Amanda Smith is a freelance journalist and writer. She reports on culture, society, human interest and technology. Her stories hold a mirror to society, reflecting both its malaise and its beauty. Amanda's work has been published in National Geographic, The Guardian, Business Insider, Vice, News Corp, Singapore Airlines, Travel + Leisure, and Food & Wine. Amanda is an Australian living in the cultural center of gravity that is New York City.
Before AI's breakout moment, chatbots were those weird messaging features that would sit on websites. They rarely solved problems and likely caused you more stress.
But today, AI chatbots like ChatGPT have created a whole new category - it's search, but with conversation. Prompts are the keywords of chatbots.
While the Google search algorithm serves up the most optimized links, the generative AI interprets information and summarizes it. Ask follow-up questions, get more context and expand on your initial prompt. The chat component is what makes it different from search engines.
Use it as a thought partner, a research aid and a Google alternative for anything you want to know. But beware that generative AI can hallucinate - that is, it may pass along wrong or made-up information, which was especially apparent in the early days of Google's AI Overviews in its search results.
The better the prompt, the better the response. To avoid generic responses, give the chatbot as much context as possible. For example, let's say you're moving to New York City. While a "best neighborhoods in NYC" keyword suffices in search, the AI requires more distinctive personalization in its prompt.
Instead, your prompt could be: "Provide information on the best neighborhoods in New York City, for a 36-year-old woman who is married and planning to start a family. I want to be around young professionals, artistic people, parks and outdoor spaces. I don't need to live in Manhattan and prefer to save on rent and have more space. I'd like an apartment within a 10-minute walk to a subway stop."
See how specific you can get with your initial AI chat? With ChatGPT's new web search function, this is what I got back - a listing of five New York City neighborhoods that the AI said might suit my needs: Astoria, Queens; Park Slope, Brooklyn; Long Island City, Queens; Williamsburg, Brooklyn; and Forest Hills, Queens.
What's great about a chatbot is being able to push back on what I disagree with or to request more information. I followed this up by asking the chatbot to provide more advice on Park Slope and Astoria.
I liked the real-time comparison function.
Then I asked for a demographic breakdown of each neighborhood. I discovered the median household income in Park Slope is double that for Astoria, so I asked what this means for locals.
ChatGPT responded that higher incomes may lead to elevated prices for local dining, entertainment and shops. However, increased household income can also result in more funding for local amenities such as parks and community programs.
All great information to know.
What about using chatbots for work-related tasks? That's something Anthropic is steering Claude toward. Described as an AI assistant, Claude could come in handy nine-to-five.
For example, let's say you're an employee at a growing tech startup and you want feedback on your performance. This could be a prompt:
"I'm an employee at a growing tech startup that doesn't have formal performance reviews. I've been at the company for a year. We're a small team and we all wear many hats. Provide some informal ideas on ways to approach my manager and ask for feedback."
Off the bat, the advice was helpful. Claude incorporated advice and actions, with suggestions such as initiating a standing one-on-one meeting - to make feedback an ongoing process rather than a one-time event.
Love it.
Then I asked Claude to prepare an email to suggest a weekly 15-minute check-in call with a manager, framing it as an opportunity to align on issues and ideas.
It was pretty close to "hit send."
I asked Claude to make it more conversational, and it was even better.
As with all AI tools, take it all with a grain of salt - just like with search results.
While AI chat won't replace the first response to "just Google something" (yet), it's a useful skill to have in your toolkit.
