AI chatbots have become an essential part of my daily workflow. I use ChatGPT extensively for work, analyzing massive Excel spreadsheets of site traffic data, creating article outlines, and generating title ideas. I record hour-long press conferences and then use AI to produce detailed, structured summaries. These tasks, which once consumed hours, are now completed in a fraction of the time.
And I don’t just use AI for work – it is just as valuable for tackling personal tasks. I’ve used AI for everything from planning detailed trip itineraries to writing dirty limericks for my uncle’s 80th birthday celebration (which it was surprisingly good at).
Yet, I often encounter people who are skeptical about AI’s usefulness. Some complain that chatbots generate clunky translations, weak summaries, or generic content. I used to think the same – until I learned how to prompt AI effectively. The difference was night and day. Now, when I demonstrate how to structure requests properly, even AI skeptics walk away impressed.
The key to making AI work for you is understanding how to communicate with it. A hammer won’t build a house on its own, and AI won’t generate high-quality answers without clear direction and refinement. AI is best thought of as a very smart, talented, eager, yet inexperienced intern – someone who can do incredible work, but only if you guide them properly. Start with simple instructions, let AI show what it can do, and then refine the results through follow-ups and customization. Beyond prompting, AI chatbots are evolving to include memory and personalization, which I use extensively. ChatGPT remembers who I am, how I write, and what I expect from its responses.
Choosing the right AI chatbot, understanding the differences between free and paid versions, and learning how to use it effectively can transform AI from a novelty into a highly versatile personal assistant.
How AI Chatbots Work: The Basics
AI chatbots are powered by large language models (LLMs) – sophisticated machine-learning systems trained on massive amounts of text. Instead of “thinking” independently, they predict the most likely response based on your input.
This allows AI chatbots to generate detailed summaries, creative content, and structured data analysis, but it also means they can be wrong, outdated, or misleading. Unlike search engines, which pull information directly from the web, chatbots generate responses which may not always be up to date or accurate.
AI is also prone to hallucinations when it tries to make sense of a world it doesn’t really understand. It may generate a perfectly plausible-sounding answer that's entirely wrong or mix accurate information with fabricated details. I've experienced this firsthand where AI creates wonderful quotes that were never said, from sources that don’t exist. Like your pet cat dropping a dead bird at your feet, you appreciate the effort, but it’s really not what you were looking for.
This is why fact-checking AI responses is crucial, especially for research, news, and technical topics. AI can save time and improve productivity, but it absolutely still requires human oversight and refinement. And before we use this as an excuse to entirely pooh-pooh AI, let’s consider whether similar concerns can be levied against our human colleagues, as well (or, if we’re being honest, ourselves).
Read more: Adobe Acrobat AI vs. ChatGPT: Which Summarizes Legal Contracts Best?
The Art of Prompting: How to Get Better AI Responses
One of the most common reasons people struggle with AI is that they don’t know how to prompt it effectively. If you type in a vague question like “Tell me about electric cars,” you’ll get a generic, surface-level response. But if you ask, “Compare the latest Tesla Model 3 and Hyundai Ioniq 6 in terms of range, price, and features. Write it as a detailed buyer’s guide,” you’ll get a far more useful answer. AI works best when given specific, structured instructions.
For example, a friend recently told me AI wasn't good at translations. He had attempted to translate a document from Hebrew to English, but the result was clunky and unnatural. When I suggested he tweak his prompt to include “Convert Hebrew idioms into English idioms,” the quality of the translation improved dramatically. A small adjustment made a huge difference.
If you want better responses, think of yourself as the manager of that new employee. Start with a clear request, review the output, and refine your instructions as needed. Here are my best prompting techniques:
- Be specific. Instead of “How does Wi-Fi 7 work?” try, “Explain the differences between Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6E, focusing on speed, range, and device compatibility for home users.”
- Provide context or a role. If you need marketing advice, instead of “How do I market my business?” ask, “You are a digital marketing consultant. Give me a five-step strategy for launching an online store.”
- Request structured responses. If you need clarity, say “Give me a step-by-step guide” or “List the pros and cons of each option.”
- Refine with follow-ups. AI is a conversational tool – if the first answer isn’t quite right, follow up with “Rewrite this in simpler terms” or “Expand on the battery life section.”
At the same time, trust AI to do its work without over-prompting initially. I’ve found that providing too much direction in the first prompt limits ChatGPT’s natural creativity, generating results that are both too narrow and less interesting to read.
Memory, Personalization, and Customization: How AI Chatbots Adapt to You
One of the most powerful emerging features of AI chatbots is memory and personalization. I use ChatGPT’s memory extensively, and it makes a massive difference. It remembers how I write, what my preferences are, and what kind of content I need. Over time, it has learned to tailor its answers to match my writing style, saving me time on rewrites. ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini each have options for customizing how the AI responds to your requests and remembering past information to improve future outputs.
Memory retention by chatbots brings up privacy concerns for how these companies are using our data. And each AI company has its own approaches to data retention and usage. Some services allow you to delete conversations and opt out of having your inputs used for training, while others might be more restrictive or less transparent. ChatGPT, for example, has a toggle switch in the settings to opt out of having your data used for model training. For sensitive professional work, this consideration may be especially important.
Read more: The Best VPNs for Protecting Your Privacy
How to Choose the Best AI Chatbot for You
Choosing the right AI chatbot depends on your needs. For general use, including AI for writing, summarizing, and content creation, ChatGPT (especially the paid version) is one of the best options. If fact-checking and real-time information are more important, Google Gemini’s Deep Research or Perplexity might be a better choice. Claude excels in maintaining long-form conversational context, making it a strong choice for deep discussions and well-constructed prose.
Most AI chatbots offer both free and paid versions, but the difference in capabilities can be significant. For casual users, free AI chatbots work well. But if you frequently use AI for work, research, or creative projects, upgrading to a paid plan will give you access to much more powerful models and additional features, resulting in higher quality output and less re-work.
The best way to decide? Try them out. Since most chatbots have free versions, you can test different options before committing to a paid plan.
Did I Use AI to Write this Article?
Given everything I talked about, it’s natural to ask if I used AI to write this article. And the answer is a resounding “Yes!” What would an article about AI be if I didn’t incorporate AI? ChatGPT-4o was used to develop the outline and flesh out examples for each of the sections. I also had it do the bulk of the initial writing work, based on the personalization I created for my writing style and intended audience. I probably saved at least four hours of work versus having written it entirely from scratch.
However, as I describe in the article, the AI draft went through multiple prompting revisions to add and remove sections, change layouts, and integrate my professional opinions and experience throughout. In total, this article was driven through one initial prompt and about a dozen follow up revisions. Critically, I also recognized errors based on outdated training data and removed or corrected them. The final version received an editorial review from myself, our Editor-in-Chief, Suzanne Kantra, and AI expert, Pete Pachal.
AI is a very productive hammer. But, at least for now, it still needs humans to wield it.
[Image credit: Screenshot via Techlicious, Anthropic, laptop mockup via Canva]
