10 First Things You Should Try With ChatGPT
ChatGPT is now dominating discussions in every corner of the tech world and beyond, and it’s easy to see why. Whether you’re interested in AI tools or not, you’ve no doubt come across articles and posts explaining the power and usefulness of ChatGPT. If you want to try it yourself but don’t know where to start, here are 10 easy things to try right now.
Beginning
Before you can try the suggestions below, you need to create an account to use ChatGPT . The free tier is good enough to get you started, but if you want to dive into the world of the GPT API, you can upgrade to a cheap pay-as-you-go plan for faster and better results.
The difficulty lies in learning how to formulate queries correctly. Search terms that work for Google may not work correctly with ChatGPT. A good rule to keep in mind is to ask as specific questions as possible and don’t expect artificial intelligence to fill in the blanks.
Quickly convert timezones with ChatGPT
ChatGPT is a quick, ad-free way to quickly convert time zones. You can use a query such as “If it’s 8 pm in New York, what time is it in India?” and get a complete response like:
To answer your question, we need to know which part of India you are referring to as there are multiple time zones in India. However, I can give you a general idea of the time difference between New York and India.
India is 9.5 to 13.5 hours ahead of New York, depending on location in India. For example, if it’s 8 pm in New York, this would be:
from 5:30 to 7:30 the next day in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Bangalore from 4:30 to 6:30 the next day in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad from 3:30 to 5:30 the next day to Pune and Jaipur
Keep in mind that India also observes Daylight Saving Time (DST) in some regions, which can further affect the time difference.
(This is an example of why specificity matters, but I think it’s useful information.)
Ask ChatGPT for book recommendations
While ChatGPT can recommend books for certain genres, the real pleasure lies in tailoring it to your own tastes. Whether you use a service like Goodreads to track your reading habits, or have a simple spreadsheet that lists and rates the books you’ve read, you can make the most of ChatGPT’s book recommendations.
As Medium user Saryu Thakkar notes , once you provide ChatGPT with your list of books and ratings, you can request recommendations. ChatGPT will base its recommendations on the data you provide to it.
Use ChatGPT to plan your next vacation
You can use AI to brainstorm places for your next vacation. If you tell ChatGPT about your interests and budget, it will return several suitable offers.
You can try this query: “My budget is $10,000 and I want to take an extreme sports vacation in Asia. I live in New York. What options do I have? ChatGPT then comes up with five options and mentions the adventure sports available in all locations. You’ll need to do a lot more of your own research to actually plan your trip, but it can get you started.
Use ChatGPT to solve programming problems
ChatGPT is pretty good at writing and debugging code. If you’re struggling with a specific bug, or want to figure out the best way to add a specific feature to your application, ask a question on ChatGPT and it’ll help you out.
Micro.blog creator Manton Rees found that ChatGPT is good at giving you examples of using command line tools like rsync. If this type of usage interests you, you should also check out Phind , a search engine for AI-powered developers.
Use ChatGPT to write (or print) your resume
Building a resume from scratch is tedious, but with ChatGPT it’s not that hard. However, to get useful answers, you will have to work hard. In your invitation, you should include as much information as possible about your work experience and education. Then ask if the AI model needs more information about you before it writes a resume.
After a little tinkering, your resume should be ready. However, the use of AI for any confidential work comes with risks, as these tools are prone to error and hallucinations . Thus, check every word that ChatGPT generates. You don’t want to miss an interview because AI added inaccurate or false information to your resume.
You can also specify the length of your resume or CV in your invitation and ChatGPT will adhere to the limit. You can even paste your resume into ChatGPT and ask him to improve certain sections.
Use ChatGPT to summarize long YouTube videos
You can use the ChatGPT framework to summarize YouTube videos . There are several tools to help you do this, including the Merlin Chrome extension, which cuts out things like the introduction, the invitation to subscribe, and the ad-reading to get straight to the point. (Merlin works best with videos that support auto-captions or have subtitles.)
Merlin works well, but be aware of the potential privacy risks when using these types of browser extensions as they can access all of your data on all the sites you visit. While this permission is necessary for the extension to use all of its features, it also leaves you vulnerable to data leakage if the extension is purchased by an unscrupulous person or company in the future.
You can also try tools like Tammy , which don’t require you to install a browser extension. However, Tammy’s free tier is far less generous than Merlin’s.
Quickly create calendar events with ChatGPT
If you have an iPhone, use the power of automation and ChatGPT to quickly create calendar events from screenshots. For example, when you receive an Instagram, iMessage, or TikTok message that someone invites you to dinner, you can take a screenshot and use ChatGPT to quickly create a calendar event.
Reddit user /u/codenigma created this shortcut to do this, and you can check out this thread to see how it works.
Solve math problems with ChatGPT
When you get tired of doing your math homework, you can drop a problem in ChatGPT to solve it for you. This will save you some time in the short term, but probably won’t help you pass your exams.
Use ChatGPT to find new music
ChatGPT is also good at offering new music. If you’re ready to explore genres you don’t normally listen to but don’t want to shell out for Spotify, you can use a prompt like “Suggest me some progressive rock music.” You’ll get plenty of albums to dive into, and you can always go back to the AI language model for more recommendations once you’ve found something you like.
Use ChatGPT to summarize long articles
When you come across too long articles on the web, you can use ChatGPT to get a summary. This will help you decide if you want to take the time to read the entire story.
If you need to view a large PDF, you can use a service like ChatPDF to get a quick overview .