When ChatGPT first arrived at the scene, I felt terrified. It was light-years ahead of virtual assistants like Siri, Google, and Alexa, and it seemed like it would render my job obsolete, maybe even all jobs.
Fortunately, we now know that ChatGPT is just a decent chatbot and is far from being ready to replace real-world workers, let alone take over the world. Some have even swung the other way, claiming that AI-powered chatbots are new and ultimately useless gimmicks.
I won’t go that far, though. In fact, when I tried using ChatGPT in my daily life, I was surprised by how useful it was. It’s a tool, and like any tool, you need to know how to use it to get any value out of it.
Here are some real things I have done this year using ChatGPT and the various ways it has already helped improve my life.
ChatGPT Helped Me Learn How to Code
Is ChatGPT itself good at coding? That depends. If you ask most programmers if ChatGPT can do their jobs for them, they will emphasize how far we are from that reality so far.
But as a tool for guidance and assistance in understanding syntax, concepts, and other programming-related things? It’s not bad at all. So while developers at ChatGPT were working to improve their capabilities, I used ChatGPT to help me learn to code.
I’ve wanted to make a game for years, but hadn’t sat down and taken the necessary steps until 2024. I had learned BASIC as a kid about 30 years ago and dabbled in Python and Flash’s ActionScript in the early 2000s, but realistically I was tackling this as a complete beginner – and here ChatGPT proved truly useful.
After telling it what I wanted to develop, it helped me choose a game engine in Game Maker. Then, after creating some educational games, I started working solo with ChatGPT guiding me along the way.
If I didn’t know how to do something in Game Maker, it pointed me in the right direction. When I didn’t know the differences between an array and a DS map, it explained it to me. When I made fundamental mistakes in syntax that I couldn’t find, ChatGPT found them in seconds.
Of course, I also tried to make ChatGPT write code for me, but this is where I struggled. Often it executed things very inefficiently, or had too many comments, or it just didn’t work correctly. And even when it did the job, I – as a complete beginner – couldn’t understand how it succeeded, so when something went wrong, I could never fix it.
Now, after months of my programming journey, I don’t use ChatGPT much because I can navigate most issues myself. But when I can’t fathom how to create something (because I lack the programming experience to understand how to do it), ChatGPT remains immensely helpful. I ask it for three ways to tackle a problem, ranked by efficiency or style, depending on what I’m doing, and in this way, I still make all the big calls but also ask my little helper in the chatbot program to do some basic grunt work for me.
ChatGPT is a Great Roleplaying Partner
I love tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs). With a good group, it’s one of my favorite activities. Call of Cthulhu was my first true love, but with a child nearing a decade in age, Dungeons & Dragons is still a part of it, and I’ve dabbled in a few solo play sessions in different systems over the years.
But now I’m keen to run something new, and it’s been a long time since I’ve managed a game. Honestly, I’m a little nervous and feel out of practice. What can I do but grit my teeth and see how things go?
ChatGPT to the rescue!
I’ve always practiced roleplaying out loud before sessions, manipulating my character’s voices with accents or different inflections, and coming up with backstories on the fly just by seeing what I can pull out of my hat through improvisation.
But with ChatGPT, I can do what I do best – engaging in authentic interaction with imaginary players – and it’s actually very effective.
Using the advanced voice mode in ChatGPT, you can have seamless conversations with the chatbot and it does a great job of understanding any characters or personas you present to it. It can’t change its voice during the conversation, but it can play multiple characters and give them different vocal styles and ticks.
And while I haven’t tried this next idea myself yet, you can also have ChatGPT play a character in your game during a session. This could be great when someone drops out at the last minute and leaves a gap in your party, or if someone doesn’t want to play a certain role. ChatGPT isn’t perfect, but it can fill in as needed.
Related: A new report reveals how people are using ChatGPT
ChatGPT Answers My Kids’ Questions
I’m grateful to be alive at a time when my young children (ages 4-6) can ask me questions I don’t know the answers to, and I can simply say, “I don’t know, but let’s look it up!” before pulling out my phone and finding answers within seconds. What an improvement over going to the library or searching through an encyclopedia.
But there’s something missing in the modern process of information discovery. It’s nothing but staring at my phone screen for 30 seconds while they patiently wait beside me. And because I deliberately try to limit how much they see me staring at my little black mirror, this process is doubly hampered.
For this reason, I appreciate the advanced voice mode in ChatGPT, which can be a more fun and engaging way to answer our questions. We all sit and listen to the answer together – not just me searching for it and relaying the knowledge, but they discover it with me. It’s more intriguing and exciting in this way. It also allows my children to practice speaking clearly while asking their questions.
With this, you have to consider that OpenAI is likely collecting voice data of your children and the questions asked for algorithmic training, so I won’t use this for anything sensitive.
Additionally, there’s a chance that the answers could go over their heads or be completely wrong, so I won’t do this when I want to ensure accurate answers. Again, this could be a good opportunity to teach them to always verify their sources when it comes to information.
ChatGPT Can Be a Virtual Counselor
Like many people, I struggle with anxiety due to (hints about the state of the world), and I must manage it on a daily basis. I have sessions with a therapist, practice mindfulness, exercise regularly, watch my diet, and try to limit destructive scrolling whenever I can.
But that doesn’t mean I have my anxiety completely under control. It’s a constant threat to productivity, mood, gut health, so I’m always keen on trying new ways to manage it.
One of the things I’ve been trying is “talking” to ChatGPT. I’ve asked for help with mindfulness, had it walk me through breathing techniques, and even presented some of my more complex personal struggles for a different perspective.
I’ve found it really helpful to be able to select the chat with ChatGPT through text messages alone (when I don’t feel like a loud voice) or through quiet voice (when I don’t want others around me to hear me). The recently implemented advanced voice mode in ChatGPT has made it more accurate as well, and the therapist-like conversations aren’t impossible. In fact, ChatGPT sometimes seems genuinely caring. (Of course, it has no real emotions, but it’s still effective nonetheless.)
It’s somewhat strange to turn to artificial intelligence for human communication, and there are very real privacy concerns when using ChatGPT in this way. But I can say that this works for me, at least partially.
ChatGPT certainly doesn’t come close to the quality of a real therapist’s insight, and I don’t expect ChatGPT’s conversation abilities to be a singular replacement for the real social experiences we have with our fellow humans. But when I’m in a pinch and just need a little support at that moment, ChatGPT makes for a great substitute.
ChatGPT Researches Faster Than I Can
World War II has been a recent interest of mine, so I’ve enjoyed a lot of documentaries, videos, and historical podcasts on the subject over the past few months. And as with any major historical event, I can’t help but imagine a million “what if…?” scenarios that could have arisen if minor things hadn’t happened as they did.
If I were more academically inclined and had the time, perhaps I would do some actual research on such “alternate histories” and write papers that could be useful to others. In reality, it’s just a musing at the moment – and here’s where ChatGPT can be quite enjoyable.
I’ve asked ChatGPT to come up with alternative battle plans assuming a different general was in charge. What would have happened if Hitler wasn’t obsessed with taking Stalingrad? What if the Allies had entered Russia after defeating Germany? What if Churchill had heeded his government’s advice to surrender in 1940? What if the United States hadn’t stopped at possessing two nuclear weapons?
And naturally, these are all so complex that the answers can’t truly be known. But if I want to get a rough estimate of the outcome myself, I must do a lot of historical research and have a much better understanding of the subject than I do, that it would take weeks or months to delve into these questions even with a sense of accuracy.
ChatGPT could be an armchair historian enthusiast with instant accessibility. It may be wrong, but there’s no way to prove it, and it’s likely more accurate than anything I can come up with on my own. And most importantly, it’s the intriguing “what if” scenario that I can explore because ChatGPT has the knowledge repository to quickly generate an idea about what might happen. It may have happened.
I assume you can ask it to think of alternative futures as well, but that seems a bit much right now. I’ll stick to having it describe things that can’t happen. It’s much more comforting.
Further Reading: Cool things you can do with ChatGPT
