Ottawa, August 23 - Before the digital age, taking time to communicate and form your thoughts was far more difficult. Our access to resources and tools is much greater now than ever before. With research at our fingertips, it is our responsibility to use everything we have available to us. While the use of Chat GPT currently, is banned from most schools and is considered plagiarism, it is my belief that it will become a requirement to know how to use it. Writing has become the cornerstone of expression and communication and whether you are a student, teacher, or professional, Chat GPT can help enhance communication skills, specifically with clarity, conciseness, and expanding vocabulary.

What is ChatGPT? 

ChatGPT is and advanced language model, created by OpenAI that uses artificial intelligence to answer specific inquiries prompted by users. It uses deep learning techniques to generate responses that are human-like in a conversational manner. Chat GPT can be used in a variety of ways while appealing to the user as it has a plethora of capabilities and benefits. 

Creative and Professional writing can serve as a source of inspiration if you don’t know where to start. ChatGPT can suggest prompts, titles, or even provide feedback on how to improve already written content. ChatGPT is free, meaning it has allowed the public access to advanced technology that has never been available to the public before. Chat GPT is one the fastest growing apps with over 100 million active users only two months after its launch. The level of accessibility is something that makes Chat GPT so special as its popularity skyrocketed when first released (Oritz, 2023). 

Despite being such an innovative ad useful application, ChatGPT is not without its limitations. As the AI is still considered to be in its infancy, it can sometimes have trouble understanding and answering prompts. OpenAI acknowledges that sometimes Chat GPT may provide nonsensical answers when confused. ChatGPT also tries to prevent and reject harmful or violent prompts that violate its guidelines, but tech-savvy individuals have bypassed restrictions by doing what is called “jailbreaking” where Chat GPT provided answers to dangerous questions. As Chat GPT grows and develops, these issues will be less frequent and have better countermeasures. 

How to prompt ChatGPT 

As with any application, there is a learning curve to best utilize Chat GPT. As ChatGPT becomes commonplace in education institutes and workplaces, it is incredibly important that we learn to take full advantage of it. At its most basic level, Chat GPT analyzes questions and gives responses based on its knowledge of the internet. In order to get the best results you must be clear, concise, and give plenty of context (Gindham, 2023). Often in order to get what you want you’ll have to refine and edit your prompts. By practicing consistently, and testing out different prompts you can better understand what Chat GPT generates and how it will respond. 

Tips and Tricks

Context is the best way to get the responses you’re hoping for. Asking for ChatGPT to write an About Me section without context would provide a generic answer with inapplicable characteristics, but by providing background information about yourself, it can helps strengthen the response and allows Chat GPT to include finer details. 

When creating prompts, it is also important to remember that ChatGPT does not have direct access to real-time information. It is limited to responding to news and internet information up until September 2021 (Sumanaweera, 2023). You can also tell GPT the length you wish your response to be and include the tone by which it should write in. Whether it be for writing emails, essays, or blog posts, Chat GPT can help support your writing. 

Overcoming Writers Block with Chat GPT

Writer's block is something dreaded by every author, while waiting for inspiration we are often left feeling as if we are wasting precious time. Chat GPT can help prevent this universal experience. Writer's block can strike even the most experienced authors, This phenomenon can be extremely frustrating, and scare people away from attempting to write for enjoyment. 

Chat GPT provides immediate advice when we are faced with an issue. It can generate concepts, and plot lines, and even continue where you left off. Through these thought-provoking suggestions, Chat GPT can help break through that wall and open up more opportunities you may have not thought about on your own.  

References

Gindham, A. (2023, June 2). How to write the perfect CHATGPT prompt and become a CHATGPT expert. The Writesonic Blog - Making Content Your Superpower. https://writesonic.com/blog/how-to-write-chatgpt-prompts/

Oritz, S. (2023, June 26). What is CHATGPT and why does it matter? here’s what you need to know. ZDNET. https://www.zdnet.com/article/what-is-chatgpt-and-why-does-it-matter-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/

Sumanaweera, D. (2023). Why chat GPT cannot answer realtime questions?. Microsoft Q&A. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1310627/why-chat-gpt-cannot-answer-realtime-questions