It's a frequent question because things are changing rapidly.
What applications are you finding useful for the technology?
I used to use it as an enhancement to Google....
now finding it helpful for finding best airfares (better than other sources!)
and helping me organize health related data.

I suspect I am a light user since I am a minimalist at heart.

Nevertheless, I ask the question.

Many thanks for any suggestions.
PS/did you see the media reports of the robots walking around Detroit and Austin? LOL.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/13/2025 11:53AM by BarefootBliss.

I haven't used it for much but I keep seeing tik toks about its many uses. I did see someone talk about the airfares and thought that was interesting. My daughter has been applying to teaching jobs and was getting no phone calls. She saw a few videos on how to use chat gpt to update your cover letter and resume and she started churning out new letters and this past week she has gotten 3 phone call and 3 interviews. So there is something to it. These places all use AI already to scan the resumes that come in so if you don't have those key words, you are getting passed over.

I would love to incorporate it more into my life. At work I deal with complex data that sometimes my human brain can't break down. I wonder if it could dumb it down for me. LOL. We have a statistician on staff but he is a shared resource and not always available when we need.

Curious to see how others use it.

Hard pass for me. The technology is still too immature for me to take seriously.

Followed a prompt when doing a Google search for convenience store hours. Their AI response was woefully incorrect. I don't have time for crap like that. I'll stick with my own real intelligence, thank you very much.

I've had a couple of students attempt to do research projects with AI, and the results were laughable. No factual information whatsoever. Just a bunch of generic fluff with names plugged into appropriate places.

Seems like a wash when trying to use it for MS narratives. You have to give it enough particular information to get a result, and then have to edit said result before it can go in a report. Might as well just write the narrative...

That being said, it's definitely a benefit for people who write code.

At work, a copilot tool for software development. It's good for debugging errors.

I found RPA (robotic process automation) to be more helpful, though, for repetitive tasks. Anything that is labor and time-intensive, like QA.

There has been a push to adopt our internal AI tools in our everyday work from the top. We have to generate ideas and use cases. At any large tech company, there's no escaping it.

I've seen content creators use AI effectively to generate thumbnails and for video editing. In other professions, where I've seen it return value, is with real estate professionals in design and lawyers with legal research.

@BarefootBliss wrote:

It's a frequent question because things are changing rapidly.
What applications are you finding useful for the technology?
I used to use it as an enhancement to Google....
now finding it helpful for finding best airfares (better than other sources!)
and helping me organize health related data.

I suspect I am a light user since I am a minimalist at heart.

Nevertheless, I ask the question.

Many thanks for any suggestions.
PS/did you see the media reports of the robots walking around Detroit and Austin? LOL.

If you’re having fun already ask it how to end political corruption and heal the economy and national debt…

It’s enlightening and somewhat validating.

Wow....amazing response from ChatGPT on that one - in a matter of speaking, it suggests the power of the people over tyranny is all that can save us.

By the way, I just read of another amazing story. Someone in his thirties had been tested with off the chart numbers, dangerous to health.
he gave the same data to ChatGPT and challenged it with helping him turn his health around.
ChatGPT devised an eating and exercise plan that he adopted.
A year later, his numbers were tested again.
now he tests perfect.
I did not post the link, but it's a recent reddit post in the Cholesterol forum.

Again, power and good day to all!

I don’t trust it, just as I never trusted Mark Zuckerberg not to track/store/sell all of my personal data, pics, IP address, etc.

AI in 2025 is what spellcheckers were in the 1980's. It will become commonplace and yet some users still won't be able to master their productivity improvements. Most will figure it out, however.

There will be a day when AI is good at, for example, combing through all the online reviews (which are typically posted by customers for free) and providing companies with detailed feedback including some with pictures. All of this will happen without the need for MSC's, mystery shoppers, and the added expense. It won't happen tomorrow. But it will happen.

For example, open ChatGPT and enter this text into the chat:

"Combing through all the online reviews (which are typically posted by customers for free) and providing companies with detailed feedback including some with pictures for Chick-fil-a and provide a professional report for US operations."

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2025 07:48PM by maverick1.

I use it daily in my work as a chemistry teacher.

I can feed an assignment into ChatGPT or Magic School and have AI differentiate it many ways:

- I can translate it into the home languages of each of my (very very diverse) students. For example, last year I had students who spoke the following languages: Spanish, Haitian Creole, Urdu, Pashtun, and Marshallese. AI produces a workmanlike translation in five different languages in about fifteen minutes.

- I can also differentiate assignments by having AI make the assignment appropriate for a 2nd grade level (IEP students are often here in high school) or add challenge questions for my gifted students.

- I used AI to create five different versions of my final exam in May. It was GREAT to see the puzzled looks .

And of course there’s those Coyle assignments….

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/14/2025 09:52PM by ColoKate63.

I am leery of the privacy issue as well. It invites me to sign up for a free account, but I decline.
I use it without an account, but figure it can track my IP address?

The fact that China is not charging for the use of their technology was all I needed to hear. It’s great to hear how people are applying it for work to save time and energy. Seems pretty benign for that.

No worries. Your favorite team allowed a China balloon pass right over your residence with a full suite of surveillance equipment. Don't you remember?

Now you are concerned about privacy? ROFL

@BarefootBliss wrote:

I am leery of the privacy issue as well. It invites me to sign up for a free account, but I decline.
I use it without an account, but figure it can track my IP address?

@maverick1 Although AI can comb through reviews and isolate certain phrases that repeat to generate a report, there are many reviews posted on platforms like Yelp that are not legitimate. If a fast food company is looking for timing information from when the customer stepped in line, how many customers were ahead of them, how long it took to be acknowledged, did the server smile, were they in full uniform as shown in the guidelines, and how long did it take to receive your order, that info isn't in a Yelp posting. Are there reliable reviews on Yelp that cover those data points and for the specific locations that are being shopped or need to be shopped? No.

Anyone can post a review and we have no way of knowing if that poster actually visited that location. I remember people from both sides of the aisle posting negative reviews for restaurants because they slighted someone on their side. Almost all of those reviews that poured in were not legitimate. I think the restaurants I am thinking of averaged one or two reviews a month and spiked to hundreds a day after the news event.

Even the Amazon reviews have not been reliable or legitimate up until recently. I was surprised that I could leave a review on Amazon for a product although I did not purchase it from them. You would think they would only have a link where you can leave a review on verified purchases and have safeguards so that if one returned it, then their review is removed.

Did you know?

Several tools help validate Amazon reviews by detecting potentially fake or manipulated reviews. These tools analyze various factors like review text, reviewer profiles, and rating patterns to identify suspicious activity. Popular options include Fakespot, ReviewMeta, AMZFinder, and tools within the Helium 10 suite.

AI can use these tools as well.

@Momomomo wrote:

@maverick1 Although AI can comb through reviews and isolate certain phrases that repeat to generate a report, there are many reviews posted on platforms like Yelp that are not legitimate. If a fast food company is looking for timing information from when the customer stepped in line, how many customers were ahead of them, how long it took to be acknowledged, did the server smile, were they in full uniform as shown in the guidelines, and how long did it take to receive your order, that info isn't in a Yelp posting. Are there reliable reviews on Yelp that cover those data points and for the specific locations that are being shopped or need to be shopped? No.

Anyone can post a review and we have no way of knowing if that poster actually visited that location. I remember people from both sides of the aisle posting negative reviews for restaurants because they slighted someone on their side. Almost all of those reviews that poured in were not legitimate. I think the restaurants I am thinking of averaged one or two reviews a month and spiked to hundreds a day after the news event.

Even the Amazon reviews have not been reliable or legitimate up until recently. I was surprised that I could leave a review on Amazon for a product although I did not purchase it from them. You would think they would only have a link where you can leave a review on verified purchases and have safeguards so that if one returned it, then their review is removed.

That's why I mentioned recently when discussing Amazon. They let the unverified reviews run rampant for too long.

How can AI generate a report about timing certain aspects of the ordering experience pulling from Yelp reviews? You're not going to find that in Yelp reviews. Those establishments and MSCs still need humans to perform those tasks. Are they going to get timing data about how long it takes to pump a gallon of gas, are pumps compliant and did it print a receipt, was current quarter marketing displayed, and so on from Yelp and other online reviews?

That's why I prefaced my post with...

"There will be a day when AI is good at..."

AI is at it's infancy right now.

@Momomomo wrote:

That's why I mentioned recently when discussing Amazon. They let the unverified reviews run rampant for too long.

How can AI generate a report about timing certain aspects of the ordering experience pulling from Yelp reviews? You're not going to find that in Yelp reviews. Those establishments and MSCs still need humans to perform those tasks. Are they going to get timing data about how long it takes to pump a gallon of gas, are pumps compliant and did it print a receipt, was current quarter marketing displayed, and so on from Yelp and other online reviews?

Ok, a new twist (at least to me)

There's a finance blog I follow, written by a smart guy.

The guy mentioned using Deepseek to help him with a very complex tax issue. He's in the US, asking about US tax law.
Deepseek is a Chinese company.

This seems a quandary to me, but then I only have a human brain lol.

We mostly use it for entertainment purposes. I have been surprised by how well chatgpt does at creating a recipe from a list of things you need to use up in the fridge I don't recommend this for people who would normally rely on recipes to cook as the result is more inspirational than finished. Still useful to me, though.

My kids like Gemini for photo editing fun. Again, it doesn't do a great job but it's quick and amusing.

They most definitely would not rely on these programs to write a paper from prompts. Give it something already written to enhance, though? Sure!

My kids are also huge fans of trying to "break" these programs. To "trick" them into saying something the programmers tried to prevent... They "win" entirely too often, weaknesses and flaws are revealed.