10 of the First Things You Should Try With ChatGPT

ChatGPT is dominating discussions in all corners of the tech world and beyond right now, and it’s easy to see why. Whether you’re interested in artificial intelligence tools or not, you no doubt have come across articles and posts explicating ChatGPT’s abilities and utility. If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself, but don’t know where to start, here are 10 easy things to try right now.

Getting started

Before you can try out the suggestions below, you will have to create an account to use ChatGPT. The free tier is good enough to get you started, but if you want to dive into the world of GPT’s API, you can upgrade to the cheap pay-as-you-go plan for faster and better results.

The tricky part is to learn how to correctly word your queries. Search terms that work for Google may not function correctly with ChatGPT. A good rule to keep in mind: Be as specific as possible with your questions, and don’t assume the AI will fill in the gaps.

Quickly convert time zones with ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a fast and ad-free way to quickly convert time zones. You can use a query such as, “If it’s 8 p.m. in New York, what time is it in India?” and receive a full answer like:

To answer your question, we need to know which part of India you are referring to since India has multiple time zones. However, I can provide you with a general idea of the time difference between New York and India.

India is 9.5 to 13.5 hours ahead of New York, depending on the location in India. For example, if it is 8 pm in New York, it would be:

5:30 am to 7:30 am the next day in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, and Bangalore4:30 am to 6:30 am the next day in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad3:30 am to 5:30 am the next day in Pune and Jaipur

Keep in mind that India also observes Daylight Saving Time (DST) in some regions, which can further affect the time difference.

(That’s an example of why specificity matters, but it’s all good info to know, I suppose.)

Ask ChatGPT for book recommendations

While ChatGPT can serve you book recommendations for specific genres, the real fun is in tailoring it to your own tastes. If you use a service such as Goodreads to track your reading habits, or you have a simple spreadsheet where you list and rate books you’ve read, then you can make the most of ChatGPT’s book recommendations.

As Medium user Sarju Thakkar notes, once you give ChatGPT your list of books and ratings, you can ask for recommendations. ChatGPT will base it’s recommendations off of the data you’ve fed it.

Use ChatGPT to plan your next holiday

You can use AI to help brainstorm destinations for your next vacation. If you tell ChatGPT your interests and budget, it will return some relevant suggestions.

You can try a query like, “My budget is $10,000 and I want a holiday in Asia involving adventure sports. I am based in New York. What are my options?” ChatGPT then offers five options and mentions the kinds of adventure sports available in all locations. You’ll need to do much more of your own research to actually plan a trip, but it can get you started.

Use ChatGPT to solve programming problems

ChatGPT is pretty good at writing and debugging code. If you are struggling with a specific bug or want to figure out the best way to write a certain feature into your app, throw the question to ChatGPT and it’ll help you out.

Micro.blog creator Manton Reece found that ChatGPT is good at giving you examples of using command-line tools such as rsync. If this type of use-case interests you, then you should also check out Phind, an AI-powered search engine for developers.

Use ChatGPT to write (or punch up) your resume

It’s tedious to create a resume from scratch, but not so much with ChatGPT. To get useful responses, though, you’re going to have to put in the work. In your prompt, you should share as much information as you can about your work experience and education. Then, ask if the AI model needs more information about you before it makes the resume.

After a bit of back-and-forth, your resume should be ready. However, there’s a risk involved in using AI for any sensitive work, since these tools are prone to error and hallucination. As such, verify each and every word ChatGPT generates. You don’t want to lose a shot at an interview because the AI added inaccurate or false information to your resume.

You can also define the length of the resume or CV in your prompt, and ChatGPT will stick to the limit. You can even paste your resume in ChatGPT and ask it to improve specific sections.

Use ChatGPT to summarise long YouTube videos

You can use the basis behind ChatGPT to summarise YouTube videos. There are a few tools to help you do this, including the Chrome extension Merlin, which cuts out things like the introduction, prompts to subscribe, and ad reads to get straight to the point. (Merlin works best with videos that support auto-generated captions or those that have subtitles.)

Merlin works well, but be aware of the potential privacy risks of using these types of browser extensions, since they can access all your data on all the sites you visit. While that permission is needed for the extension to use all of its features, it also leaves you vulnerable to data breaches should the extension get bought out by an unscrupulous person or company in the future.

You can also try tools such as Tammy, which doesn’t require you to install a browser extension. However, Tammy’s free tier is far less generous than Merlin’s.

Quickly create calendar events with ChatGPT

If you have an iPhone, leverage the power of automation and ChatGPT to quickly create calendar events from screenshots. For example, when you get a DM on Instagram, iMessage, or TikTok in which someone asks you to meet for a meal, you can take a screenshot and use ChatGPT to quickly generate a calendar event.

Reddit user /u/codenigma created this shortcut to do it, and you can check this thread to see how it works.

Solve maths problems with ChatGPT

When you’re tired of doing maths homework, you can throw the problem at ChatGPT to solve for you. This will save you some time in the short term, but it probably won’t help you pass your exams.

Use ChatGPT to discover new music

ChatGPT is also good at suggesting new music. If you’re ready to explore genres that you don’t usually listen to but don’t want to shell out for Spotify, you can use a prompt such as, “Suggest some progressive rock music for me.” You’ll receive plenty of albums to dive into — and you can always return to the AI language model for more recommendations after you find something you like.

Use ChatGPT to summarise long articles

When you come across overly long articles on the internet, you can use ChatGPT to get a quick summary. This will help you decide if you want to invest the time to read the whole story.

In case you need to skim through a large PDF, you can try a service such as ChatPDF to for a quick summary.