Chat GPT and I are having a blast

If you can´t beat them, join them.

Gizmos, gizmos everywhere.

A few months ago, when ChatGPT first entered the scene, my brother-in-law suggested that I give it a go to find answers about a tech issue that was bugging me. At the time, I didn´t think much of it — it looked like a blander, less nosy version of Google which seemed quite clueless, as if it had been living under a rock. For Artificial Intelligence, the poor thing sounded quite naive.

More recently, however, my brother — who can´t take no for an answer- insisted that I had, because I had to, put the gizmo to the test. And in that same week, my mailbox and feeds were flooded with articles on the blood*y thingamajig: some up in arms swearing that the Terminator universe is here and machines are taking over our jobs, others praising how AI will make our jobs easier — or at least, separate the writers who can adjust and survive from those who are too set in their ways.

To be fair, my opinion was formed already: I might be old-fashioned in many things, but making my life easier is not one of them; I´m not shy to try new gadgets if they come in handy.

I learned how to fix my computer on Tiktok, for crying out loud, and use it regularly to find quick information on matters that I care about. Google Translator can be wonderful if you know the language in question well enough- as long as you edit, polish and review the result to perfection. No machine is flawless- you always have to put in the hard work. I don´t trust Grammarly blindly, but would a writer in their right mind without it, or an equivalent, nowadays? Having tools saves you unnecessary work, allowing you to focus on the relevant tasks.

As I had a break between projects, I decided to take the chance to “educate” ChatGPT to sing to my song. I took the poor thingie by its little tail, sat with it and started writing an array of prompts in different formats, and different subjects. From letters to fiction to journaling, to the craziest fictional scenarios, not forgetting Instagram posts, and benchmarking studies on products that I´m interested in writing about, to keyword recommendations, I started feeling that, somewhere along the way, poor ChatGPT was praying we never met.

Soon enough, though, our co-writing was flowing!