At the beginning of this year, I was introduced to ChatGPT for the first time. It wasn’t the first time I had messed with AI, as I had played around with OpenAI’s API a little last year, but it never really clicked as the tool that it was going to become. I remember in January when I was watching a Twitch streamer messing around with ChatGPT and asking it to write a letter to his wife to convince her to do a threesome. Sounds terrible, but since she was on the stream as well, it turned into an incredibly funny moment. Though it was being used for something incredibly childish and in a lot of individuals’ minds crude, I was amazed. With so little context and prompt, it put together a well-thought-out cohesive argument in mere seconds.
I had to start messing with it immediately. For those of you familiar with the site, you are all probably well aware of how difficult it was to find the actual link, figure out how to make an account, and at the end of it all, the servers would be full and you were greeted with a message to come back later. Fast forward a bit later, and I finally got to start playing with it.
The first thing I asked it? How do I become a better player at Rainbow Six Siege? Sounds like a dumb question, but I was sticking my toe in the water. Ultimately, it gave me a bulleted list of suggestions on ways I could improve my gameplay, and they were spot on. I mean, I’m still terrible at the game, but the suggestions it gave were the exact ones I’ve heard from pros on YouTube and articles I’ve read. They won’t necessarily make me better by reading them, but it was incredible to me that it spat them out so quickly.
So I started going further into the water. Can you give me a more detailed breakdown of how I can communicate better with my teammates? Bam! Another well-documented list of suggestions for training, the language used between us, and better callouts. I was amazed and kept going deeper and deeper. Questioning why it was providing me the answers it did. Or asking why not this instead of that? I was amazed. Since that point, I’ve been hooked on it. Not just for everyday life but for this site, my studying, and my eventual goals toward certifications. It’s literally like having my own personal teacher on hand whenever I have a question.
No longer do I dig through Stack Overflow or Reddit forums searching for the answer I desire. I now start with ChatGPT. Okay, now that everyone knows how much I use and adore ChatGPT as a tool. Let’s look at the flip side of it. Notice how I keep using the word “tool”? That’s because that’s what ChatGPT is. And just like any tool, it can be used for stupid reasons it wasn’t designed for and be incredibly inefficient at doing it. Or just plain wrong.
I’m getting really bored of the number of posts and articles I read where people think they’re so smart because they convinced ChatGPT that 2+2=5. You’re not, please stop. I’m not an expert in machine learning, and my knowledge of it probably doesn’t extend further than any other person’s, but I’m pretty sure ChatGPT is not Cortana (from Halo, not Microsoft), so stop trying to act like it is and then surprised when it’s not. It’s a tool, an incredibly powerful tool, but as my wife put it, if you try to use a hammer to clean a window, then you’re the idiot, not the tool.
Okay, back on track from my rant, but I think at this point, if you are not already aware, ChatGPT is not all-knowing and can be incorrect. I will never argue against that because I have seen on multiple occasions that it was wrong or went off in a completely different direction than what I wanted. And that’s okay to me. I don’t rely on it to think for me. Well, I kind of do at times, but I’ll leave that towards the bottom of this post. ChatGPT can be used for so many things, and as long as you understand that it’s not perfect, I honestly think it can change your life.
I titled this post the Fourth Industrial Revolution because I honestly think that this technology and level of automation is going to absolutely disrupt industries. Will it happen immediately? No. It’s still early into its life, and there is going to be a lot of uphill resistance to it. It will not be taking anyone’s job quickly (I think, let me check if I still have mine). Just like when the internet first became more mainstream, it’ll be a growing process, but that is okay. I’m really hoping that I don’t read this article in 5 years kicking myself because I’m out of a job lol.
One other note I’ll touch upon briefly because I’m sure there are books about this is the negative impact this technology will have, and yes, there will be negatives. I’m not going to go in-depth about it, but like any revolution, someone gets the short end of the stick. So I think everyone knows my opinion on the matter (whether you cared or not) so here’s a quick list of some of the things I’ve had Chat GPT help me with:
- Help me with storytelling and coming up with new plot ideas for the DnD campaign I am running. It has come up with some truly devious hooks that I am nowhere near creative enough for. I’m talking Game of Thrones/Red Rising type of stuff. Now I just need to be better at roleplaying.
- Help with taxes. Every year my wife and I are constantly jumping between what documents we may need and if they are relevant. Google can help, but you spend so much time trying to find someone with your exact situation. This year I kept ChatGPT open, and we would just go to it when we wanted clarification on an item or something we weren’t sure about. If I get audited this year, then you all know why.
- Studying and coding: I don’t know how often I’ll be reading up on a subject in IT or programming something and I’m just stumped. Sometimes I need clarification on why something is the way it is or whether I could do something differently. As I mentioned before, it’s almost like I have my own personal tutor on hand. I understand that it’s not always right, but I’m not asking it for anything groundbreaking.
- This website: My English is terrible, and my mother and sister, who are both teachers, remind me of it a lot. Now, I finally have something to proofread all my stuff before I post it and avoid looking like an idiot. There are many other ways that ChatGPT can help me, but these were the big ones I’ll remember.
So, whether you decide to use ChatGPT or not, it’s up to you. However, I hope I can convince you that it is an extremely powerful tool that can be of great use and benefit to you in more ways than you might imagine. If you’re not sure how it can help you, just ask ChatGPT.
To sign off, I have to resort to something I keep saying:
Thanks, sgtdiddlywink.
