AI is having a moment. It’s hard to escape ChatGPT entering the conversation, whether you’re at a coffee shop or a club. While it’s important not to view it as a god-like being with higher powers, it’s also not healthy to bury your head in the sand.
Play around with AI to see its possibilities and limits. Be curious, experimental and have fun with it. There are some things you definitely shouldn’t use ChatGPT for, such as health diagnoses and legal decisions, but there are plenty of tasks and to-dos it’s great for.
ChatGPT isn’t alone out there. You can also use other chatbots for these tasks, like Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude and Perplexity. And because AI has the propensity to hallucinate answers, draw the wrong conclusions or make things up entirely, be sure to always double-check and use common sense whenever it gives you information.
Here’s a look at nine of the best things to use AI chatbots for.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
1. A beefed-up search engine
I heard somewhere that millennials use ChatGPT as a search engine, while Gen Z uses it more as a «life advisor.» I’m showing my age here, but I love using it as a search engine on steroids.
It’s really handy to be able to learn about a specific topic from one information interface. I use it for both quick answers to questions and in-depth topical research.
ChatGPT’s Agent Mode can also run specific searches for you while you’re doing something else.
2. Beauty and style advice
This one’s fun. If you’re stuck on what lipstick suits your skin tone, what haircut is best for your face shape or how to accessorize an outfit, ask ChatGPT.
You can upload a selfie and ask it for beauty advice or even how you’ll age (and what you can do about it). Ask who your doppelganger is.
3. Menu planning
You can tell ChatGPT what’s in your fridge and pantry, and it’ll make a menu. This is a good little hack in this economy, especially with the holiday season coming up, and when your fridge is full of leftovers.
You can also do other fun things, like take a photo of a menu at a restaurant and ask for the best wine pairing, if your server doesn’t beat you to it.
4. Redesigning a room
Whenever I try to create a cool art design in AI, it always falls short. But uploading a photo and asking it to redesign a room? Nails it.
I prompted ChatGPT with the problems I was having with the space and what I envisioned for it, then it «redesigned» it within seconds.
Try it with a room, an area or a nook that you want to jazz up in your home. It might not be perfect, but it will give you ideas on placement, paint colors, furniture and vibe.
5. In your job search
We all know how horrid the job market is right now, so you should absolutely leverage AI if you’re on the hunt.
You can use it as a career coach, to find current openings, feed it job links and ask it to tell you why you’re a good candidate, create cover letters and refine your resume. Always edit your cover letter and resume and pepper it with your personality. Avoid sounding like everyone else using AI.
6. To research people
If you’re preparing for a job interview, talking to a potential client, meeting someone at a networking event, going on a date or wanting to look up an actor while watching TV, ChatGPT is a great way to find them. If I have a call coming up, I usually ask ChatGPT to «tell me everything I need to know about this person and their background.»
It can also help to find contact details, but always fact-check and be respectful. For example, I asked ChatGPT who someone was, and it gave me a name and email within seconds.
7. Tech troubles
We’re all surrounded by so much tech, but not all of us have a handy spouse or tech support on call. I’ve turned to ChatGPT for issues like missing meeting recordings, storage issues on my MacBook, setting up YouTube on my TV, and whether my constantly humming fridge needs to be fixed.
I wouldn’t try my hand at plumbing or anything electrical-related, but it’s helpful to troubleshoot tech.
8. Travel research
I’m one of those people who thinks travel planning is part of the trip. I love researching destinations, looking at accommodations, comparing flights and planning things to do.
ChatGPT can come in handy, especially in destination research. I haven’t had much luck using it to find cheap flights, but it’s awesome to ask about certain neighborhoods to stay in, the best times to visit, planning itineraries and getting travel tips.
9. (Some) personal advice
ChatGPT is an awesome thought partner, but just be wary about its people-pleasing tendencies. It’ll agree with you, unless you prompt it not to. Also, chatbots have nothing on your BFF or partner, who actually know what’s good for you.
But if you can keep this in mind, it’s a handy «life advisor.» You can talk through a problem you’re having, role-play with it, ask it for advice, plan a career move, ask it to unpack the tone of a message and use it as a guide while going through something. In my case, I leaned on it while I was going through my first round of IVF.
A word of warning: ChatGPT uses a predictive model, so its «advice» is based on what you’ve told it before. It’s not going to «think» outside the box, so confirmation bias is a concern.
