by Jezra on June 14, 2023

The brand new know-how is terrifying…and terrific!

Taking ChatGPT Out for a Spin

Right this moment, I spent about an hour playing around with ChatGPT for the primary time. (Right here’s the superb YouTube tutorial I began with:)

Then I wrote a e-newsletter about it.

The e-newsletter briefly describes what ChatGPT is, offers a brief listing of issues it does, and ends with the Million Greenback Query, “Did ChatGPT assist me write this?” 

The Envelope, Please…

The reply is Sure. I used ChatGPT to assist me write the e-newsletter in 3 ways:

• I requested it for a self-definition (“What’s ChatGPT?”) that I edited/expanded.

• I despatched it to discover a quote for me. (It discovered the proper one.)

• I requested a phrase to substitute for “The $64Million Query.”

Every of those “use instances” was an opportunity to study extra about ChatGPT, following this recommendation from the tutorial above:

Be very particular and really clear with prompts; give plenty of suggestions; and be affected person.

That is tame ChatGPT stuff, however I used to be happy with the outcomes, and with how straightforward it was to select up fundamental rules.

And for individuals who need to know, I used the free model, not the extra highly effective model you can get for $20/month as I write this.

Behind the Magic Curtain

Should you’re all in favour of precisely how these interactions unfolded, hold studying. My prompts (the questions I requested ChatGPT) in all probability look clumsy to extra skilled customers, however they acquired me the place I wanted to go:

Getting a Definition

Though this appeared wildly round, I requested ChatGPT,

What’s ChatGPT?

The three paragraph response that I acquired from it was too technical for my functions, so the subsequent immediate I enter was

Rewrite that in two sentences, for grownup readers who are usually not significantly tech-savvy.

With apologies to my extra tech-savvy readers, this time the response was shorter and extra intuitive.

Discovering a Quote

For my subsequent immediate I wrote,

I’m a public talking coach and speech author at the moment writing a e-newsletter in regards to the impression of ChatGPT on these professions. My readers are well-educated, however typically non-technical adults. I would like your greatest quotes on creating one thing that devours or destroys its creator.

(The rationale I turned to ChatGPT for this data is that each one I might consider was Frankenstein, and that was approach off level).

It responded,

ChatGPT represents a strong software that has the potential to reshape the panorama of public talking and speech writing. Nevertheless, like several know-how, it’s essential for us to tread fastidiously, as we should be sure that we stay the grasp of this software, moderately than permitting it to devour or overshadow the artistic essence and human contact that defines our professions.

Candy, however not what I used to be in search of!

So I informed it,

Categorical that concept via a citation from a recognized particular person, with quotation.

ChatGPT replied,

Know-how is a helpful servant however a harmful grasp.” —Christian Lous Lange. Please be aware that this quote is attributed to Christian Lous Lange, a Norwegian historian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

I believed that quote was good, and really a lot doubt I might have discovered it alone. (Right here, I benefited from with the ability to clarify what I needed moderately than simply looking for key phrases.)

Counsel an Alternate Phrase

The third approach I used it was to discover a substitute phrase for “the $64,000 query.”

That phrase got here from a Nineteen Fifties TV present of the identical identify, and got here to imply “a extremely essential query.”

However whereas my era, the Child Boomers, understand it nicely, I requested ChatGPT to search out me one thing newer. , and it got here up with (A) the phrase “million-dollar query” and (B) a proof of why it’s akin to the primary phrase.

What’s Subsequent?

Now I ought to in all probability make some grandiose remark about what all of this implies for the way forward for public talking.

However my thoughts is totally blown, and as a substitute of pretending to grasp the implications right here, I’m going to lie down on the sofa and do one thing completely AI-free that solely exhausted people can do:

I’m going to take a nap!!