First up - let’s get access to ChatGPT.
You can use ChatGPT from either your computer or your phone.
Use whatever you have handy right now.
I personally use both my computer and phone to access ChatGPT - you’ll very likely want it on all your devices too once you’ve seen how powerful it is.
If on a phone get the ChatGPT app from App Store or Play Store.
If you are on a computer head to https://chat.openai.com/auth/login
All are free but you’ll need to register for an account.
Once you are logged in you’ll be at a screen like this:
Yours may look different - OpenAI are always makes changes and additions.
The main elements here are:
The message input box
ChatGPT’s response area
A slider to switch modes
Some suggested intro inputs
For the next bit don’t just read,
Follow along. It’s critical that you get used to talking to the ChatGPT interface and the only way you can do so is by doing it.
You don’t learn to drive by reading a car maintenance manual. Likewise you won’t learn ChatGPT reading this - you need to go follow along.
The message input box (1) is the main way we interact with ChatGPT.
Go ahead and say “Hi, my name is …” and introduce yourself.
At it’s heart ChatGPT is about…well, chat.
It’s right there in the name.
This is what’s super exciting about AI - it’s about chatting to computers, not about complex code and mathematics.
If you know how to chat using WhatsApp you know how to talk to ChatGPT and other AIs.
Let’s give ChatGPT something to do. I’m writing this a bit hungry (mistake) and need to think about my dinner later.
I can ask for some recipe recommendations.
I ask for a general recipe.
That’s obviously not enough information. If I said that to a human they’d ask me what sort of recipe.
ChatGPT does exactly the same - it asks for more context. It asks “what are you in the mood for?”
I reply Thai and this is enough for ChatGPT to make a judgement call and provide me with a recipe for pad thai. I’ve cut off the rest of the recipe and instructions for brevity.
That’s all well and good but I could have just gone on Google and searched “pad thai recipe” and got something similar.
Let’s instead push ChatGPT and see what else it can do.
Let’s say that I’m feeling lazy (not untrue). I don’t want to go to the supermarket to fetch tamarind paste and all the other ingredients.
Instead I look through my cupboard and see what I already have.
I feed this into ChatGPT:
I’ve given it a weird mixture of foods here. If ChatGPT was stupid I might end up with fish sauce on my cornflakes. Let’s see how it does.
Boom!
Fried aubergine rice in a yummy sauce.
And a desert of bananas with chocolate chips and cornflakes. Yum
What we just did we could not ever do with Google. We just moved from standard information retrieval to creating a new recipe based on what we have in the cupboard.
We used intelligence - the sort of intelligence a good cook has which allows them to rustle up a delicious meal with whatever they have on hand.