Personal use cases for ChatGPT and/or other LLMs

June 14, 2024 9:44 AM

I've seen a lot of use-case articles citing how ChatGPT can be maximised for work like marketing, writing, etc. But I want to know how you've used it in your personal life?

The examples I'm looking for are something like these:

1 - I asked ChatGPT to help me plan a 7-day itinerary around Singapore by giving it a list of places I want to go and their location, citing conditions (I have elderly parents with me, I don't want to be rushed, etc) - and it grouped locations together so I can concentrate on one area per day for example. It also cited activities that are logical and realistic to do within a day with the itinerary including time to eat and rest and where.

2 - I asked for help in a skincare regimen by giving it a list of skincare products I'm interested in and want to buy. It analysed the ingredients and identified which product would clash with which, and listed step-by-step instructions for morning vs evening routine.

I'm interested in surprising, unique, wow-I-didn't-think-it-could-do that type of use case.

posted by benimaru to Technology (29 answers total)

I asked a LLM to suggest a setting for an isekai TTRPG setting. The result was better than I thought it would be (though it borrowed a bit from Naruto for the "other world" background). I wouldn't use the setting as presented, but it did spark some other ideas. It's rather like a set of inspiration cards I have that can prod my creativity. I see LLMs as a starting point, not an end point.
posted by SPrintF at 10:04 AM on June 14 [2 favorites]

(Oh hell, posted by benimaru. I guess I didn't have to explain isekai to you. Sorry.)
posted by SPrintF at 10:05 AM on June 14 [1 favorite]

(Previously.)
posted by peppercorn at 10:06 AM on June 14 [1 favorite]

I have been very happy to use Chat GPT for my DND campaign. I have a tight schedule, so it's a real leverage point to get more out of the time I have.

Favorite Uses so far:

- Generating newspaper articles for the local paper, informing the players of local.
- Generating a speech from an invading lich king.
- Generating maximally confusing fiendish infernal contracts.

The errors Chat-GPT makes is kind of a bonus for the contracts - I've had my players catch loopholes in the contracts, and so gain advantage that they earn.
posted by justalisteningman at 10:08 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]

One of my teenagers uses it to generate lists of practice problems for tests. Things like "generate a list of 20 multiple choice questions on polynomial factoring, based on the new york state algebra curriculum. Put the answers at the bottom." Followed by "Generate 10 more problems like #8 above".

I mentioned this to someone in Tokyo and he later informed me that his spouse tried that (with success, other than the audio portion) for generating test questions for the language proficiency exam.
posted by true at 10:10 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]

I used it to help my partner write an email to their sister, who they often have a lot of problems communicating with, that removed all emotional language and to bring maximum clarity. It did a good job with that.
posted by Ashwagandha at 10:26 AM on June 14 [4 favorites]

I had it create a web page with embedded javascript to run a multi-period timer, configurable in a textarea, to help me pace myself in doing a last-minute project.
posted by amtho at 10:35 AM on June 14 [1 favorite]

Perplexity is a search engine alternative that summarizes search results, cites sources, and links to sources with LLM/AI tools. I am starting to use it for things like travel itineraries. It's also much easier to verify information since it links to it, and it's live.
posted by bluedaisy at 10:38 AM on June 14 [5 favorites]

Quick notes on greeting cards for coworkers I'm not that close to.
posted by cardboard at 11:21 AM on June 14 [4 favorites]

My partner works in a pretty small field and has been looking on and off for a new job, I have some scripts that scrape job boards and then use a LLM to compare the job descriptions to their resume returning 1 for a bad match and 10 for a good match.
posted by gregr at 11:44 AM on June 14

I enjoy just engaging in random chats with Pi.ai. The app is free and acts like your ever-cheerful, supportive buddy... or maybe even therapist.
posted by alex1965 at 11:48 AM on June 14 [3 favorites]

One of my teenagers uses it to generate lists of practice problems for tests. Things like "generate a list of 20 multiple choice questions on polynomial factoring, based on the new york state algebra curriculum. Put the answers at the bottom." Followed by "Generate 10 more problems like #8 above".

I'm a teacher who sometimes uses ChatGPT for brainstorming multiple choice questions for actual exams (as a starting point; the ChatGPT suggestions are often too easy), but if you want to use it as a student in this way, it is really important to keep in mind that the answer key it provides might just be plain wrong.
posted by sohalt at 12:06 PM on June 14 [19 favorites]

I'd like to second the sugggestion made above by @sohalt. I'm often surprised at the mistakes (hallucinations) made by AI apps. The mistakes can range from being obvious, boneheaded blunders to very subtle, hard-to-detect inaccuracies. You really have to be careful.
posted by alex1965 at 12:13 PM on June 14 [10 favorites]

I use it to teach me stuff I'm curious about. In my case - I have lots of questions about evolution that I find hard to google - How to plants evolve to have fruit? Why do organisms divide into species as oppposed to just bunches of individuals? It's really good at providing answers. I talk to it as I would a teacher - if I don't udnerstand, I ask it to clarify. Once it gives me answers, I usually have enough clarity that I can then google things to go deeper, and also to confirm whether the answers are right

Sometimes I use this using voice mode while I'm doing housework or stuff. So it's kinda like a custom podcast for me

Also: I do consulting for various organizations. I often ask it about the sorts of problems a client might face in an industry or role I am unfamiliar with. Most of the answers are of the variety of "oh yeah,that makes sense, I hadn't thought of that" - not the sort of things that are subject to the problems of hallucination
posted by ManInSuit at 2:43 PM on June 14 [3 favorites]

All recipe math. I take a picture of the cookbook page and have it halve or triple or whatever the recipe and generally also convert dry ingredients to weight in grams (since most of my US stuff is cups / tablespoons).
posted by hilaryjade at 3:12 PM on June 14 [3 favorites]

I used it to improve an email I wanted to send to a consultant who delivered a disappointing product. I uploaded my original and Claude.ai rewrote it. I tweaked a phrase and used Claude's version. Claude wrote that it actually liked mine and noted its strong points, but I used its version anyway. In this case I preferred its more corporate, biz-speak tone.

I just used ChatGPT this afternoon to suggest 6 points on a continuum for a professional rubric I'm creating, where I knew the endpoints but didn't know how to structure the middle. I worked on it for about a minute and then thought, wait! why don't I ask an AI? And AI got me over the hump. (I wasn't the person who decided on the 6-point scale structure; four points would have made more sense to me, but 6 points was what I was assigned from the volunteer work group.)

I know it's a writing case, but I think I've got a book in me and asked ChatGPT for a plot outline and synopsis. I also asked it for a syllabus for an online course I want to create. The results for both were underwhelming, but they're a start, which I'm sure is a stumbling block for many people; it is for me.

I've also used to it generate multiple-choice questions, about 25%-30% have been useful, but that's 25%-30% I didn't have to write, a huge time saver. I once asked AI to create the dialogue for a diversity and inclusion scenario for a course I was designing. I was astonished when one of the character's lines brought up a good "argument" I had not thought of.

On the other hand, I had dismal results when I asked an AI to create a PowerPoint presentation. I don't know if that was because my input was inadequate, my expectations too high, or a poor use case.

And oh yes! I have a toddler grandson in love with dinosaurs and heavy construction equipment and had AI create colouring book pages of dinosaurs operating backhoes, dump trucks, etc. My other toddler grandson is obsessed with audio speakers, and so AI created colouring book pages of Marshall stacks and other speaker setups. It was great to be able to type in refinements like "Add a hardhat to the dinosaur" and "Add more control knobs to the bottom speaker".
posted by angiep at 3:46 PM on June 14 [4 favorites]

There are now "custom LLMs" available on chat.openai.com that can help you on specific categories of problems, such as Resume and Cover Letter Writing, Youtube Script Copywriting, Plant Care, Creative Writing, Math Problems, Dating Profile Writing, and much more.
posted by kschang at 6:06 PM on June 14 [1 favorite]

One of my colleagues asked ChatGPT to create a meal plan with certain parameters (fish twice a week, vegetable-heavy, etc). The end result looked very reasonable.
posted by lulu68 at 6:47 PM on June 14 [1 favorite]

I've had good luck with all sorts of menu planning or food ideas. I have had good luck generating new meal ideas using a list of 20 meals my family likes and a list of preferences. I also had decent success asking for meal ideas for a group with what seemed to me to be competing dietary restrictions.
posted by mjcon at 7:20 PM on June 14

I have used it many times, including:
* medical information
* drafting basic agreements
* drafting certain business letters
* helping me understand differences in Spanish words I am learning
* holding a basic conversation with it in basic Spanish, to help me learn
* helping me troubleshoot problems with SQL or Google Looker Studio

I have also asked it about other AI developments.
posted by NotLost at 10:02 PM on June 14

i was intrigued about how an llm would respond if queried about its energy use. then unsatisfied with the answer.
posted by HearHere at 1:52 AM on June 15 [2 favorites]

Please please please do not use LLMs for knowledge acquisition, ESPECIALLY for things like evolution, where there is a so very much misinformation and disinformation out there, vacuumed up and incorporated by the models. Unless you are already an expert (and sometimes even then) it can be very difficult to sift the real information from the bullshit.
posted by rockindata at 3:39 AM on June 15 [15 favorites]

Ive used an AI as an alternative to a search engine for searches that go awry because the question includes the name of a different but famous person, or a word has been used for the name of some popular product.
posted by SemiSalt at 5:34 AM on June 15

I used A.I. to translate some medical referral letters and it did it instantly, with about 85-90% accuracy. I also used one for gift ideas.
posted by ellieBOA at 8:11 AM on June 15

I got ChatGPT to write a TamperMonkey script to automatically redirect Google search results to include the new &udm=14 parameter (and to strip out a lot of the incomprehensible extra parameters a tthe same time).

Later, I had it rewrite a Basic program to compute a recursive formula to as many digits of accuracy as I cared for. (de Vries' method for the fine structure constant at http://www.chip-architect.com/news/2004_10_04_The_Electro_Magnetic_coupling_constant.html , based on http://www.mrob.com/pub/num/n-b137_035.html ; 137.03599909582970048964740098248246498324725408221072828045341982363 5377532915082515164063679769614010005626 for the first hundred digits, if you're curious.)

The trick that seems to do me the most good is to take whatever its output is, and then restart the conversation asking variations of "Can you make this more professional and robust, without affecting the core logic?" and pasting its previous creation.
posted by DataPacRat at 10:10 AM on June 15

Multiple times a week for biochemistry experimental ideation and bioinformatics troubleshooting. If I paste not-quite working R or Bash code in the prompt and ask it to help me interpret error messages it usually gets me there. rockindata’s warning about the amount of noise and garbage information out there the AI could have sponged up is well taken, but conversely means that the drier the topic area, the more useful and consistent ChatGPT’s answers are in my experience. I do a lot of prompting about the types of answers I’m looking for, and have a profile set so that it knows my level of expertise, professional setting, programming languages of choice and the way I want answers to be formatted (entire code chunks vs snippets, runnable code vs pseudocode, etx).
posted by deludingmyself at 8:12 AM on June 16

I've listed the ingredients I have on hand and asked for ChatGPT to make a recipe from those ingredients with instructions.

(Most cooking doesn't come instinctively for me and even with the simpler stuff it's easier without guesswork about quantities and durations.)
posted by Warm Summer Night at 12:56 PM on June 16

I used ChatGPT to write a letter to my apartment management asking for compensation after some window blinds fell down and damaged my table. I got a response back from management that also seemed to be written by ChatGPT LOL - and I got my compensation!

I've also used it to write some Excel formulas. That was the kind of thing where Google search results were clogged with click-baity SEO websites that were hard to understand - ChatGPT just gave me the formula, no problem.
posted by airplant at 6:04 PM on June 16 [1 favorite]

I've used ChatGPT to write small python and bash scripts for me to use in my personal development projects. I know what I want from the script, and I could write them myself, but ChatGPT is simply faster at it than I am and doesn't need to spend time finding the right library or double checking syntax. They're not always perfect, but the time savings is incredible.

And then when I couldn't find an app online to quiz me on certain things without a lot of cruft and crap, I had it write me a quick web app to do that. It created exactly what I was looking for -- however as a software developer and manager by trade I'm used to giving specific requirements, so that probably helped. Either way, I was super happy with the result.

I've also used ChatGPT to help understand some medical situations for both myself and my dog. I feel like version 4o is much better at quoting it's sources than previous versions. Obviously I can't trust blindly, but i've found it's been a good place to start.
posted by cgg at 9:04 AM on June 19