By Rob Waugh Tech Correspondent for Dailymail.Com
18:34 March 22, 2023, updated 19:42 March 22, 2023
Launched last November, ChatGPT has taken the world by storm unlike any other technology since the dawn of smartphones.
You’ve probably seen examples on social media of the AI providing eerily human responses to obscure prompts – but the chatbot can actually be used to perform a large number of basic day-to-day tasks that could save you time – and money.
It’s easy (and free) to use ChatGPT and can be used for everything from writing job reports to creating meal plans to helping with job applications.
Whether you want to use it on a desktop, tablet or mobile, DailyMail.com will walk you through the application with a step-by-step guide below:
Started
ChatGPT (it stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a “grand language model” that can provide convincing, human-like answers to almost any question.
There are currently no mobile or desktop applications for the chatbot (be warned, there are many fake apps claiming to be ChatGPT, so avoid them at all costs).
Instead, you access it through your browser – Chrome, for example – on a phone, desktop PC or Mac via the creator’s website OpenAI, which you can visit here.
To use it, you need to set up an OpenAI account. The easiest way to do this is to sign in with a Google account, but you can also choose to set up your own email address and password.
In either case, you will need to authenticate using a mobile phone number – this will then be associated with that OpenAI account (and you will not be able to set up any other accounts with that number).
Once you’ve done that, you can sign in with that account either on your smart device or on a PC or Mac (bookmark the page at this point).
The difference between free and paid accounts
Note that ChatGPT is currently in high demand, so the service occasionally goes down.
But ChatGPT usually writes a poem or promotional script about not being there, so at least the error message is entertaining.
To guarantee access at all times, you can opt for a $20 monthly subscription to ChatGPT Plus, but you don’t have to.
Those with a Plus membership have the option of faster response times, priority access to new features, and access even during peak times when it’s unavailable to others.
Once you’re “in” you’ll be greeted by an empty chat box for you to type in – this is where you can interact with ChatGPT.
How to give him prompts: the basics
Although the technology underlying ChatGPT can handle input in the form of images (i.e. it can say what is funny about an image, for example), the current ChatGPT version cannot do this yet, so you have to “talk” to ChatGPT via SMS .
It was designed to respond to “normal” speech, so the best way to communicate it is as if you were chatting with a person online, rather than using computer commands.
For example, ask the app, “Tell me a joke about toothbrushes,” and it will do it. But be warned, the jokes aren’t always great.
ChatGPT can understand long and detailed prompts. So, for example, if you’re asked to write an email, you can specify “polite and factual” and it will change the style of the text accordingly.
Or you can specify a specific word count or target audience—for example, “design for a five-year-old to understand.”
If you need text in a specific format (e.g. a cover letter, email, tweet or similar), ChatGPT will happily output the text in that format.
Just as examples, these are inputs that ChatGPT will understand.
Explain what’s inside a black hole in terms a 10-year-old could understand
Summarize the novel A Tale of Two Cities in 10 bullet points of 20 words each
Write a polite but firm letter to City Hall complaining about air pollution
Write a series of increasingly angry Elon Musk-style tweets
Write Dolly Parton-style lyrics about a talking German Shepherd running away
You can also ask follow-up questions or engage in dialogue on a specific topic.
What ChatGPT CANNOT do
ChatGPT can offer advice on many topics, but it’s best to stick to general advice rather than asking questions about current events.
It has limited knowledge of events after 2021, so it won’t do well (for example) on stock market advice or which movie to watch in cinemas this weekend.
If you get the ChatGPT error, you can upgrade the underlying model to OpenAI’s GPT-4 (ChatGPT normally runs on GPT 3.5) by subscribing to a ChatGPT Plus subscription.
GPT-4 has several features that GPT-3 does not have, but many of these are not yet available through ChatGPT.
The reason you might want to upgrade is that GPT-4 is better for creative tasks (e.g. writing essays or scripts), but it’s still marginal and GPT 3.5 is perfect for most day-to-day tasks.
Eleven ways YOU can use the bot:
1. Help get your dream job
ChatGPT can help you with everything from writing a resume to answering tricky interview questions.
It can take an existing resume and give tips on how to improve it, or give general tips on writing a new one.
Try including your resume in text form and ask for tips on how to improve it (mine has been modified to emphasize both skills and roles).
Or write a solicitation with the job you’re hoping to get and ask for tips on how to present your resume.
2. Write life’s tricky emails right away
Struggling to write a cover letter or an awkward work email? ChatGPT can do it instantly.
Write a request explaining who the email is from and to, and what you need to say — whether it’s requesting sick day or making a complaint.
It can even provide excuses for not getting to work on time.
3. Lose weight with a new eating plan
ChatGPT is great at creating diet plans and exercise programs that fit your needs.
You can provide calorie counts and include and exclude different types of food based on your taste.
ChatGPT is also adept at creating workout plans that can help you maximize your weight loss.
4. Learn basic skills step by step
ChatGPT can teach a large number of basic skills, including coding (it’s particularly good at it since it can code itself).
But if you’re learning something, ChatGPT is very good at emphasizing the basics.
Write a prompt asking for “Basic Tips” or a “Getting Started Lesson” and ChatGPT will do the rest.
5. Summarize long documents instantly
ChatGPT can digest very long documents in seconds – either as direct text input or when you ask it to summarize a known text.
If you’re writing a report at work, this is a great shortcut.
Specify how you want ChatGPT to output the results – ie “in bullet points” or “in 250 words” and whoops, you have a decent summary.
6. Summarize the book you should have read
ChatGPT is great at summarizing classic novels (although it doesn’t know events after 2021, so it won’t be able to do the latest bestsellers).
Just write a prompt giving the information you need – e.g. do you need to know what happens in the book, what it means, or why people think it’s important?
7. Create recipes on your whim
Struggling for dinner inspiration? ChatGPT has your back. The bot can create recipes if needed.
If you need inspiration, specify the ingredients you want to use (or already have) and let ChatGPT do the rest.
8. Explain complex ideas in simple terms
Teaching children – or struggling with something yourself? Just ask ChatGPT for help.
The bot is very good at summarizing anything financial, scientific or otherwise complex – just be aware that it won’t be so good at news topics as its knowledge of current events is limited.
9. Create budget plans
ChatGPT is great at providing basic financial advice and can tailor their advice to you.
Use it to set budgets, develop savings plans, and share tips on how to build that nest egg.
However, it won’t be able to tell you which stocks are the best to buy right now, as it generally has no knowledge of current events.
10. Find a date with a compelling profile
ChatGPT loves to suggest dating profile text based on your age and preferences – and on Tinder, people claim it gets results.
One Tinder user has claimed a response written by ChatGPT got them a matching phone number in less than an hour.
Others use the bot to reply to messages on the site, generating “perfect” replies in the process.
11. Role-play difficult conversations before you have them
ChatGPT is happy to play roles if you ask it to — and if you’re scared of an interview, it can come up with typical questions.
For best results, enter the role you’re looking for and your experience in the prompt.
