Amy Lindgren

Second Sunday Series – Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of 12 columns on AI and work, which will appear the second Sunday of each month, from September through August. Last month’s column described work opportunities with artificial intelligence, while previous columns looked at how AI is used in the hiring process, and provided an overview of artificial intelligence.

When OpenAI introduced ChatGPT in late 2022, those in the know predicted it would be as revolutionary as the 1440 invention of the Gutenberg printing press. The difference being that the printing press took decades to make an impact, whereas ChatGPT and similar tools are doing so in mere months.

As a quick definition, ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool designed to produce text, images, audio and video from the user’s prompt. It does so by accessing an enormous trove of stored data and online information in what’s known as a large learning model (LLM).

Competing AI products include Bard, Claude, Perplexity and others, but ChatGPT is the most well-known and likely the most advanced, having gotten an early start.

This is not a tool you want to miss out on, anymore than you would want to have missed what the printing press has brought us. That’s understood, but the real question is how? How do you drink from this fire hose without drowning in the process?

I’ll answer honestly that I really don’t know. Even in the few months that I’ve been exploring the subject, I’ve seen a quickly evolving landscape.

I’ll give you what I’ve learned so far, with fingers crossed that things don’t change too much before this goes to press. Ready? Here are six initial steps and tips for trying ChatGPT.

Just start: This is one of those things that you don’t need a lot of instruction for. If you go to https://chat.openai.com you will see a very simple screen. The upper right corner provides the opportunity to create an account by signing in and providing your name and birthday (I lied on both points, but it didn’t seem to care.) You will also see a message box in which you can type your question or command (called a “prompt”). Try that without signing in if you’d like to stay anonymous.

Try something simple: I typed in “cover letter for teacher” and instantly received five paragraphs with brackets for custom information. As in, “Dear [Recipient’s Name].”

Try it again: The same prompt will not produce the same result, maybe ever, which I discovered when I was fact-checking this article. To my aggravation, the system returned a different version each time for the same prompt. Turns out, that’s just what it does, since the tool is accessing different data in each search. Once you know that, you can enjoy the variety that multiple searches will produce.

Use tutorials: When you’re ready to explore higher-level features, head to YouTube. There you’ll find video tutorials ranging from just a few minutes to hours in length. Because things are evolving so quickly, start with the most recent information.

Try more complex prompts: One online instructor advised prompts that address the system directly and include a role, the context, a question or task, the desired tone or style, and the format needed.

I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t note the instructor and can’t give credit. But hoping for forgiveness … here’s the prompt I typed into the ChatGPT message box: “You are a job seeker in customer service. Please write a cover letter for a call center job. Please make it conversational in tone and format it professionally.” The resulting letter was much richer than the one produced from my earlier command, so the extra layering is worth trying.

Don’t believe the results: Unfortunately, AI (and therefore ChatGPT) tells lies. The system can search and return data but it can’t confirm that it’s true. Obviously you would revise anything written on your behalf, but you should also check key points in reports, data searches, or pretty much anything else you request. I asked for the HR director at a specific company and was surprised to receive an answer. But was it correct?

Of course there’s more to write and learn about ChatGPT but then we’re back to that fire hose. For now, just give it a try to see what all the fuss is about. Since we’ve already started talking about cover letters and AI, we’ll come back to that topic in next month’s Second Sunday article.

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Amy Lindgren owns a career consulting firm in St. Paul. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com.