Possible uses of AI that are not related to work
Possible uses of AI for me
There’s no question: AI can make the lives of workers easier and more productive—whether it’s to summarize long documents, generate slideshows, analyze speaker notes, or something much more advanced.
Brainstorming and Getting out of Writer’s or Programmer’s block
This works for all kinds of brainstorming. You could ask it for a list of party themes, for example. Most of the ideas will be bad, or at least a little cringe, but something you get might be interesting enough to be worth building on. If you need a bunch of ideas, fast, asking ChatGPT for a list might be just enough to get you started.
Recommending headlines
I hate writing headlines. I spend hours crafting an article but most people will only ever see the few words I choose to put at the top. That’s why I’ll sometimes spend as much time on the headline and the first paragraph of an article as on the rest of the article combined.
ChatGPT can help here. When I feel stuck, I have started to ask the bot to recommend headlines for articles. I typically give it a few paragraphs of the article and ask it for a list of headlines recommendations. Most of what it gives me is bad, or cliche. A few ideas are alright. I will never use any of these ideas verbatim, but sometimes they’ll point me in a direction I hadn’t thought of. I don’t do this every, or even most, times that I’m writing a headline. It’s simply a nice tool to have on hand when I feel stuck.
Changing Your Tone
Some people struggle with being assertive while writing a request. Others have a hard time being diplomatic. ChatGPT is really useful here. You can paste an email or message you wrote and ask for a different tone. For example, you could paste something that you know is wishy-washy and ask for a more assertive version, or paste something that sounds stuffy and ask to make it more casual.
This is going to feel weird, and I don’t recommend you simply send whatever the bot gives you, but as I said in the previous section, the changes made by ChatGPT might help you notice how your writing comes across and give you ideas about how to change it. You can also use the service as a crude copy editor, in much the same way: Just ask the bot to clean up your writing or to point out any mistakes. It won’t work perfectly, granted, but you’ll get a few useful suggestions.
Coming Up With Fake Names
Making stuff up is one thing we know AI is good at with absolute certainty. That’s why, if you need a convincing list of fake names, ChatGPT is a great place to start. I’ve used this while testing software, where I ask for a list of fake names and addresses to paste into a spreadsheet. It’s great at producing dummy data.
Alternatively, you could use this if you’re writing a work of fiction or naming a character in a game: Just ask for a long list of fake names and use any that you like. I’ve heard this is invaluable for Dungeon Masters who design their own campaigns. Ask for a list of Dwarven or Elvish names and you get several plausible examples.
Looking Up Keyboard Shortcuts or Spreadsheet Formulas
One area where large language models work well is looking up specific things to do with your computer. For example, if there’s a keyboard shortcut you know exists but can’t remember, asking ChatGPT can get you the answer instantly. The same goes for formulas in spreadsheet software like Excel or Google Sheets—you’ll typically even get a guide on usage if you do this. This also works for Terminal commands. Yes, you could Google these things, but it’s an example of something that’s sincerely faster to do with ChatGPT and similar services.
Cooking and Grocery Shopping
Get Recipe Ideas for Ingredients You Already Have
Snap a picture of the random ingredients left in your fridge and get 10 recipes that you can make with them. You can turn around and have it plan meals for a week. Ask LLMs for recipes that use ingredients you already have. For example, say your pantry is stocked with rice, olives, tomatoes, beans, and canned tuna. If you feed this list to LLMs and ask for fitting recipes, they will spit out several you can try. Suggestions can look like this: Mediterranean tuna rice bowl, Spanish-inspired tuna & bean rice skillet, and tuna & olive stuffed tomatoes.
Meal Plan with ChatGPT
Meal planning is deciding in advance what meals to eat over a specific period, usually a week. This helps you be intentional about what you eat and know what ingredients to buy.
However, meal planning can be tedious work. Let ChatGPT do the heavy lifting for you by asking it to make a meal plan within criteria you set. For example, ask for a budget-friendly week-long meal plan that follows your dietary restrictions, excludes foods that aren’t in season (they tend to be more expensive), and is enough for the number of people in your household. You can also ask ChatGPT to incorporate leftovers and batch cooking to simplify meal prep.
Have ChatGPT Write Out a Grocery List
Before heading to the grocery store, it’s smart to prepare a grocery list. That way, you have a clear objective and are less likely to buy anything you don’t need (or forget items you do).
But instead of manually adding up ingredients from different recipes, have ChatGPT create a custom grocery list based on your meal plan. It can be based on the list of recipes it generated or those you shared with it. Either way, it can give you a complete grocery list for your next shopping run.