Some Use-Cases of ChatGPT

A frequent topic of conversation with my parents and their generation is the uses and applications of ChatGPT. I have found that the use-cases of ChatGPT are often not clear to people who have not used the platform directly; the goal of this blog is thus to illustrate some ways in which I have found ChatGPT useful in my day-to-day life. I will first explain some high level themes for which ChatGPT is useful, then I will provide some examples of questions I have asked it over the past month. Finally, I will do a brief comparison of Google and ChatGPT. The goal of this column is not to explain what ChatGPT is or how generative AI works, nor is it to showcase some of the incredible applications of ChatGPT to the extent they are not useful in my day-to-day life. Rather it is to provide some basic examples of prompts.

What ChatGPT is Good and Not Good For

What I have found ChatGPT is particularly good for:

• Coding: I use ChatGPT daily for coding help. ChatGPTs ability to write code from scratch in virtually every language is astounding. It can do everything: how to plot, how to scrape data, translating between coding languages, explaining code you provide it, error debugging (you can literally paste your error and ask it what’s wrong). Even for people with no coding background whatsoever, ChatGPT can explain how to get started.

• Explaining: I have many questions that would be difficult to google. Sometimes questions are difficult to google because the top results are flooded with ads, think pieces, promotions, when you just want a quick answer to your question (e.g. try googling any basic question about taxes, IRAs, etc). Sometimes questions are difficult to google because there isn’t anything on line about it (pick any two poems and ask ChatGPT to explain the connection). Sometimes the answer is on google, but I don’t want to read a whole article to get a concise answer (e.g “what is the Jones Act”). And sometimes I just want things explained to me (e.g. I will often just paste a WSJ article and ask ChatGPT to provide a brief summary of the articles with the key points of the article returned as bullets).

• Automation: ChatGPT can be very good at quickly amalgamating basic information. If you want a list of leap years in the 2000s, the headquarters of a list companies you provide, or a table of all Germany-related sentences from a company’s earning call, ChatGPT can do this quite well and almost instantly.

• Generative Thinking: ChatGPT is very good at synthesizing answers to things that have never been asked. For example: “I have a lemon, some vodka, ginger ale, and the following ingredients []. Please design me three cocktails from scratch.” “Here is the abstract of my paper, please suggest some titles.” “Here is a list of my friends, and the times they are available, please find a list of times tomorrow I can meet them independently”. “Here is some information about my friend []. Please suggest some good birthday gifts”. These are things google could not answer because they have never been asked to google before.

What I have found ChatGPT is not particularly good for:

• Basic facts: ChatGPT is not great for basic factual questions. If you want to know the market cap of google, the age difference between Jefferson and Washington, the most common type of bird in the world, or what Robert Oppenheimer’s thoughts on the Hydrogen bomb are, you are (probably) better off using Google. I find that this is the biggest source of confusion for people not familiar with ChatGPT: they assume it is an encyclopedia designed to answer factual information.

• Recent information: ChatGPT is only trained up until 2021, so it is not great with very recent information. I would not ask it to explain the Silicon Valley Banking crisis, for example.

• (Some) math: I actually think ChatGPT is much better at math that most people give it credit for, but I would not take its math results without auditing it independently.

Some Use-Cases of ChatGPT

Here are 34 questions I have used ChatGPT for over the past month. Two things to note (1) All of these questions yielded a pretty useful answer from ChatGPT. While reading, it’s helpful to ask yourself why googling these questions would perhaps not yield as quick or useful an answer. (2) All of these questions were asked genuinely. This means first, that they are geared toward my interests not yours, and second, I did not ask them with the purpose of showcasing ChatGPTs ability (they are not “cherry picked”).

1. What are bank call reports? What information do they provide, and who is expected to file them?

2. Please give me a recipe for pan-fried chicken breast recipe, along with a sauce involving shallots and wine.

3. I’m going to a reception where the dress code is "1920s Locomotive Chic". What might I wear? (note: I’m a 27-year old man)

4. What are some considerations a consumer should have in mind when deciding whether to prepay a mortgage?

5. I have an email account on outlook. I’d like to export all the emails to a new email account, what should I do?

6. Can you explain the difference between total net assets (TNA) and net asset value (NAV), and give a numeric example to illustrate the distinction?

7. What are some appropriate fonts for a thank you note?

8. Why is the infant mortality rate in the US so much higher than that of other countries?

9. Do pension plans in the US allow individuals to choose between receiving an annuity vs lump sum payment? Does it differ public vs. private pensions?

10. Can you provide a 3 week training plan for a half marathon (include both daily workouts and a meal plan).

11. Explain the difference between fantasy betting and sports betting.

12. I’m driving through Syracuse. What is a nice but not too fancy restaurant my friend and I could stop at for lunch?

13. What are the disadvantages of saltwater pools relative to chlorine pools?

14. How does the tipped minimum wage work?

15. In the context of airlines, explain the difference between "marketing carrier" and "reporting carrier”?

16. Are the traditional anniversary gifts gifts you give the couple, or gifts the couple gives to each other?

17. Please provide a concise taxonomy of different social science theories of how individuals form expectations.

18. I have a glass jar of pasta sauce that is frozen. What is the best way to defrost it?

19. I’m going to show you a section of a paper I just wrote. I'd like your feedback on it. Less on grammar and syntax, and more of your thoughts / criticisms/ suggestions.

20. I'm going to give you a list of dates. Please return a table with the date as one column, and a brief description of the major news that day, particularly if the news is relevant to economy/financial markets.

21. I don’t have asthma nor am I particularly concerned about pollutants where I live. Would you still recommend an air purifier?

22. For a credit score of 750 vs 800, what’s the approximate difference in interest rates one could expect on a mortgage?

23. Why have batting averages decreased in past 2 decades?

24. I read in an article that “Amtrak is required by law to operate a national route system.” What exactly is meant by a “national route system”?

25. My extended monitor started sort of flickering all of a sudden. What steps can I take to fix it?

26. I’m looking for a restaurant that has similar food to Loring Place, but located in or around the Upper East Side. Can you recommend a place?

27. What about clay courts makes Rafael Nadal so effective compared to other surfaces?

28. I want to use ML algorithms on time series data, but I'm confused how to think about cross validation, or splitting the sample for time series data?

29. Are there any advantages to holding mutual funds over ETF?

30. We just got a lease renewal option and I'd like to send a polite email inquiring about negotiating rent. Please draft an email for me.

31. What is average tax rate in new york city that individuals earning 50,000, 150,000, and 500,000 could expect to face. (Please include a breakdown of federal, state, and city taxes.)

32. Why do green peppers cost less than red and yellow and orange ones?

33. Explain why Galbraith thought that lowering interest rates does not induce demand.

34. I have a csv file that contains a text column. Please write me code in R to extract the first full number in each row (but only if that number starts with a dollar sign), and return it as a new column.

35. I am planning a 5 day road trip in the North Island of New Zealand. Please provide a sample itinerary, and make sure it involves a stop at Lake Taupo.

Postscript: Some Side-by-Side Examples

A reader suggested I “show don’t tell” the differences between Google and ChatGPT for some of the above questions. Let’s do this on a couple examples.

1. Amtrak National Route System. Recall that I read in an article that Amtrak is legally required to operate a “national route system”, and I had no idea what was meant by this legal requirement. Consider the side-by-side (Google, left; ChatGPT right) and decide which is more helpful. Google is unable to differentiate the idea of a national route system from the specific legal requirement I asked about. ChatGPT does a very good job.

   

2. Infant Mortality in the US: For “big” questions, such as why infant mortality is higher in the US than other countries, google can do a good job providing access to a number of articles. But often it can be cumbersome to wade through long articles when you just want a quick, high level summary. Consider how good ChatGPT does at summarizing the key points.

   

3. Tax Rates in NYC: As I noted, I find it extremely difficult to google pretty much any legal / financial question without being bombarded with irrelevant info. Consider a basic question about the average effective tax rate someone in NYC faces. Google gets confused and returns answers on the local city tax rate. ChatGPT provides a very helpful breakdown.

   

(Of course, the added benefit of ChatGPT is that unlike google I can interact with those answers. I can ask it to explain it more simply or more in depth; I can tell it to provide me with examples, or to cite some papers; I can ask it to adjust its answer to take into account some extra information.)