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When British mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead made the above statement, he was highlighting the potential role that technology and innovation could play in human progress when used skillfully and ethically.

Whitehead believed that as we develop as civilizations, we create tools and technologies that automate complex or difficult tasks, making them easier to perform. As we become more proficient with these tools, we no longer need to think about the operations involved in using them. 

ChatGPT is already proving to be such a tool and it's only been publicly available for 3 months. In this issue, we're going to give you some how-to basics for optimizing ChatGPT for your storytelling and content creation, even if you're just starting out with the tool.

What’s the Tip?

When it comes to ChatGPT, your outputs are only as good as your inputs.

In business and competitive situations, we almost always focus on the output. Did you win or lose? How much revenue did you bring in? How many sales did you make this week? How many new clients did you bring in this month? 

These are all outputs. Most of us, as businesspeople, are somewhere between output-driven and output-obsessed.

Chances are your competitors are output-focused, too, which creates an opportunity for you. Outputs are no doubt mission critical. But, when it comes to ChatGPT, you need to re-wire your thinking to focus on the quality of your inputs. Inputs are referred to as "prompts" in the ChatGPT world. Some are even saying that "prompting" is the new "coding". Inputs are where you have to put your time and energy if you want to optimize this nascent tool.

How Do You Use It? 

If you want to start using ChatGPT, the first step is to sign up here: ChatGPT | OpenAI (Please note: Due to overwhelming demand, the site does go down at times - or there may be a waitlist to join. Keep going back and trying - it's worth it!)

Once, enrolled, here are some basic how-tos for optimizing ChatGPT prompts:

1. Use specific prompts for better results.

Specificity matters. If you're using ChatGPT to generate ideas for your blog or content, you might use prompts such as "What are the latest trends in my industry?" or "What are some unique angles for my next blog post?" By using specific prompts, you can get more relevant and targeted results from ChatGPT.

2. Use context to improve accuracy

If you're asking ChatGPT a question about a specific topic, provide it with relevant information about that topic, such as keywords or background information.

3. Use multiple prompts for a more comprehensive answer

If you're asking ChatGPT about the best marketing strategies for a new product launch, you might use prompts such as "What are some successful marketing strategies for product launches?" and "What are some common mistakes to avoid during a product launch?" Using multiple prompts will help you get a more comprehensive and well-rounded answer from ChatGPT.

4. Refine your prompts for better results

If you're using ChatGPT to generate content ideas for your blog and you notice that prompts related to "how-to guides" generate more relevant results, focus on using more "how-to" prompts in the future. In other words, if your input is working, replicate it.

5. Provide feedback to improve ChatGPT's accuracy

If you notice that ChatGPT is providing inaccurate or irrelevant responses, provide feedback and explain why the response was not helpful. This feedback will help ChatGPT improve its algorithms.

6. Use ChatGPT to augment your own expertise

Use ChatGPT to complement your own expertise and provide additional perspectives, but always use your own judgment and knowledge to make decisions. Yes, you're using a powerful tool, but there still needs to be a human element.

7. Collaborate with colleagues to optimize ChatGPT

Collaboration can help you identify new use cases for ChatGPT and explore its full potential in your business or organization.

What is an Example?

The 7 tips above were written almost exclusively by ChatGPT with light human editing. The prompt (input) used was:

"What are some how-to basics for optimizing ChatGPT, even if you're just starting out with the tool?"

What Are the Benefits to You?

The single, biggest benefit of ChatGPT is the time it can give you to pursue other things. But gaining that time depends on the quality and specificity of your prompts. A generic prompt (input) will garner a generic response (output).

ChatGPT is not a magic wand, but it is an amazing tool.

If you want to say up to date with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, here are some links that can help you do that:

LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gAJwg8fw 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/OpenAI 
Facebook: https://lnkd.in/gNwNjdfg 
OpenAI's newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gkJk7UZS

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