5 ways I actually used ChatGPT this year to improve my life

When ChatGPT first landed on the scene, I was terrified. It was lightyears ahead of virtual assistants like Siri, Google, and Alexa, and it seemed like it was going to render my job obsolete — maybe even all jobs.

Fortunately, we now know that ChatGPT is really just a glorified chatbot and it’s far from ready to replace real-world workers, let alone take over the world. Some have even swung the opposite direction, claiming these AI chatbots are novelty gimmicks and basically useless.

I wouldn’t go that far, though. In fact, when I tried using ChatGPT in my day-to-day life, I was surprised by how beneficial it was. It’s a tool — and like any tool, you have to know how to use it to get any value out of it.

Here are some real things I’ve done this year using ChatGPT and the various ways it has actually improved my life.

ChatGPT helped me learn how to code

Is ChatGPT itself good at coding? That depends. If you were to ask most programmers if ChatGPT could do their jobs for them, they’d emphasize how far away we are from that reality just yet.

But as a tool for guidance and aid in understanding syntax, concepts, and other programming-related things? It’s not bad at all. So while ChatGPT developers have been working on their own obsolescence, I’ve been using ChatGPT to help me learn to code.

I’ve wanted to make a game for years, but it wasn’t until 2024 that I finally sat down and took steps to make it happen. I’d previously learned BASIC about 30 years ago and I’d dabbled in Python and Flash’s ActionScript back in the ’00s, but realistically I was a going into this as a complete beginner — and that’s where ChatGPT proved genuinely useful.

After I told it what I wanted to develop, it helped me choose a game engine in Game Maker. Then, after I made a few tutorial games, I started working on my own with ChatGPT guiding me along the way.

Jon Martindale / IDG

If I didn’t know how to do something in Game Maker, it pointed me in the right direction. When I didn’t know the differences between an Array and a DS Map, it explained them to me. When I made basic syntax errors that I couldn’t spot, ChatGPT found them in seconds.

Of course, I also tried getting ChatGPT to write code for me, but that’s where it struggled. It often implemented things very inefficiently, or it had too much commenting, or it just didn’t work properly. And even when it did work, I — as a complete novice — couldn’t understand how it worked, so when something broke, I was never able to fix it.

Now, months into my coding journey, I don’t use ChatGPT as much because I can trudge my way through most problems. But when I can’t conceptualize how to create something (because I just don’t have the programming experience to understand how it could be done), ChatGPT is still super useful. I’ll ask it to give me three ways to approach a problem, ranked by efficiency or modularity, depending on what I’m doing, and that way I still make all the big calls but also have my little chatbot helper do some of the basic grunt work for me.

ChatGPT is a great roleplaying partner

I love tabletop roleplaying (TTRPGs). With a good group, it’s one of my favorite activities. Call of Cthulhu was my first real love, but I’ve got a near-decade-old Dungeons & Dragons campaign I’m still part of, and I’ve also played a few one-shots in different systems over the years.

But now I’m keen to run something new and it’s been a while since I GM’d a game. Honestly, I’m a bit nervous and feel out of practice. What can I do other than grit my teeth and just see how it goes?

ChatGPT to the rescue!

I’ve always practiced roleplaying out loud before sessions, playing around with my characters’ voices with different accents or inflections and organically coming up with backstories just by seeing what I can manage to pull out of my hat via improvisation.

But with ChatGPT, I can do better — by enacting real back-and-forths with imagined players — and it’s really quite effective.

Jon Martindale / IDG

With ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice mode, you can hold fluid conversations with the chatbot and it does a great job of inhabiting any characters or personas you give it. It can’t change its voice mid-chat, but it can play multiple characters and give them different vocal styles and ticks.

And while I haven’t tried this next idea myself yet, you could even have ChatGPT play a character in your game during a session. This could be great when someone flakes at the last minute and leaves a hole in your party, or if no one wants to play a particular role. ChatGPT isn’t perfect, but it could fill in as needed.

Related: New report shows the truth of how people use ChatGPT

ChatGPT answers my kids’ questions

I am so grateful to be alive at a time when my young kids (who are 4 and 6 years old) can ask me questions for which I don’t know the answers to, and I can simply say “I don’t know, but we can look it up!” before pulling out my phone and finding the answers within seconds. What an improvement to visiting the library or digging out an encyclopedia.

But there’s something lost in the modern process of information discovery. It’s little more than me staring at my phone screen for 30 seconds while they wait (im)patiently by my side. And because I intentionally try to limit the amount of time they see me eyeballing my little black mirror, this process feels doubly off.

That’s why I appreciate ChatGPT’s Advanced Voice mode, which can be a much more fun and engaging way to answer our questions. We all sit and listen for the answer together — it’s not just me looking it up and imparting knowledge, but they get to discover with me. It’s just more interesting and surprising that way. It also lets my kids practice speaking clearly as they articulate their questions.

With this, you do have to bear in mind that OpenAI is likely harvesting your children’s voice data and the questions asked for algorithmic training, so I wouldn’t use this for something sensitive.

Plus, there’s the potential for answers to go over their heads or to be flat-out wrong, so I wouldn’t do this when I want to guarantee accurate answers. Then again, that could be a good opportunity to teach them to always check their sources when it comes to information.

ChatGPT can be a virtual counselor

Like many people, I suffer with anxiety because [gestures at the state of the world], and I have to manage it on a day-to-day basis. I have sessions with a therapist, I practice mindfulness, I exercise regularly, I watch my diet, and I try to limit doomscrolling whenever I can.

But that’s not to say I have anxiety completely under control. It’s an ever-present threat to my productivity, mood, and gut health, so I’m always keen to try out new ways of managing it.

One of the things I’ve been trying has been to “talk it out” with ChatGPT. I’ve asked it for help with mindfulness, had it coach me through breathing techniques, and even offered up some of my more complicated personal struggles to get another perspective on them.

Jon Martindale / IDG

I’ve found it really helpful that I can choose to chat with ChatGPT through text alone (when I’m not feeling too vocal) or through quiet voice (when I don’t want others nearby to hear). The recently implemented Advanced Voice mode has made ChatGPT more nuanced, too, and therapist-like conversations aren’t impossible. In fact, ChatGPT can sometimes even sound like it genuinely cares. (Of course, it doesn’t actually have any emotions, but it’s still effective nonetheless.)

It feels a little odd reaching out to an AI for human connection, and there’s a very valid concern over privacy when using ChatGPT in this way. But I can say that it definitely works for me, at least in part.

Sure, ChatGPT is nowhere near as good as seeing a real-life therapist, and I don’t expect ChatGPT’s conversational abilities to ever be a one-to-one replacement for the real social experiences we have with fellow humans. But when I’m in a bind and just need a little bit of support right then and there, ChatGPT is a great alternative.

ChatGPT researches faster than I can

One of my recent hyperfixations has been World War II, so I’ve been enjoying a lot of historical documentaries, videos, and podcasts on the topic over the past several months. As with any major historical event, though, I can’t help but imagine a million “What if…?” scenarios that could’ve arose if minor things hadn’t happened as they did.

If I were more academically minded and had the time, maybe I’d do some genuine research into such “alternate histories” and write papers that could be of interest to others. In reality, though, it’s just a musing in the moment — and that’s where ChatGPT can be a lot of fun.

I’ve asked ChatGPT to come up with alternate gameplans for battles supposing a different general was in charge. What would’ve happened if Hitler hadn’t been obsessed with taking Stalingrad? What would’ve happened had the Allies just rolled on into Russia after the defeat of Germany? What if Churchill had taken the advice of his cabinet to surrender in 1940? What if the US didn’t stop at two nukes?

Jon Martindale / IDG

Of course, these are all far too complex to really know the answers to. But if I wanted to get even a rough estimate of the end result on my own, I’d need to do so much historical research and know the topic far better than I do, that it would take weeks or months to approach these questions with even a sense of veracity.

ChatGPT can be an immediately accessible, opinionated history buff. It’s probably wrong, but there’s no way to prove it — and it’s likely to be more accurate than whatever I could come up with myself. More importantly, it’s an interesting what-if scenario that I get to explore, all because ChatGPT has the repository of knowledge needed to quickly generate an idea of what could’ve happened.

I suppose you could ask it to think about alternative futures, too, but that feels a little too real for now. I’ll stick to having it describe things that couldn’t possibly happen. It’s much more relaxing.