Yes, I Use ChatGPT… and You Should too
Yup, I said it. And I could have taken the easy way out and had our soon-to-be robot overlords write this whole thing, but I’m not going to do that for one very simple yet important reason: I’m just better, and I don’t see that changing.
Don’t get me wrong, ChatGPT is an incredibly impressive, powerful tool, and I totally understand why it might strike fear in those employed in fields focused on writing and generating content. To those people (which includes at least one coworker who will remain unnamed) I say this: RELAX.
Yes, ChatGPT can write like the wind—you should really give it a spin just to see it in action. And yes, I’ll admit the fact that it can produce a few completely decent, original paragraphs on the biodiversity of the Galapagos Islands a hell of a lot faster than I ever could did make me think I might need to be enrolling myself in a graduate program or trade school for a hot second. But upon further examination, it’s clear that’s about the only thing it can do better than those who put pen to paper on a regular basis.
The content ChatGPT spits out is usually accurate, grammatically correct, completely fine work—but that’s a fairly low bar for anyone that makes a living with words. So, unless you’re somehow getting along by pumping out junior high-level five-paragraph essays, I think it’s safe to say your job is safe for now.
ChatGPT’s writing distinctly lacks voice. It’s formulaic and void of personality. There’s no emotion or creativity or interesting idiosyncrasies hidden in any of its output. If there’s one thing you can consistently say about its work, it’s that it’s consistently boring.
So why the hell I am pushing it on you then?
Because it can help jumpstart and hone your writing.
So don’t waste your time trying to get ChatGPT to write that 3,000-word article that’s been hanging over your head (trust me, I’ve devoted at least an hour to that very task). It’s going to come up well short of your expectations, and probably your word count too.
With that said, here are some of the ways I’ve incorporated ChatGPT into my work:
Ask it for help with research. Turns out, ChatGPT knows a lot about a lot, so I think more than anything, I use it as a tool for learning and research. It’s a great supplement to Google and the standard internet search. Ask ChatGPT about the charter school movement in Michigan or how private equity has impacted the medical field and it will immediately spit out paragraphs of thoughtful, well-organized, informative content. With that said, never rely on it exclusively because ChatGPT is wrong from time to time and it’s never the most up-to-date source for anything. But still, I think it adds something and has its place here.
Ask it for help with outlining. ChatGPT might not be the best writer, but it’s great at organizing thoughts and content. Tell if what you’re trying to write with some general parameters, and it will likely spit out a well-formed skeleton you can hang some words on.
Use it as a starting point… or to get yourself unstuck . Remember that ‘PUNCH THE KEYS!’ scene from Finding Forrester? No? Well, here you go. Let ChatGPT be your Sean Connery. Seriously, it’s great. Don’t know where to begin? Ask it to write something for you and take a little bit of what it produces to get started. Again, it probably won’t be great, but some of it will probably be good enough to spark something. Or, feed it what you’ve already got, tell it where you’d like to go, and ask it for the next few paragraphs.
Ask it for feedback. Not loving what you have but don’t know how to fix it? Ask ChatGPT for a rewrite. You probably won’t love that either, but it might inspire a change you wouldn’t have considered otherwise.
I could go on and on and these suggestions are obviously only scratching the surface of what ChatGPT can do, but this blog post is already too long so I’ll leave you with some parting thoughts.
ChatGPT’s output is only as good as the inputs you give it. ChatGPT can’t read your mind (yet). It doesn’t know how to think. It doesn’t inherently know what’s important and what isn’t. It can only pull together and synthesize within the parameters you set. So be explicit with your prompts and know that you might have to try a few times in a few different ways to get the kind output you want. And most importantly, regardless of what you do, play around with it, and do your best to get comfortable with it. ChatGPT and other AI-based tools are the future whether you like it or not.