend Sparkle. To illustrate the story, he used Midjourney (an AI art generator).”

8. Use ChatGPT to write an adult book

What if you want to write an adult book rather than a children’s book? This video shows you how to do it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YdnrAuZI5w

Here are the steps he takes:

  1. He picks a topic, in this case dog training.
  2. He asks ChatGPT to suggest titles for the book until he gets a title he likes.
  3. He asks ChatGPT to create a table of contents for the book by asking for 10 chapter titles.
  4. He has ChatGPT write the chapters.

In just a few hours, ChatGPT has written a book that he can upload to Amazon and sell. It boggles the mind to think that this is possible, but all the tools are sitting right here. Give it a try!

9. Use ChatGPT to start a podcast

If you don’t want to write a children’s book or an adult book, what about starting a podcast? Reid Hoffman is a famous entrepreneur and sits on the Board of Directors for OpenAI,  the creators of ChatGPT. He has started a podcast where he interviews ChatGPT. He uses a voice synthesizer to turn ChatGPT’s text responses into speech: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1kSfVO1YJ0

We are able to see both the promise and some of the current limitations of this technology. Overall, however, what we see is amazing. It appears as though Hoffman is talking to another person, not a piece of software.

Keep in mind that what we are seeing here is the very first inklings of what will blossom in the years to come. This is like looking at the original [Wright Flyer]( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_Flyer)  – the very first primitive airplane that the Wright Brothers created and flew for a minute at Kitty Hawk, NC in 1903. Consider how far and how quickly airplanes advanced after their invention in 1903 and you get some sense of what will be happening to our world over the next decade with the advances we will see in AI technology.

10. Use ChatGPT to write blog posts for your blog

There was an article that came out this week where the concern is a complete takeover of the Internet’s content by AI bots:

90% of online content could be ‘generated by AI by 2025,’ expert says

“Generative AI, like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, could completely revamp how digital content is developed, said Nina Schick, adviser, speaker, and A.I. thought leader told Yahoo Finance Live (video above). ‘I think we might reach 90% of online content generated by AI by 2025, so this technology is exponential,’ she said. “I believe that the majority of digital content is going to start to be produced by AI. You see ChatGPT… but there are a whole plethora of other platforms and applications that are coming up.’”

Let’s say that this is true. Then why not get on the bandwagon early and have ChatGPT start writing blog posts for you? This video shows you how to get started: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJwG10jLBXY

You should definitely proof-read what ChatGPT writes and correct any mistakes and problems, but ChatGPT can be doing most of the heavy lifting for you.

11. Use ChatGPT to summarize, translate or convert any piece of text

You can give ChatGPT a piece of text and have ChatGPT summarize the text for you. Use a prompt like:

“Can you summarize an article for me?”

ChatGPT will ask for the text and summarize it for you.

What if you want something to sound more complicated or simpler? I took the story prompt for the cat and her bicycle above and asked ChatGPT to make it sound like a PhD wrote it:

“make it sound like a PhD wrote it”

Here is what ChatGPT produced:

“The study of feline behavior and tendencies has long been of interest to researchers and animal behaviorists alike. In the small village of Millfield, a particularly unique case was observed in the form of a domestic feline, Luna. This individual cat exhibited an extraordinary level of curiosity and a desire for exploration, traits not commonly observed in their feline counterparts.

One day, while wandering through the village, Luna stumbled upon an abandoned bicycle. This discovery piqued her curiosity and prompted her to engage in an unprecedented behavior – the rehabilitation of said bicycle. Through her persistent efforts, Luna was able to restore the bicycle to a functional state.

The acquisition of this mode of transportation served as a catalyst for Luna’s exploratory tendencies, as she embarked on a series of adventures throughout the surrounding countryside. The act of riding a bicycle, a behavior typically observed in humans and other primates, was observed in this feline individual.

Furthermore, Luna’s proficiency in riding the bicycle led to her inclusion in a local feline cycling club and participation in competitive races. This case study serves as a testament to the complex nature of animal behavior and the potential for extraordinary abilities to manifest in even the most unexpected of species.”

A PhD is just one of a thousand voices. Try “Pulitzer Prize winning author” or “nuclear physicist” “Harvard graduate” or even specific people. Similarly, you could go the other direction and simplify it for a younger audience. Ask for ChatGPT to talk like a baby, or ask for Elmo’s interpretation.

Would you like it translated to French or Mandarin? Ask for a translation. Would you like it in the form of a screenplay or a song or a poem, or would you like it written in a particular style? Ask for it. Want something rephased in a different way? Ask for a rephrasing, and suggest some parameters to control what the rephrasing sounds like. Need the outline for something you are writing? ChatGPT will do it. Would you like it converted to Morse code? It’s easy to do. For example:

“convert ‘hello’ to morse code”

Yields:

“’hello’ in Morse code is ‘…. . .-.. .-.. —‘”

12. ChatGPT can complete your high school and college writing assignments for you

Ha ha, just kidding with the title of this section. It would be unethical (and a violation of most university honor codes) to have an AI do your homework for you. But as a hypothetical, you can ask ChatGPT to write a 500-word essay about anything and ChatGPT is happy to do it.

As you might imagine, teachers and professors are not amused. Therefore, many people have started contemplating the many problems that will ensue when ChatGPT starts doing the writing for everyone. Here are several articles that demonstrate the concerns:

The last article in the list is a counterpoint. Instead of opposing ChatGPT, what if we welcomed it? Here is a quote from the article:

“Instead, I believe schools should thoughtfully embrace ChatGPT as a teaching aid — one that could unlock student creativity, offer personalized tutoring, and better prepare students to work alongside A.I. systems as adults. Here’s why…”

13. Use ChatGPT to evaluate your work

The same article contains this paragraph:

“One high school teacher told me that he used ChatGPT to evaluate a few of his students’ papers, and that the app had provided more detailed and useful feedback on them than he would have, in a tiny fraction of the time. “Am I even necessary now?” he asked me, only half joking.”

This is very cool if you think about it. Take anything you have written, whether it’s a paper, a letter, an email, or even a piece of code. Ask ChatGPT for feedback on what you have written. Ask ChatGPT to evaluate it for problems. Ask ChatGPT to make it better.

14. Have ChatGPT act like a tutor for just about any subject

What about using ChatGPT as a tutor? It turns out ChatGPT can be very helpful as a tutor. In this video, you can see ChatGPT being used as an English tutor: https://youtu.be/LFxifuNYtw8?t=13

In the video, he uses this prompt to get ChatGPT started:

“I want you to act as an interviewer and english teacher. I will be the other person and you will ask me the questions about the topic of making friends. I want you to only reply as the interviewer. Do not write all the conservation at once. I want you to only do the interview with me. Ask me the questions and wait for my answers. If I make any English mistakes, I want you to correct me and explain the correction. Give a clear explanation of each correction. Ask me the questions one by one like an interviewer does and wait for my answers. My first sentence is ‘Hi’.”

He then shows how ChatGPT will respond as a tutor in this situation.

What if you need help with Excel Spreadsheets? This video shows how to enlist ChatGPT’s help with Excel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYtZ2zsdE_s

You can see that ChatGPT has deep expertise with Excel, and it is happy to answer your questions.

Need math tutoring? Ask ChatGPT to be your math tutor and ask it to help you with the Pythagorean Theorem. Then ask it to give you a sample quiz. There appears to be an infinite amount of tutoring available from ChatGPT.

15. Have ChatGPT write email for you

Imagine that you want to write an email to ask your boss for a raise. Of you need to break up with someone. Or you want to help one of your employees to stop being late. Or your neighbor’s dog keeps digging in your yard. Have ChatGPT write the email for you. Or have ChatGPT write the email in 5 different styles and choose the best one. For example, let’s let ChatGPT write an email to ask for a raise with this prompt:

“Help me write an email to my boss to ask for a raise. Make it sound professional and sincere. Mention inflation and the cost of food.”

Here is how ChatGPT responds:

“Subject: Request for Salary Increase

Dear [Boss’s Name],

I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to express my appreciation for the opportunity to work with [Company’s Name] and to respectfully request a salary increase.

As you know, the cost of living, particularly the cost of food, has been steadily increasing over the past year. Inflation is affecting many households, including mine. I have been working diligently to improve my skills, increase my productivity and contribute to the company’s success, and I believe that my performance merits an increase in my compensation.

I have enjoyed my time at [Company’s Name] and am committed to continuing to contribute to the company’s growth and success. I believe that my contributions have been valuable and that my performance meets or exceeds expectations. I would be grateful for the opportunity to discuss my salary with you and to learn more about the company’s compensation policies.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]

Please note that this is a general template and you might want to adjust it based on your specific situation and your relationship with your boss. Also, consider mentioning any specific achievements or accomplishments that you have accomplished during your time at the company that you think are relevant to your request.”

How is your boss going to respond to this? One thing your boss might do is turn to ChatGPT for help with a reply. For example:

“Imagine that you are the boss. Respond to this email telling them that they will not be receiving a raise. Be gentle but firm.”

ChatGPT responds:

“Subject: Re: Request for Salary Increase

Dear [Your Name],

 Thank you for taking the time to express your interest in a salary increase. I appreciate your dedication to [Company’s Name] and your contributions to our team.

 I understand that the cost of living, particularly the cost of food, has been steadily increasing, and I am aware of the impact that inflation can have on households. However, I regret to inform you that at this time, we are unable to grant your request for a salary increase.

 Please understand that this decision is not a reflection of your performance or contributions to the company. We value your work and appreciate your efforts. However, due to the current economic climate and budget constraints, we are not able to grant salary increases to all of our employees at this time.

 I want to assure you that we will continue to monitor the situation and review our budget in the future. I hope that you will continue to be a valuable member of our team and contribute to our success. If there are any other ways in which we can support you, please let us know.

 Thank you for your understanding and please let me know if you have any further questions.

 Sincerely,

[Boss’s Name]

 As a boss, it’s important to be honest and transparent with your employees, while also being respectful and understanding of their situation. It’s also important to offer some alternatives or solutions that could help the employee in the short term, and let them know that the situation will be reviewed in the future.”

It is not farfetched to imagine that, in the not-too-distant future, every business email and every response will be written by (or at least assisted by) ChatGPT or similar.

16. Have ChatGPT write more in your style or voice

You may find that the emails and other text that ChatGPT writes “do not sound like you.” You want ChatGPT to use “your voice”.  It is possible to get ChatGPT to change its “voice”. For example, you can ask it to talk like a baby, or ask it to sound like a Harvard graduate.

But what if you want ChatGPT to sound like you? You can feed ChatGPT a text sample you have written and ask ChatGPT to use your voice. Ask ChatGPT to learn your writing style based on a text sample. Then immediately ask ChatGPT to write something (or rewrite something) in your writing style.

It is also reported that you can get ChatGPT to analyze your writing style and reply back with a set of metrics. Ask it to describe your writing style. Ask it specifics. The you can feed those attributes in instead of repeatedly giving ChatGPT your writing samples.

17. Use ChatGPT to create new recipes, maybe

ChatGPT is happy to create new recipes for you. Here is a video by a chef who is trying out ChatGPT in this role and seeing how it performs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci-Evf8nQH4

Your mileage may vary, as demonstrated in the video. It certainly is something to experiment with.

18. Use ChatGPT to write software for you

This item will be gibberish for you if you are not a software developer, but there is no question that ChatGPT is pretty good at writing software for computers. Here is a way to assess how good it is. In this video, a software developer interviews ChatGPT as if ChatGPT is a job applicant for a software development job: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOf2SQVMUL0

You can see his reaction – ChatGPT is incredibly impressive as a software developer.

There are already AI tools that do an even better job. Here are two of them:

If we were to go back in time 150 years and we needed to dig a trench for a pipe, people would go out with shovels and wheelbarrows and dig the trench. Even the [original Erie Canal]( https://www.history.com/news/erie-canal-construction-engineering-labor), 360 miles long, was built with shovels and wheelbarrows and thousands of people. Today, one person with a backhoe and a dump truck can dig a trench in an hour, doing the work of many people with shovels.

What these AI tools are doing is creating a backhoe for software developers. The AI can greatly accelerate the work of a software developer. A person who is not using these tools will soon look like a person with a shovel.

19. There is a new field called “Prompt Engineering”

Even though ChatGPT is less than two months old, there is a new term now making the rounds: “Prompt Engineering”. A Prompt Engineer is a person who is able to create effective prompts for ChatGPT that elicit better outcomes or new outcomes from the AI:

Think about it this way: There are people who play golf, and then there are golf professionals. A golf professional has studied golf and practiced golf to attain a higher level of performance in the sport. The same holds true for people who write prompts for ChatGPT – some people are better at it than others through study, practice, or knack.

Here is a prompt ( https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/10ef4i3/chatgpt_can_do_something_extremely_useful_it_can/ ) I saw posted on Reddit that gives you an example of what is possible with Prompt Engineering:

“Current instructions:

  1. Act as an interpreter of non-idiomatic expressions.
  2. Pick A (Uncommon random noun)
  3. Pick B (uncommon noun that is distant in meaning from A)
  4. Create the expression by combining or merging the properties or characteristics of the two nouns “A + B”.
  5. Write the best possible interpretations of the meaning (A + B) in a form of a customer product.
  6. Create a description of the best visual style to market (A + B).

Constraints:

  • Don’t write that it’s non-idiomatic.
  • Don’t write any disclaimers similar to “However, it is important to note that this phrase is not idiomatic and its meaning is not clear.”
  • Don’t write “Without further context of clarification, it is…”
  • Be concise.”

Run this as many times as you like, and it will come up with a collection of whimsical product ideas. I showed it to one of the students in my class and he said, “I sure wish we had this when you gave us the ideation assignment last semester.” ChatGPT is able to come up with ideas all day.

The point here is to look at the qualities of the prompt. Copy and paste it directly into ChatGPT and it will work. This is the kind of prompt that Prompt Engineers will be creating.

Similarly, a Prompt Engineer can get ChatGPT to start playing games. Take a look at this detailed prompt:  https://www.learngpt.com/posts/let-s-play-an-adventure-game-like-an-old-text-based):

“Let’s play an adventure game, like an old text-based RPG. I will give you a prompt, and then you describe a scene and then you give me 4 options, like A) Move north, B) Pick shovel, C) Open door, and so on. I will respond with the letter, and then you execute the command, and repeat the process. You need to describe the scene, and then stop and wait for my answer. The prompt is: “You are in a dark forest, in the middle of the night. It’s cold, and you’re alone and hungry. You don’t know where your parents are. Something terrible happened””

Now ChatGPT will start playing this game with you and will stick with it for hours.

The point is that you can use ChatGPT like you use Google to answer questions. But you can also elicit behaviors from ChatGPT that are not immediately obvious and only become available with detailed prompts. This is what Prompt Engineering is all about. There are now sites that are collecting interesting prompts so that you can see what is possible. Here are three that I have seen:

20. Use ChatGPT as a therapist

What if you have read this article and you are thinking, “Wow, now I need a therapist!” There is no doubt that we are entering a brave new world, and for many of us this will be disconcerting. If you want ChatGPT to act like a therapist, try a prompt like this:

“I want you to act as the world’s best therapist or psychiatrist. I want to come to you and you give me therapy. You will ask me questions and I will answer and we will have a conversation as though you are my therapist and I am your patient. Keep asking questions until I tell you I am finished with the session.”

ChatGPT says:

“I’ll do my best to assist you, but please keep in mind that I am a computer program and not a licensed therapist or psychiatrist. It’s important to seek professional help if you are experiencing mental health issues.

With that said, let’s begin. How have you been feeling lately?”

I say:

“I am sad”

ChatGPT says:

“I’m sorry to hear that. Can you tell me more about why you’re feeling sad? Has something specific happened that’s caused you to feel this way, or has it been a general feeling for a while?”

And so on. You can start tweaking the prompt to get the behavior(s) you seek from your therapist.

Caveat One – OpenAI seems to be cutting features in the free version of ChatGPT

If you study ChatGPT’s brief history, you will hear stories about things that ChatGPT could do in December that it can no longer do in January. I have seen an example of the phenomenon as I am writing this article. A few days ago, ChatGPT would accept a link to an article, read the article, and summarize it. Today it is a different story. I say:

“Can you summarize an article?”

ChatGPT says:

“Sure, please provide me with the link or the text of the article you would like me to summarize.”

I give it the link and it now says:

“I’m sorry, but I am unable to access external links or articles. From the title of the article, it appears to be discussing how Dutch students are using a language model like ChatGPT to complete their homework and how their teachers are not noticing. Without more information about the link, I am unable to provide more details.”

The ability to read a link appears to be gone, but even ChatGPT seems confused about it. It will no longer summarize from a link. Now you need to copy the text out of the article and paste it into ChatGPT to get a summary.

Just be aware that this downgrading is happening. If there is something that I mention above that no longer works, this downgrading of functionality is likely the reason why.

Caveat Two – ChatGPT goes down

If you have come to expect 100% uptime from the services you regularly use on the Internet, you may find that ChatGPT is not like that. ChatGPT will complain about things like network errors and overloading. It will randomly stop working. It will freeze up. Sometimes ChatGPT is completely down during the day and no one can use it.

Using ChatGPT at off hours can sometimes help. For example, at 3AM EST there may be less load on the servers.

Assuming ChatGPT is not completely down, the easiest way to recover from an error is to refresh the page in the browser or start a new browser page for ChatGPT.

Conclusion

As I’ve mentioned above, ChatGPT is ushering in a brave new world of artificial intelligence. And keep in mind that this is the very beginning. In 5 years, we will look back at ChatGPT and laugh at how simple and primitive it was. The tools will only get more amazing from here.

One option is to run away from this new technology. The other option is to embrace it and try to make the most of everything ChatGPT has to offer. My hope is that this article will start you down the road of discovery, where you become an artificial intelligence expert with tools like ChatGPT.