Nearly 550 million people around the world actively
using chat GPT every month. That sheer scale
is, well, it's staggering, but here's the thing.
Most of those users, they kind of treat it like
a simple search box. Exactly. But it's so much
more now, isn't it? I mean, it can manage code.
It analyzes massive data sets. And with vision,
it can essentially look at the world right through
your camera lens. That's right. So today, we're
diving deep into that hidden power and also the
specific personality of the world's top AI assistant.
Welcome to the deep dive. Yeah, we're taking
those really comprehensive feature guides and
and the research you shared with us and basically
distilling it all down into You know immediate
actionable knowledge for you. Oh, so our mission
today It's really to move you from just basic
chat stuff to well custom automation. Uh -huh.
First We'll unpack the core interface and that
really important plus button. Oh the plus button
Yeah, that's kind of your gateway right to multimodal
power and context then We're going to zero in
on the analytical tasks, the creative tasks,
the things that save you like massive amounts
of time. Right. And finally, we'll explore how
you can actually build your own custom agents
and systems. These are the features that truly
make it. a full spectrum AI assistant. OK, let's
unpack that first bit then. Why chat GPT? I mean,
there's fierce competition out there. Why does
it remain the undisputed leader in this space?
Well, it's definitely not just coasting on legacy,
you know, stays on top, but partly because of
the constant innovation. Yeah, but I think it's
mostly about the feel. A feel. Yeah, it delivers
speed. It delivers reliability short, but it
maintains this this warm. almost safe personality,
makes the interaction feel incredibly natural.
It really moves beyond just answering questions.
It's genuinely a tool for creativity, for data
analysis, for augmenting your workflow. And that
combination, I think, is why millions rely on
it every single day. That warmth. that conversational
feel, that is key. And when you look at the screen,
it does seem deceptively simple. But like you
said, that little plus button right next to the
text box, that's where the paradigm shift really
starts. Totally. Clicking it is basically opening
the door to context. Right. It lets you upload
photos or huge PDFs, complex CSV data sheets.
You name it. Which means the AI isn't starting
from like a blank slate. It starts with your
specific context. Exactly. And hidden beneath
that button are these specialized functions.
So you've got deep research. You turn that on
when you need really detailed information gathered
and summarized from, say, maybe 18 different
sources online, not just a quick look up. OK.
And we also find connectors there. Now this seems
like a game changer to me. It links chat GPT
to external software, like Google Drive or Microsoft
Office. Yeah, exactly. So instead of downloading
a file, then uploading it to the chat, then analyzing
it. Right, the usual awkward process. The connector
lets the AI just analyze it right in place. It
saves so much time, so much friction, it's huge.
OK, what else is under the plus? So the third
key function there is agent mode. We'll get into
that more. And we should also mention the model
itself, GPT -4 .0, the newest, most powerful
one. That's the default now. Right. Oh, and for
mobile users, voice mode is absolutely crucial.
Being able to have these really high level conversations
while you're walking or driving, it totally changes
the feel of the tool. So thinking about agent
mode again. Should we think of it as like shifting
the tool from being a really smart calculator
to maybe a temporary zero -cost intern? Is that
a fair way to put it? That's actually a pretty
good analogy. Yeah. Agent mode acts on your commands
to perform actual tasks. Like setting up a simple
website. It moves way beyond just conversation
Okay, so this is where we really miss the forest
for the trees if we just treat it like Google,
right? You shouldn't be asking it for the capital
of Australia. Exactly. Please don't laugh slightly
The goal is these detailed creative highly personal
tasks precisely Let's take content creation a
weak prompt is just you know, what are the benefits
of reading? Okay. Yeah boring. It's gonna generate
a generic probably dry list Not very useful.
But a strong prompt. That's more like an instruction
set. You've got to provide context, who the audience
is, the tone you want. Right. So try something
like, write a 150 word Facebook post. Goal is
to encourage university students to read more.
Use a friendly, casual tone. Include three relevant
hashtags. And end with a question to drive comments.
See the difference? Yeah, much more specific.
That's specificity. It ensure the tone is right,
the audience is targeted. That's how you get
something usable, hopefully on the first try.
Slate chuckle. Although, I'll admit, I still
wrestle with prompt drift myself sometimes, you
know? Oh, yeah. Getting the tone exactly right
on the first attempt, especially if it's a long
back and forth. Yeah. It can wander. That's a
really good point. And just for listeners, prompt
drift basically means the AI's output starts
to lose focus or consistency the longer your
conversation goes. It definitely takes practice
and iterating. Mm -hmm. Constant refinement.
And speaking of incredible abilities, let's talk
vision. Chat GPT can actually see. It's wild,
isn't it? The practical uses for image analysis
are just huge. Like, you take a photo of what's
in your fridge. OK. You ask, this is what's left.
Can I make a simple vegetarian dinner tonight?
And bam, it suggests viable options based only
on the ingredients it sees in the picture. Wow!
Or, you know, simple diagnostics. Snap a picture
of leaky faucet. Ask which nut to tighten first.
Okay, handy. It can identify plants. Or just
for educational purposes, you could upload an
X -ray image and ask it to explain the main bones
visible. But, you know, big disclaimer there.
It's a tool. It's absolutely not professional
medical advice. Gotta be careful, of course.
But that shift in modality from just text to
vision, that's massive. So what's the single
biggest mistake you see users making? when they
first try to use these creative or visual features.
Yeah, it usually comes down to prompts again.
Users often fail to give enough specific context
or tone or audience details in their prompts.
Vagueness gets you vague results. Makes sense.
And the mobile app here is just phenomenal because
it blends voice mode and the camera so seamlessly.
You can literally point your phone's camera at
your living room sofa. Okay. And ask, hey, would
this sofa look good with, say, a light blue rug?
The response feels really conversational, like
you're chatting with a friend who has a good
eye for design. So the voice function isn't just
about, you know, convenience, hands -free stuff.
It actually turns the tool into more of a conversation
partner. Totally. Which sounds excellent for
brainstorming project ideas or, and this is crucial,
practicing difficult conversations. Yes. This
is a great use case. You can ask it to role play.
Yeah. Be my manager. I need to practice asking
for a raise. Right. Or rehearse some complex
social scenario, but safely. And it gives you
immediate feedback, which is, well, it's priceless,
really. It's fantastic for quick encouragement,
too, you know? Yeah. Just getting a little boost.
But the source material we looked at does offer
an important warning here. While it feels like
a friend sometimes, remember, it is a tool. We
really need to avoid getting over dependent on
it for, like, Emotional validation. Keep that
boundary. That's a very important point. OK,
let's shift gears a bit. Let's talk data. Moving
to the analytical side, the platform handles
complex files really effortlessly now, right?
You can upload scientific papers, articles, or
And this is key for small businesses, I think.
CSV files with sales data. Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. So say you run a local coffee shop, you
upload your whatever August sales dot CSV file.
OK, then you just prompt it. Create a pie chart
showing my top five best sellers this month and
maybe a bar chart comparing total sales for each
day of the week. Right. And you don't need to
know how to code charts or use complex spreadsheet
software. Nope. The AI uses its built in code
interpreter tool. It analyzes the file and it
just produces those visual charts instantly because
you immediate business insights, no data expertise
required on your end. That's power. Which brings
us to why the sidebar is so vital. That's really
your control center. That's where you find things
like custom GPTs, these pre -built specialized
experts, like a scholar GPT for academic research,
and importantly, projects. Ah, projects. OK,
explain those. They seem essential for organizing
knowledge. They really are. So imagine you're
learning about the stock market. You create a
project, maybe call it investment study. Got
it. Then you upload relevant documents, like
say the Intelligent Investor PDF, right into
that specific project area. Okay, so the documents
live within the project, exactly. And then you
set custom instructions that apply only to that
project. For instance, when answering questions
in this project, always explain financial terms
simply, like I'm a beginner, and always give
both the pros and cons of any investment approach.
Ah, I see. That's super powerful because now
every single conversation you have within that
project gets filtered through those specific
instructions, and it uses the documents you uploaded
as its core knowledge base. It creates this cumulative
customized knowledge base just for that topic,
just for you. And if you have the PlusClan, the
paid version, you can actually create your own
custom GPTs from scratch. Yep. Think of making
a hyper -personalized, healthy meal planner assistant
just for your family's dietary needs and preferences.
How does that work? Well, you give it a name,
you write a description of what it does, and
then you provide very specific instructions like,
prioritize Vietnamese dishes, they must take
less than 45 minutes to prepare, and ignore all
dairy products. It becomes your household's personal
little food expert. OK, that level of customization
really does separate it from just standard search,
doesn't it? Massively. And the deep research
function we mentioned earlier is similar in its
depth. You can ask for a full report on something
complex, like solo travel trends among young
professionals. And what does it do? Well, first,
it'll probably ask you some clarifying questions
to make sure it understands exactly what you
want. Then it goes out and searches through,
like, 18 or more different sources. Wow. OK.
It synthesizes all that data, analyzes it, and
then delivers a structured, usually well -cited
report back to you. That level of thorough analysis,
I mean, that could easily take a person a full
work day or even more. OK, now let's circle back
to agent mode in action again, because this really
feels like it transcends the whole chat experience.
So you ask for suggestions to improve your portfolio
website. Right. And it gives you a detailed plan,
maybe even a visual mockup. OK. And then you
flip on agent mode, and you simply tell it, OK,
now deploy this mockup as a live website to GitHub
pages. And it's just. Does it the AI handles
the whole execution process it sets up the files
configures the hosting platform It just does
it whoa, okay Just pause there for a second imagine
scaling that ability managing dozens of complex
real -world tasks simultaneously That's deployment
automation on a completely different level. It's
pretty mind -blowing when you think about the
potential Yeah, no comparing the plans quickly
The free version is actually quite generous these
days. You get GPT -4 access, basic voice, image
analysis, projects. Pretty good starting point.
Definitely. But that $20 a month plus plan, that
unlocks the really high usage limits, the ability
to create your own custom GPTs, the deep research
function, and crucially, that agent mode access
we just talked about. Plus early access to things
like Sora sometimes. OK, makes sense. So let's
clarify, what's the main benefit again of creating
a project versus just starting a new blank chat?
Right. Projects provide that cumulative knowledge
base. They keep everything related to one topic
together with set custom instructions specific
just to that topic. It remembers context over
time within that boundary. Gotcha. Now, let's
dive into the settings menu for a sec. This is
something a lot of users just completely overlook.
but there are crucial hidden features in there
that really maximize the utility. OK, like what?
One is schedule tasks. You can actually set recurring
reminders or even schedule daily research updates.
Wait, really? So you could set it to do something
like, every morning at 8 a .m., find and summarize
the three latest news stories about artificial
intelligence. Exactly. That's true passive intelligence
gathering happening while you sleep. It's pretty
cool. That is cool. What else? Another really
important one is memory check. You can literally
ask the tool, What do you know about me? And
it will show you the personalized information
it has stored about you from your chats. And
you can manage those details right there in the
privacy controls. Delete things if you want.
OK, that's good to know. Now, for the power users,
the people who live in code. We should briefly
mention Codex. Yeah, definitely. Think of Codex
as like a specialized engineering partner that
works inside ChatGPT. Right. Helps with code
review, debugging complex problems, understanding
other people's code, integrating with platforms
like GitHub, super useful for developers. and
Sora, we touched on it, but that's the video
generation, still developing rapidly, but it
lets you create these incredibly detailed video
clips just from a simple text description, like
you type, a fluffy corgi dog running on a sandy
beach at sunset, cinematic slow motion, and it
generates the video. Okay, the pace of development
is just, yeah. So let's do a quick best practices
recap for listeners. What are the key takeaways?
Okay. Number one, be specific in your prompts.
Always right context use that context upload
files into your projects. Give it the background
info. Mm -hmm Always iterate. Don't expect perfection
first try. Ask it to make this funnier or rewrite
this more professionally. Keep refining. And
the things to avoid. Super important. Never rely
on it solely for serious medical, legal, or financial
advice. Always consult a qualified human professional.
Absolutely. And, obviously, avoid sharing highly
sensitive personal information or confidential
proprietary data. Be smart about privacy. Okay.
So... Beyond just the basic privacy settings,
why should users actively monitor ChatGPT's memory
using that what -you -know -about -me feature?
Well, it helps you understand exactly which details
and preferences the tool has actually remembered
and stored from your previous interactions. It
gives you transparency and control over its personalization.
Okay, that makes sense. So, wrapping things up,
we started by observing that ChatGPT... has really
transformed, hasn't it, from just a basic chatbot
into this customizable, organizational, analytical
assistant that's actually capable of action.
Yeah, I think the big idea here, the main takeaway
is this. The most successful users, the ones
getting the most value, they don't just ask it
general questions anymore. They're moving towards
building custom systems. The systems? Yeah, using
projects to organize knowledge, creating their
own specialized GPTs for specific tasks, and
really leveraging agents for actual task completion.
They're augmenting their entire workflow with
it. So it's about making the tool fit your unique
needs, your workflow, rather than constantly
trying to fit your work around the tools. limitations.
Exactly. That's the key shift. Now, we spent
a lot of time here discussing how chat GPT can,
you know, analyze your business data or draft
your marketing emails. Pretty practical stuff.
But maybe a final provocative thought to leave
people with. Consider the ethical implications,
especially with agent mode. Using it to maybe
deploy simple apps automatically or manage aspects
of your finances. How far are we collectively
comfortable letting the AI actually act on the
world, potentially without direct human oversight
in every single step? That's the real challenge,
I think, the big question we need to grapple
with as this technology matures. That is definitely
something to think about, a provocative thought
indeed. So maybe for you listening, we encourage
you to try just one new feature today. Perhaps
set up a detailed custom instruction in a new
project or try analyzing a photo with a very
specific request. Just experiment. And thank
you as always for sharing your sources with us
for this deep dive out here of music.