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ChatGPT

Your AI assistant for everything.

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4.9 / 5.0 Rating

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Pros

  • Extremely versatile
  • Constantly improving
  • Large community support

Cons

  • Can hallucinate facts
  • Free version can be slow

First Impressions

It's the tool that started it all. I use it daily for brainstorming, drafting emails, summarizing articles, and even debugging code. It's a generalist, but incredibly powerful when prompted correctly.

Best Feature: Custom Instructions

Setting up custom instructions means I don't have to repeat myself. I tell it my role, my preferred tone, and my goals, and it remembers them across conversations, making every interaction more efficient.

The Verdict

The foundational AI tool. If you only use one AI, this is it. It's a Swiss Army knife for productivity and creativity.

The Real Talk

What it actually solves

"Writer's block and blank page syndrome. ChatGPT is the universal 'first draft' machine."

Who it's NOT for

Facts that require high precision (it hallucinates). Privacy-sensitive corporate data (unless on Enterprise).

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Pricing Reality

Free model (GPT-3.5/4o-mini) is dumb. The real magic is in GPT-4o, which costs $20/mo. New features (Voice, Sora) roll out to Plus users first.

When it breaks

  • Confidence Trick: It sounds extremely confident even when it is completely wrong.
  • Laziness: Sometimes gives short, lazy answers unless you explicitly tell it to 'be comprehensive'.

If this isn't for you, try:

The First 60 Minutes

Action Plan

0-10m

Custom Instructions

Go to Settings > Personalization > Custom Instructions. Tell it your profession and 'Be concise, no fluff'. It saves hours of re-prompting.

10-25m

Voice Mode

Download the Mobile App. Tap the headphones. Have a walking meeting with it. It's significantly better than typing for brainstorming.

25-45m

Data Analysis

Upload a CSV/Excel file. Ask: 'Visualize the trends in this data'. It writes and runs Python code to make charts.

45-60m

Memory

Tell it: 'Remember that I prefer React code snippets'. It will confirm it saved this to memory for all future chats.

The Hero Prompt

The Devil's Advocate
I am considering [Decision]. Act as a critical opponent. 1. List 3 reasons why this will fail. 2. Steelman the counter-argument. 3. Identify my blind spots.

Asking AI to agree is easy. Asking it to critique breaks echo chambers and finds logic gaps.

Avoid This

  • Starting a new chat for every question (you lose context).
  • Politely asking 'User please' (it's a machine, be direct).

⌘ Power Shortcuts

New ChatCmd+Shift+O
Stop GeneratingEsc
Copy Last ResponseCmd+Shift+C