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GET THE MOST OUT OF AI WHILE USING CHATBOTS

- Kim Komando

ChatGPT has changed my life – and yours, even if you don’t use it as much as I do.

You’ve probably noticed the new artificial intelligen­ce search bar in all the Meta apps, including Facebook and Instagram. It won’t be long before all your most-used apps and services integrate chatbots.

Don’t wait to get comfortabl­e with AI. Try out a few of these prompts and flex your chatbot muscles. You’ll see just how easy they are to use.

Save time

Recently, I uploaded a commercial building’s rent roll, profit and loss statement, and comps for the area. I asked ChatGPT to analyze the data and see if it’s a good investment.

Sure, I know how to do that math myself, but it would have taken 30 minutes. No joke, it took me longer to upload the documents than it did for ChatGPT to come up with the answers – about 30 seconds.

The best part is it laid out the calculatio­ns and reasonings, so I could analyze them myself and double-check its work. If you don’t get that with your answer, you can always ask something like, “How did you make that decision?” or “Tell me how you got that answer.”

Make decisions

There’s a term for this: Decision fatigue. Sometimes, you’ve had to pick so many things in one week that you just can’t do it again. Try these:

● “I’m having three friends over for dinner tomorrow. One is a vegetarian, and one is allergic to peanuts. What should I make for dinner?”

● “My mother-in-law is asking for my help choosing a destinatio­n for a family vacation. Last year, we went to Rosemary Beach in Florida, and everyone complained the water was too warm. We live in Houston, and no one wants to fly more than five hours. Can you give me some options?”

Do complex things

Say you’re a human resources manager and must create an employee guide from scratch. That’s a heck of a lot of work, and you’d likely end up heading to a search engine to see where to begin. A chatbot can do that too – and even create an outline for you.

This bears emphasis: Do not use an LLM chatbot to create legal documents or anything that really needs a lawyer or other profession­al’s touch. But as a starting place? Absolutely.

An impartial third party

You’re arguing with a friend, your spouse or a relative. Or maybe you’re in a contentiou­s situation with someone profession­ally. Before you text or type an angry reply, consult someone without emotion attached to the situation: your chatbot of choice.

Here’s a prompt idea: “My roommate and I are arguing because she keeps leaving her dirty dishes in the sink for days, even though they’re attracting bugs. How can I respectful­ly make the point that I need her to stop this?”

Analyze informatio­n

This is an AI sweet spot. The technology excels at finding patterns and pointing them out. Here are a couple of examples to get started:

● “Here’s a 20-page legal document. Summarize the main points for me.”

● “These are customer reviews. Break them into percentage­s by negative, neutral and positive.”

Find the right words

Say you’re hiring a contractor to build a nice new website for your small business. The problem is you don’t “speak” website and aren’t sure where to begin. AI to the rescue. Find some sites you like – the ones you see and think, “Wow, I want one like this!”

Put all those URLs into your favorite chatbot and ask it for a detailed descriptio­n of their shared elements and overall design. This can help you communicat­e what you want much more eloquently.

Do boring tasks

You’re going on vacation. Use your last bit of willpower to finish the work you need to. AI can write your out-of-office email. Remember, the more detail and direction you give, the better.

“Write an out-of-office email” will give you bland (or totally unusable) results. Try something like: “Write an out-of-office email letting my contacts know I’ll be back to work on Monday. I will have limited access to email and will respond by next Wednesday.”

Brainstorm activities

Let’s stick with the vacation example. Your big trip is in two weeks and you have no clue what to do with the kids in the city you’re visiting. Before you make the travel blog rounds, try a chatbot.

Learn about all the latest technology on “The Kim Komando Show.” For Kim’s daily tips, free newsletter­s and more, visit her website at Komando.com.

 ?? GETTY IMAGES ?? Chatbots can be used for completing simple or complex tasks.
GETTY IMAGES Chatbots can be used for completing simple or complex tasks.

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