Home and Learn: AI Beginners Course
Getting Started with Generative AI
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To get you started on what Generative AI can do, we'll use ChatGPT to plan a nice day out. Follow along as we hit the road!
ChatGPT
ChatGPT is by OpenAI. It's free to start with and you'll only pay if you keep under the usage limits. It can be found here:
You'll see a page similar to a lot of Generative AI screens. At the time of writing, it looks like this:
You can click the button, if you like, where it says "What can you do?". You'll get a list back of things that ChatGPT can help you with.
On the left of the screen, there are items to start a new chat, search your chats, create an image, use a plugin, and do some deep research.
Clicking the link 'See plans and pricing' brings up a screen similar to this one, with prices dependent on where you live (and when you're viewing this article):
ChatGPT is free to use within usage limits. Paid plans are optional and offer additional features or higher limit
It's worth clicking the links at the bottom of the main screen:
"ChatGPT is AI. By using it, you agree to our Terms & Privacy Policy. Chats may be reviewed and used to improve our AI models. Learn more."
If you're concerned about privacy and what OpenAI uses your data for, it is worth going over the information in the pages in the links. And don't enter private or confidential information into an open chat like this, whatever the AI you're using.
But back to the lesson.
Plan a Day Out with ChatGPT
So we want to go on a nice trip out. But the weather is not so good. We can ask ChatGPT for advice. Enter this in the chat window:
Here's the question in ChatGPT:
You'll get an answer back something like this one:
You've decided on a location - a trip to a local museum. In which case, why not do some research with ChatGPT? Type this prompt next: (Substitute 'attraction' for wherever it is you're going - 'Search the web and use the Louvre's official website', for example).
The important point here is to open the official links and check the details, especially times, prices, and events.
The details you might get back are a map, an address of you chosen attraction, a table of opening hours, ticket prices, and lots more. In fact you might get so much information that it's a little overwhelming. In which case, you can turn the checked facts into something useful:
Here's what ChatGPT wrote for our 120 words to Sam:
At this stage, if you had signed up for a plan, you may be able to get ChatGPT to actually send the message for you, in the form of an email.
But we think we've made the point here - you can use Generative AI to Answer a question for you, do some Research, and then Write something based on your answers and research. Bear in mind, though, that the AI's responses are not Gospel - they may well be wrong, or just simply out of date. Using Generative AI as a starting point rather than an end result is usually a good position to take.
In the next lesson, we'll use a different Generative AI provider as we do something with images.
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