How ChatGPT’s Artificial Intelligence Really Improves My Life

Since launching on November 30, I’ve heard non-stop hype about Open AI’s chatbot, ChatGPT.

Most of the hoopla seems to be about two things:

• Is it the next step toward AI changing the world?
• How can you use it to make “easy” money?

I listened the the chatter.

I thought, “That’s nice.”

Then I continued on with my real, AI-free life.

Because when it comes to riding hype trains, I prefer to wait to see if it doesn’t crash. And when it comes to chasing quick bucks, I’m “financially introverted.”

Four weeks later, I was still being bombarded with ChatGPT chatter. And I’d just finished leading the December “Advent-ure Calendar”, where I surprised 180 people with a new comfort-zone-jolting challenge for 24 straight days. That put me in the mood to keep trying new things.

So I relented.

On December 28, I gave ChatGPT a test ride.

And I gotta say, unlike Pokemon Go or NFTs, this hype machine was worth hopping onto!

The intelligence may be artificial, but the benefits it could have on my life are real. 

Here are four practical ways I’ve found that it can do so, and a challenge to you.

1. Use ChatGPT as your diplomat.

I wish I had ChatGPT back in my post pretirement days when the partnership of my frozen blueberry export business was falling apart.

…or when my hostel partnership got rocky.

…or when my insect butter and protein start-up partnership was sputtering.

Yikes.

I have a problem with partnerships!

Am I a horrible, selfish prick? I like to think not. But maybe I come off that way?

So what if I enlist ChatGPT as an extremely intelligent and unemotional diplomat to communicate on my behalf?

Before sending a potentially charged email, Slack message, or a letter written in red ink, I’ll pass it through ChatGPT.

Let’s try:

Way better!

Now only if I can find a way to have ChatGPT step in between heated arguments in my only partnership that has yet to fall apart: my relationship with Kim.

2. Use ChatGPT as a defense against closed-mindedness.

ChatGPT is my dream debate partner:

• It is undeniably more knowledgeable than me, so I don’t feel compelled to one-up it.
• It’s a faceless algorithm, so I don’t have to worry about saving face when it makes me look silly.
• It’s not woke, so I can chat filter-free without worrying that it will take offense and go tell others to “cancel” me.
• Unlike me, it has no ego and minimal bias.

So I can use ChatGPT to challenge my own biases without harming my own ego.

For example, I believe anyone who took offense to being called a “sea anemone” in my last Consider This is clearly a sea anemone who needs to stop being so defensive and toughen up.

Can ChatGPT convince me otherwise?

In this case, ChatGPT barely budged my stubborn belief. But it broadened my perspective and helped me come up with a less-aggressive stance:

“Self-care” poses the danger of making us too soft, so we should work harder on practicing “self-compassion.”

I suspect this approach would be more successful at getting my “push yourself” message past the sea anemone’s tentacles.

3. Use ChatGPT as a GPS.

I’m struggling to decide whether or not I should give a go at developing a Twitter presence.

Among the potential upsides, I could:

• Connect with more “creators” like me.
• Have a new source of ideas and feedback.
• Build some credibility.
• Reach a new audience of non-sea anemones.

But the risks are high, too:

• Twitter would take a huge investment of my time.
• I resent playing in social media popularity contests.
• I could fail despite my efforts.
• and Elon Musk’s tinkering might blow it up.

My butt’s starting to hurt from sitting on the fence for so long. I need to stop wasting mental energy deliberating and make a decision.

Enter ChatGPT.

What happens if I copy-paste the above into ChatGPT and see what it suggests?

ChatGPT’s response wasn’t helpful:

So I asked it to try again, this time responding as if it were a business coach. This began a conversation that led me to make my decision:

I’m going to try.

Not now, though. I need to prioritize finalizing my new website. But as soon as that’s going well, and presuming no better opportunities come up in the meanwhile, I will make the plunge into the murky waters of Twitter.

Another point in favor of giving Twitter a try? I can use ChatGPT to convert my existing content into tweets.

Like this post!

Let’s see what happens when I copy-paste everything into ChatGPT and ask it to summarize it into a Twitter thread:

4. Use ChatGPT to do something new.

ChatGPT is free to play around with and super easy to sign up for. So why did it take me a month of hearing one rave review after the other before I finally checked it out?

Am I becoming more and more of a Luddite as I age?

Probably.

Is it because my unconventional nature leads me to instinctively resist following the crowds?

Partially.

Is my curiosity and creativity (in terms of hearing about ChatGPT and sparking ideas on how to use it to my benefit) waning?

I hope not.

Whatever the case, I’m glad I finally gave in and gave ChatGPT a try. It:

• Inspired me to come up with these practical ways to use it as a tool to improve my life.
• Helped me understand what everyone else is talking about and participate in the discussion.
• Gave me something fun to write about.

More generally, it was something new to try. And the more I try new things, the more I’m encouraged to keep at it.

My Challenge To You

If you’ve yet to try ChatGPT:

Give it a shot!

Click here to login.

The more you believe ChatGPT can’t genuinely improve your life, the more you can benefit from giving it a shot.

Sure, going hiking with friends would improve your life even more than chatting with an algorithm. But I’m sure you can find the time to do both. You found the time to read this far, after all.

I can’t think of any good reason why you wouldn’t at least try ChatGPT once. So I asked ChatGPT to help me:

I don’t see any good reasons there.

If you’ve already tried ChatGPT:

You’re more advanced, so I have not just one but two challenges for you:

1. Try using ChatGPT for the reasons I’ve shared here.
2. Respond to me with your own ideas on how to use it to genuinely improve my life.

Until next time!

Chris

PS: Here’s ChatGPT’s own answer to how it can improve your life. If you like it better than mine, maybe you can improve your life by using ChatGPT instead of reading my posts!