I’m I Used AI To Research Birthday Gifts And Other Uses This Week

I am quite comfortable now using generative AI to help me with writing emails. I do not think it knows me well enough to learn what I really want to convey. It is likely taking a lot of sources from other users and combining them to anticipate what a proper email should sound like. And yes, only proper well worded emails. I once asked AI to help me write an email that also convey how little I think of the recipient but it warned me that I should be professional and continued to give me a email that was rather professionally worded (I changed it to give a small hint that I think the recipient was a jerk. A small one that I doubt really drew any attention but it made me feel good nonetheless.)

I have also changed how I write my emails based on what AI has suggested in the past few weeks. So there is that. Here are other uses and my thoughts on how I feel about them this week. So far, I have keep to using ChatGPT, Pilot, Claude, and Gemini.

1. I used ChatGPT to help me suggest a birthday gift for a friend reaching his 50s who happens to be a techie and is very smart.
2. I used ChatGPT to help me find the best recipe for chocolate chunk cookies. You know, those scone-sized chocolate chip cookies. I had a couple from a cookie shop in Irvine, California and I brought them home. My wife, who is a chocolate fan but not a chocolate chip cookie fan, took them all. I never saw them again.
3. I am learning Japanese (and French). I used Gemini and ChatGPT to help me determine proper phrasing or how an actual Japanese person would speak. I used the translation app on my iPhone and Google Translate but I I went beyond that because I just had to make sure the translations were correctly worded. I do not want to sound like I am a translation app when I am speaking Japanese. 
4. Used Pilot to help me understand the basics of quantum physics because I was wondering just how closely linked our mind might be to exotic particles. Maybe our brains are capable of generating and detecting them (a short story I am writing) because I had read that some scientists theorized that we owe our consciousness to the quantum realm.
5. I was watch a horror movie about monsters that hunt by sound. With cell signals and power potentially impacting the survivors, I wondered if there was an app that allows users in the vicinity of Bluetooth range message each other. Of course, in silent mode. ChatGPT joined me to Bridgefy while Gemini went into why cross platforms through BT would not work. So I had to narrow it down and asked for such an app on each platform. I think ChatGPT is much better in this instance. I wonder if ChatGPT being less hindered by guardrails while Gemini been critically limited by Google's fear of AI hallucination or offending certain groups.
6.  I used copilot to help me find out some basics about 3D printing. I did not use other AI to confirm the information or tried to verify the results via search because this was a basic question that I felt copilot had adequately given the answer I was looking for.
7. I used Copilot to about the election, procedures, and what it takes to pass an initiative. I had to fact-check this through a Google search.
8. I came across an article in which the physicist theorized that we owe our consciousness to the quantum realm. I asked ChatGPT and Copilot if this was possible.
9. I am considering collecting pocket watches so I googled, I mean checked with the AI chats (all of them - Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini) about it. 
10. I wanted to know what "lo-fi" means. I came across it on Youtube while searching for music to help me pass time at work. 

I do believe that generative AI has a place. Obviously, I use it on a daily basis now, split between home, work, and writing projects I am working on. I do not have an iPhone or iPad that currently supports Apple Intelligence but my MacBook Air can. I hope that I can incoporate Apple Intelligence, particularly a much improved Siri, in the near future.

I cannot say that AI has improved my productivity or even saved me a lot of time but I have found them useful to some extent and for certain tasks. I look forward to incorporate these tools into my workflow both at home and work.