6 ms·

When you have a question, there's no answer on Google and you don't know who else to ask.

by chpatrick 3y ago

apwell23 3y ago
what an example of a question only chatgpt knows ?
- chpatrick 3y ago
  Obscure command-line invocations, some specialist topic that's not discussed much online. Usually I Google something first and if I can't see any straightforward answer in a couple of minutes I'll ask ChatGPT. For example I don't know much about electronics so I asked it how design a circuit for a problem I had and it came up with a useful answer.
- mmasu 3y ago
  for me it’s really worth it, and use it as a starting point rather than spending time sifting through garbage google results. I am using it to study math, to ask about css frameworks, about api best practices, SQL dialects, and so many more things. Then i can drill in and go to source documents if I want to. It took me a while to see the value, however now i feel i have a “generalist” assistant and use it as much as i can.
- infecto 3y ago
  I don’t think it has any knowledge that only it knows. That would be silly. It is the accessibility. I can go and ask an esoteric question about economics and it an answer immediately. Along with that answer comes enough information that I can dig more myself if I want.
  - apwell23 3y ago
    That makes total sense. Can you give me a specific example of esoteric economics question you referred to. Would love to compare UX with google and chatgpt.
- danielvaughn 3y ago
  There are all sorts of questions I've had that are either very hard, or very annoying, to use Google for. They're often technical, but really they could be anything. Two recent examples that comes to mind: 1. I was helping my 6 year old niece with her homework, and the exercise was extremely confusing. It had 3 pictures - a gumball machine, an owl, and something else (can't remember). The instructions said "for each picture, write 3 adjectives that describe what the picture can do." It's one of those things where, the more you think about it, the more confused you get. I thought I must be going crazy. I took a screenshot and asked ChatGPT if it could understand what the exercise was asking for, and it successfully interpreted the picture but agreed that the exercise as described didn't make sense, because adverbs describe actions, not adjectives. 2. A more trivial example, but I quickly needed to know the time and temperature for cooking bacon in the oven. Stuff like this is incredibly irritating with Google, especially if you're in the kitchen with food particles all over your hand. I don't want to read some backstory about the recipe author growing up on a small farm, intermixed with 15 different ads, just so I can figure out how many teaspoons of salt I need.
  - apwell23 3y ago
    > It's one of those things where, the more you think about it, the more confused you get. > it successfully interpreted the picture Sorry, but how did you know that interpretation was a success?
    - danielvaughn 3y ago
      Because it explained what the exercise was. I just tried sharing but it said "sharing chats with images is not yet supported", so I'll paste what it said: 'Assignment 6 on the homework sheet you've provided is a grammar exercise that asks the student to think of two adjectives (describing words) that describe what each of the three pictures can do. The pictures are labeled "bubble gum," "porcupine," and "milk." It seems your niece has already filled out the adjectives for the bubble gum as "chew" and "blow," which are actions rather than descriptive adjectives. Adjectives for bubble gum might be "sticky" and "sweet." For the porcupine, adjectives like "spiky" and "prickly" would be appropriate, and for the milk, "cold" and "creamy" could work. The task is to use descriptive words, not actions or verbs.' So then I said: 'What’s confusing is that it says “an adjective describing what each picture can do”. Isn’t that a verb?' And it responded: 'You're correct; there seems to be a misunderstanding in the instructions. Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns—like 'red,' 'quick,' 'tall,' 'sleepy,' etc., while verbs are action words like 'run,' 'talk,' 'eat,' 'do.' The phrase "describing what each picture can do" indeed suggests action, which would typically be described by a verb. However, since the instructions are asking specifically for adjectives, it seems they want descriptive words that can indirectly suggest an action or capability. For instance: For bubble gum: "stretchy" (since it can be stretched) and "flavorful" (since it has a taste). For the porcupine: "sharp" (since it has quills that can prick) and "defensive" (since it can use its quills to defend itself). For the milk: "refreshing" (since it can be refreshing to drink) and "nutritious" (since it provides nutrition). These adjectives describe the qualities of the nouns that relate to what they can do without being action words themselves.'
xbmcuser 3y ago
But free chatgpt or bard work good enough for most of such questions

When you have a question, there's no answer on Google and you don't know who else to ask.

apwell23 3y ago

what an example of a question only chatgpt knows ?

chpatrick 3y ago
Obscure command-line invocations, some specialist topic that's not discussed much online. Usually I Google something first and if I can't see any straightforward answer in a couple of minutes I'll ask ChatGPT. For example I don't know much about electronics so I asked it how design a circuit for a problem I had and it came up with a useful answer.
mmasu 3y ago
for me it’s really worth it, and use it as a starting point rather than spending time sifting through garbage google results. I am using it to study math, to ask about css frameworks, about api best practices, SQL dialects, and so many more things. Then i can drill in and go to source documents if I want to. It took me a while to see the value, however now i feel i have a “generalist” assistant and use it as much as i can.
infecto 3y ago
I don’t think it has any knowledge that only it knows. That would be silly. It is the accessibility. I can go and ask an esoteric question about economics and it an answer immediately. Along with that answer comes enough information that I can dig more myself if I want.
- apwell23 3y ago
  That makes total sense. Can you give me a specific example of esoteric economics question you referred to. Would love to compare UX with google and chatgpt.
danielvaughn 3y ago
There are all sorts of questions I've had that are either very hard, or very annoying, to use Google for. They're often technical, but really they could be anything. Two recent examples that comes to mind: 1. I was helping my 6 year old niece with her homework, and the exercise was extremely confusing. It had 3 pictures - a gumball machine, an owl, and something else (can't remember). The instructions said "for each picture, write 3 adjectives that describe what the picture can do." It's one of those things where, the more you think about it, the more confused you get. I thought I must be going crazy. I took a screenshot and asked ChatGPT if it could understand what the exercise was asking for, and it successfully interpreted the picture but agreed that the exercise as described didn't make sense, because adverbs describe actions, not adjectives. 2. A more trivial example, but I quickly needed to know the time and temperature for cooking bacon in the oven. Stuff like this is incredibly irritating with Google, especially if you're in the kitchen with food particles all over your hand. I don't want to read some backstory about the recipe author growing up on a small farm, intermixed with 15 different ads, just so I can figure out how many teaspoons of salt I need.
- apwell23 3y ago
  > It's one of those things where, the more you think about it, the more confused you get. > it successfully interpreted the picture Sorry, but how did you know that interpretation was a success?
  - danielvaughn 3y ago
    Because it explained what the exercise was. I just tried sharing but it said "sharing chats with images is not yet supported", so I'll paste what it said: 'Assignment 6 on the homework sheet you've provided is a grammar exercise that asks the student to think of two adjectives (describing words) that describe what each of the three pictures can do. The pictures are labeled "bubble gum," "porcupine," and "milk." It seems your niece has already filled out the adjectives for the bubble gum as "chew" and "blow," which are actions rather than descriptive adjectives. Adjectives for bubble gum might be "sticky" and "sweet." For the porcupine, adjectives like "spiky" and "prickly" would be appropriate, and for the milk, "cold" and "creamy" could work. The task is to use descriptive words, not actions or verbs.' So then I said: 'What’s confusing is that it says “an adjective describing what each picture can do”. Isn’t that a verb?' And it responded: 'You're correct; there seems to be a misunderstanding in the instructions. Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns—like 'red,' 'quick,' 'tall,' 'sleepy,' etc., while verbs are action words like 'run,' 'talk,' 'eat,' 'do.' The phrase "describing what each picture can do" indeed suggests action, which would typically be described by a verb. However, since the instructions are asking specifically for adjectives, it seems they want descriptive words that can indirectly suggest an action or capability. For instance: For bubble gum: "stretchy" (since it can be stretched) and "flavorful" (since it has a taste). For the porcupine: "sharp" (since it has quills that can prick) and "defensive" (since it can use its quills to defend itself). For the milk: "refreshing" (since it can be refreshing to drink) and "nutritious" (since it provides nutrition). These adjectives describe the qualities of the nouns that relate to what they can do without being action words themselves.'

xbmcuser 3y ago

But free chatgpt or bard work good enough for most of such questions