TLDR: My notes on using ChatGPR and a few other AI language models. May be helpful to fellow facilitators, trainers and workshop designers interested in how to use emergent and generative AI in their work.
Let’s talk about ChatGPT
ChatGPT is the thing that has everyone excited but there are quite a few alternatives that I’ve listed below, too, some of which require no registration.
ChatGPT is an AI language model that allows you to have “conversations” and tap into its knowledge of the world up to the end of 2021. It’s currently free but will most likely become move to a Subscription as a Service (SAAS) model soon, like all these tools. It’s regularly overwhelmed by users, especially late afternoon and onwards in Europe. I find that 4am-6am CET is a good time to use it. It can be used to retrieve information, answer questions, have a conversation and much more.
How I’ve used it: I’ve been playing with this with my different hats on – facilitator, trainer, oral storyteller, researcher etc. so here are a few use-cases.
- To generate workshop outlines of various lengths
- To find alternatives to common activities
- To interrogate the tool about what aspects of my different roles can be optimised by AI and which are human value-adds
- To write social media posts
- To find traditional folk tales with an environmental theme
- To conduct a sentiment analysis after a large workshop
- To get a summary of a long paper or journal article
- To summarise my own long and meandering writing
- To find a list of respected researchers in a particular field of academia, so that I can then manually go and look at their papers and journal article
How other people use it:
You can give Chat GPT and similar tools detailed prompts so that they “act” as all sorts of things – a life coach, an interview coach, a storyteller, a prompt generator for OTHER generative AI tools and so on. See my notes on prompts, which includes links to a variety of ways that people using AI language models.
One extra use-case that came up recently was to use the tool to summarise transcripts from anonymised discovery calls, which would then be used for research purposes.
Tip: learn more about how to use prompts to get the information you want from ChatGPT and other generative AI tools.
Pros: this really depends on how you use it. For me, it’s a useful productivity tool: it gives me shortcuts to do lots of things – research, writing social media posts, summarising content instead of me skimming it (before deciding to read), and so on.
Cons: huge time sink! Sometimes the answers are a bit weird – apparently, like humans, when the tool doesn’t have a good answer, it makes things up, so CHECK its output. I worry that we are going to end up with lots of mediocre content, just repackaged “blah blah blah” in a world filled with mediocre content. The ethical considerations and misinformation issues are an issue, too (see above), as is HOW the datasets are created. For example, in January 2023, Time reported that “OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic” (https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/). So AI doesn’t mean “equal pay for equal work” etc.
Try it out: you need to sign up to use it
Learn more: https://chat.openai.com/chat
An example of ChatGPT in action
I asked ChatGPT:
Create a 2-hour PATH strategy workshop agenda for me, with detailed breakdowns of timings and activities.
ChatGPT said:
PATH Strategy Workshop Agenda
Duration: 2 hours
Objective: To help participants understand and create a PATH strategy plan that aligns with their goals and objectives.
Part 1: Introduction (10 minutes)
- Welcome and introduction of the facilitator
- Overview of the workshop objectives and agenda
- Explanation of PATH strategy and its benefits
Part 2: Understanding the Participants’ Goals (20 minutes)
- Facilitator to ask participants about their goals and objectives
- Group discussion and brainstorming session to get a clear understanding of what each participant wants to achieve
Part 3: Defining the Problem Statement (20 minutes)
- Facilitator to guide participants to define the problem they want to solve
- Group discussion and brainstorming session to identify the key challenges and issues related to the problem
Part 4: Creating the Vision and Objectives (30 minutes)
- Facilitator to guide participants to create a vision statement that aligns with their goals
- Group discussion and brainstorming session to identify the objectives that will help achieve the vision
Part 5: Developing the Strategies (40 minutes)
- Facilitator to guide participants to develop strategies that align with the objectives
- Group discussion and brainstorming session to identify the actions and steps needed to achieve the strategies
Part 6: Identifying the Resources (20 minutes)
- Facilitator to guide participants to identify the resources required to achieve the strategies
- Group discussion and brainstorming session to identify the resources available and the ones that need to be acquired
Part 7: Creating the Plan (20 minutes)
- Facilitator to guide participants to create a detailed plan that outlines the strategies, objectives, and resources
- Group discussion and brainstorming session to review and finalize the plan
Part 8: Conclusion (10 minutes)
- Recap of the workshop and the key takeaways
- Feedback from participants
- Closing remarks
Note: The timings are approximate and may vary based on the pace and participation of the group.
Some alternatives to ChatGPT
You (https://you.com/)
This is a bit like a chat tool plus a search engine, all in one. No registration required.
Writesonic (writesonic.com/)
This has chat functionality, but is also useful as tool for creating content, like Jasper. Free limited plan, registration required. [I’ve been told that this results is a lot of spam email – perhaps use a temporary email address for this.]
OpenAI playground (https://platform.openai.com/examples and https://platform.openai.com/playground/p/default-chat)
An older version of ChatGPT, if memory serves. Doesn’t always work, but you can try it!