I remember the exact moment I first used ChatGPT. It was December 2022, someone sent me a link on Twitter, and I asked them to write a poem about my cat. It did. Then I asked it to explain quantum entanglement like I was five. It did that too.
Three years later, I've spent probably 1,500+ hours with various versions of ChatGPT. We're now in the GPT-5 era what OpenAI calls the shift from "generative AI" to "thinking engines." I've used it for coding, writing, research, learning new topics, debugging broken scripts, complex strategic analysis, and, once, I'm not proud of this, helping me understand my health insurance policy. Here's everything I wish someone had told me back in 2022.
What ChatGPT Actually Is
ChatGPT is OpenAI's conversational interface to their GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) language models. That's a mouthful. Here's what it means in practice:
It's a large language model that predicts text. Really, well.
You type something, and it predicts what a helpful, knowledgeable response would look like based on patterns it learned from massive amounts of internet text, books, articles, and other written material. It doesn't "think" in the way humans do, doesn't have opinions (even though it sounds like it does), and doesn't understand anything.
But, and this is the wild part, it's so good at predicting helpful text that it feels like understanding.
The first version launched on November 30, 2022. Within five days, it had a million users. Two months later, 100 million. It became the fastest-growing consumer application in history because it did something that felt like magic; you could have an actual conversation with a computer.
The ChatGPT Version Timeline
OpenAI has released this in a genuinely confusing way. There are model versions (GPT-3.5, GPT-4, etc.) and ChatGPT product versions (Free, Plus, Team, Enterprise). These are different things.
Let me break down what matters.
ChatGPT with GPT-3.5 (November 2022 - Present)
This is what started everything. The free version of ChatGPT still runs on GPT-3.5-turbo (though it's been updated multiple times since launch).
What it can do:
- Answer questions across basically any topic
- Write content (emails, essays, code, stories)
- Explain complex concepts
- Help with homework and learning
- Basic coding and debugging
- Translations between languages
- Summarize long text
What it sucks at:
- Math. It gets basic arithmetic right most of the time, but anything beyond that is unreliable
- Current events (knowledge cutoff was September 2021 until recently)
- Being concise (it's wordy as hell)
- Admitting when it doesn't know something (it'll confidently make stuff up)
- Maintaining context in long conversations
- Anything requiring real-time data or web access
I used GPT-3.5 exclusively for about six months. For basic tasks, writing emails, explaining concepts, and helping with code syntax, it was genuinely useful. But I'd estimate it gave me wrong or misleading information about 20-30% of the time. You had to fact-check everything.
The biggest issue? It hallucinates. That's the technical term for when it makes stuff up confidently. I asked about a specific research paper once, and it gave me a detailed summary. The paper didn't exist. It invented the title, authors, findings, and everything.
ChatGPT Plus with GPT-4 (March 2023 - Present)
This is when things get serious. GPT-4 was a massive jump. OpenAI charges $20/month for ChatGPT Plus, and honestly, if you use ChatGPT for anything important, it's worth it.
The improvements over GPT-3.5:
- Way better at reasoning and logic
- Decent at math (though still not perfect)
- Much better at following complex instructions
- Can handle longer context (up to about 8,000 words initially, now 128,000)
- Safer outputs (less likely to generate harmful content)
- Better at admitting uncertainty
I ran a test when the GPT-4 came out. I gave both versions the same 20 questions across different domains. GPT-3.5 got 11 right. GPT-4 got 18 right. More importantly, GPT-4 said "I don't know" to ask one question. GPT-3.5 gave confident, wrong answers to all its failures.
What GPT-4 still struggles with:
- Anything requiring real-time information (though this changed with web browsing)
- Very specialized professional knowledge
- Creative tasks where it needs to break patterns
- Not sounding like AI-generated content
- Math involving complex multi-step calculations
- Understanding nuance in sensitive topics
The strangest thing about GPT-4 is that it's too safe sometimes. I asked it to help me write a thriller scene involving a character planning something illegal, and it refused. GPT-3.5 would have just written it. This is generally good, but it can be overly cautious.
GPT-4 Turbo (November 2023 - Present)
This was mostly a technical upgrade. Faster, cheaper (for API users), and could handle much longer inputs of 128,000 tokens, which is about 300 pages of text.
For most ChatGPT Plus users, this meant you could paste in entire documents, long articles, or even short books and ask questions about them. I used this to analyze a 60-page legal contract once. It took about 30 seconds.
Knowledge cutoff moved to April 2023 (later updated to December 2023). Still not real-time, but better.
GPT-4o (May 2024 - Present)
The "o" stands for "omni" because it's multimodal text, images, voice, and eventually video.
This is the current workhorse model. It's:
- Faster than GPT-4 Turbo
- Better at creative writing
- Can see and analyze images
- Can have voice conversations
- Cheaper to run (which means the free tier got upgraded to it)
I've been using GPT-4o since launch. The image understanding is genuinely impressive. I took a photo of a handwritten math problem, uploaded it, and solved it correctly. I showed it a screenshot of an error message from my code, and it debugged it.
The voice mode is weirdly natural. I had a 20-minute conversation about philosophy while cooking dinner. It interrupted itself when it realized it was wrong about something. That... shouldn't be possible, but it happened.
Where it still fails:
- Anything requiring precise calculations (use a calculator)
- Up-to-the-minute information without web access
- Generating truly original creative ideas
- Understanding context that's cultural or requires lived experience
- Consistency across long projects
GPT-4o with Canvas (October 2024)
Canvas is a feature, not a new model, but it changed how I use ChatGPT. Instead of everything happening in a chat, you get a side panel for writing or coding projects.
You can highlight specific parts of your document and ask ChatGPT to edit just that section. It can adjust the reading level, add emojis, make it longer or shorter, all without redoing the whole thing.
For coding, it's even better. You can ask it to add comments, fix bugs, port code to another language, or optimize specific functions.
I wrote a 3,000-word article using Canvas last month. Instead of copying text back and forth, I could edit inline, ask for specific changes, and see what it was doing. This sounds minor, but it's transformative if you do a lot of writing or coding.
GPT-5 (Late 2025 - Present)
This is the game-changer model of ChatGPT. Released in late 2025, GPT-5 represents what OpenAI calls a shift from "generative AI" to a "thinking engine."
What's different:
- Native multimodality from the ground up (not separate vision/text modules bolted together)
- Unified system that knows when to respond quickly vs. when to think deeply
- Three sub-models: GPT-5 Instant (fast), GPT-5 Thinking (deep reasoning), and GPT-5 Pro (highest capability)
- Massive improvements in reducing hallucinations
- Much better at following complex instructions
- Improved at writing, coding, and health-related queries
I've been using GPT-5 since it rolled out, and it's legitimately better at everything. The most noticeable improvement? It admits when it's uncertain instead of making stuff up.
Real example: I asked both GPT-4o and GPT-5 about a niche programming library. GPT-4o gave me confident documentation that was partially invented. GPT-5 said, "I don't have specific information about this library's recent updates." Let me search for you" and then find accurate information.
The writing quality is notably better, too. It's less obviously AI-generated, has better flow, and can sustain stylistic consistency across longer pieces.
Where it struggles:
- Still not perfect at math (better than before, but use calculators for precision)
- Can be overly verbose if you don't tell it to be concise
- The "thinking" mode can be slower than you'd like for simple questions
Pricing structure:
- GPT-5 Instant: Included in free tier (limited)
- GPT-5 Thinking: Plus, subscribers and above
- GPT-5 Pro: $200/month ChatGPT Pro subscription
GPT-5.2 (December 2025 - Current)
Released in early December 2025 (moved up from late December due to competitive pressure from Google's Gemini 3), this is the current state-of-the-art.
Key improvements over GPT-5.1:
- 30% fewer hallucinations and errors
- Better at long-context understanding (maintaining coherence across long conversations)
- Improved tool-calling accuracy (for agents and complex workflows)
- Much better at agentic coding (can handle entire repositories, complex refactors)
- Updated knowledge cutoff: August 2025 (vs. earlier GPT-5 versions)
- Significantly improved vision capabilities
I tested GPT-5.2 against GPT-5.1 on a complex coding task migrating a React app from class components to hooks across 40+ files. GPT-5.1 got confused around file 15 and started contradicting its earlier changes. GPT-5.2 completed the entire migration while maintaining context and explaining its architectural decisions.
On the GDPval benchmark (professional knowledge work across 44 occupations), GPT-5.2 Thinking beats or ties human experts 70.9% of the time.
The three tiers matter:
- GPT-5.2 Instant: Fast, conversational, handles 90% of daily tasks. This is what most people use most of the time.
- GPT-5.2 Thinking: Takes 30-90 seconds to "think" before responding. Use it for complex problems, technical debugging, and strategic analysis.
- GPT-5.2 Pro: Lowest error rate, highest capability, highest cost ($21/1M tokens vs. $1.75 for Instant). Only worth it for critical professional work.
What's better in practice: I uploaded a 60-page legal contract and asked it to summarize risks and flags concerning clauses. GPT-4o gave me a generic overview. GPT-5.2 Thinking identified three specific problematic clauses, explained why they were risky, suggested alternative language, and cited the relevant case law. This took 2 minutes instead of the 3 hours my lawyer would have charged me.
The competitive context: GPT-5.2 was rushed forward from a late-December release to early December 2025. Why? Google's Gemini 3 and Anthropic's Claude 4.5 Opus both outperformed GPT-5.1 on coding and reasoning benchmarks. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even praised Gemini 3's release, and industry leaders like Salesforce's Marc Benioff publicly announced switching from ChatGPT after just two hours with Gemini 3.
This is an important context: GPT-5.2 exists because OpenAI had to respond to serious competition. The AI race is real, and it's making everything better faster.
GPT-5.2-Codex (January 2026 - Current)
Just dropped. This is GPT-5.2, specifically optimized for coding in OpenAI's Codex platform (their dedicated coding environment).
What's special:
- State-of-the-art agentic coding performance
- Better at Windows environments (finally)
- Improved cybersecurity capabilities (can find vulnerabilities)
- Native context compaction for long coding sessions
- Can handle large refactors without losing track
A security researcher using this found and disclosed a vulnerability in React last week. That's both impressive and concerning.
It's only available in Codex (not regular ChatGPT yet), and they're being cautious about rollout due to the cybersecurity implications.
Web Browsing (Added March 2023, removed, re-added, it's complicated)
ChatGPT can now search the web and browse websites. This fixes the knowledge cutoff problem.
I use this constantly. "What happened in the Lakers game last night?" "What's the current price of Bitcoin?" "Find recent research on intermittent fasting."
It's not perfect, it sometimes misses important context or prioritizes bad sources, but it's way better than having knowledge stuck in 2023.
DALL-E Image Generation (Added October 2023)
You can generate images directly in ChatGPT. Type "create an image of..." and it'll use DALL-E 3 to make it.
The quality is good. Not good like Midjourney, but good enough for most purposes. I've used it for:
- Quick mockups and concepts
- Visualizing ideas
- Creating simple graphics for presentations
- Making ridiculous images of my friends as medieval knights
Limitations:
- Won't generate images of real people (by name)
- Gets weird with text in images
- Style control is limited compared to dedicated tools
- Can't edit existing images (yet)
Advanced Data Analysis (Formerly Code Interpreter)
This is the killer feature nobody talks about enough. ChatGPT can write and execute Python code. Upload a CSV; it can analyze it. Give it data; it can create visualizations. Ask it to run simulations; it will.
I uploaded three years of my spending data (exported from my bank) and asked it to analyze my spending patterns. It created charts, identified trends, and told me I spent an embarrassing amount on coffee. All in about 90 seconds.
For anyone who works with data but doesn't code, this is magical. For people who do code, it's a ridiculous time-saver.
Vision (Added September 2023)
Upload images, and ChatGPT can see them. I know this sounds obvious now, but it's wild how useful this is.
Real things I've used it for:
- "What's wrong with this plant?" (uploaded photo of my dying houseplant)
- "Transcribe this handwritten note" (it did, perfectly)
- "What's this building?" (architectural identification)
- "Fix the error in this screenshot" (debugging code)
- "Is this rash something I should worry about?" (It told me to see a doctor, which was correct)
It's not perfect with medical stuff; it's overly cautious and always tells you to see a doctor, but for general image understanding, it's shockingly capable.
Voice Mode (Added September 2023, upgraded May 2024)
You can talk to ChatGPT. It talks back. The new version (GPT-4o voice) is unsettlingly natural.
It has:
- Natural interruptions (you can interrupt it mid-sentence)
- Emotional tone (it sounds excited, thoughtful, or uncertain)
- Varied pacing and emphasis
- The ability to pick up on your tone
I used it to practice presentations. It gave me feedback on my pacing, suggested better phrasing, and told me when I sounded uncertain. That shouldn't be possible from voice alone, but it worked.
Memory (Added February 2024, gradually rolling out)
ChatGPT can now remember things across conversations. You tell it once that you're a vegetarian software developer in Seattle, and it'll remember future chats.
This is either amazing or creepy, depending on your perspective. I've found it genuinely useful. It doesn't ask me to explain context repeatedly, but you can turn it off if it bothers you.
You can also explicitly tell it to remember or forget specific things. "Remember that I prefer Python over JavaScript." "Forget everything about my job search."
GPTs (Custom ChatGPT versions)
You can create custom versions of ChatGPT tuned for specific tasks. Or use other people's.
I have a custom GPT for coding that's instructed to always include error handling, write tests, and explain its choices. I have another way to write that matches my style preferences.
Other people have made GPTs for:
- Meal planning (give it your dietary restrictions and ingredients)
- Learning languages (corrects grammar, explains mistakes)
- Fitness coaching
- Data analysis
- Image generation with specific styles
There are thousands of these. Most are mediocre. Some are useful.
The Subscription Tiers (And What You Actually Get)
Free Tier
- Access to GPT-5.2 Instant (limited usage)
- Access to GPT-4o (limited)
- Access to GPT-3.5-turbo (unlimited, legacy)
- Web browsing (limited)
- Image analysis (limited)
- DALL-E image generation (limited)
- Message capacity varies based on load, typically 40-80 messages per 3 hours for GPT-5.2
This has gotten absurdly generous. Two years ago, you got nothing but a GPT-3.5. Now you get limited access to the current state-of-the-art model for free.
Good for: Casual users, students, trying before buying, light occasional use
Not good for: Professional use, heavy daily use, time-sensitive work, using GPT-5.2 Thinking mode
ChatGPT Plus
- Full access to GPT-5.2 (Instant and Thinking modes, higher limits)
- Access to GPT-5.2-Codex in Codex
- Access to o1-preview and GPT-4o
- Unlimited web browsing
- Advanced Data Analysis
- DALL-E (up to 50 images/day)
- Custom GPTs
- Early access to new features
- Canvas for writing and coding
- Memory across conversations
This is what I pay for and what I recommend for anyone who uses ChatGPT regularly. The upgrade from free to Plus is enormous—you get the thinking models, unlimited usage, and all the power features.
I'd estimate I save 10-15 hours per week using ChatGPT Plus with GPT-5.2. At my hourly rate, that's easily $1,000+ in time saved. $20 is nothing.
Worth it if: You use AI for work, learning, creative projects, or more than a few hours per week
Not worth it if: You check ChatGPT once a week for random questions
ChatGPT Pro
- Everything in Plus
- Unlimited access to GPT-5.2 Pro (the highest-capability version)
- Unlimited o1-pro access
- Extended reasoning for even harder problems
- Higher limits on everything
- Priority access during peak times
- Premium support
I upgraded to Pro when GPT-5.2 launched to test it. For three weeks, I used GPT-5.2 Pro exclusively for complex work.
Verdict? It's noticeably better for hard problems, but unless you're doing research, complex data science, or professional-level strategic analysis daily, it's overkill. I went back to Plus and just used GPT-5.2 Thinking about difficult tasks.
Worth it if: You're a researcher, data scientist, strategic consultant, or professional who regularly needs the absolute best reasoning capability and can't afford errors
Not worth it if: Pretty much everyone else (honestly)
Team ($25/user/month, minimum 2 users)
Business-focused. You get:
- Everything in Plus
- Admin console
- Team workspace
- Higher limits
- Priority support
It only makes sense if you're a small company or team using this professionally.
Enterprise (Custom pricing)
For big companies. Unlimited usage, data doesn't train models, custom deployment options, SSO, all that enterprise stuff.
If you ask how much it costs, you can't afford it. If you're at a company big enough to need this, you can afford it.
What ChatGPT is Legitimately Great At
After three years and hundreds of hours of use, here's where it genuinely excels:
Learning and Explaining
This is its finest app. Want to understand quantum mechanics? Blockchain? Keynesian economics? It can be explained at whatever level you need.
I used ChatGPT to learn Python. I'd write code, ask it to review, explain what was wrong, and show me better approaches. It was like having a patient tutor who never got tired of my dumb questions.
The trick: ask it to explain things in multiple ways. "Explain this like I'm five. Now I'm like a college student. Now technically."
Brainstorming and Ideation
It's phenomenal for getting unstuck. I use it constantly when writing to:
- Generate headline options
- Suggest different angles on a topic
- Find examples I'm not thinking of
- Challenge my assumptions
It won't give you brilliant original ideas, but it'll give you 20 decent options to choose from. That's often exactly what you need.
Writing First Drafts
Controversial take: ChatGPT is great for writing first drafts of things you'll heavily edit.
I don't use it for final content. But for a rough outline, initial draft, or getting words on page? It's faster than staring at a blank document.
My process: Brain dump my ideas into ChatGPT, ask it to structure them, take its output, and completely rewrite it in my voice. This is way faster than writing from scratch.
Coding Assistance
It's not replacing developers, but it's making them way more productive.
Real uses:
- "Write a function that does X" (great for boilerplate)
- "What's wrong with this code?" (debugging)
- "How do I do X in Python/JavaScript/whatever?" (learning)
- "Add error handling to this" (improving code)
- "Write tests for this function" (something I'm lazy about)
It gets confused with complex architectures or uncommon libraries, but for common tasks, it's like having Stack Overflow that actually answers your specific question.
Research Synthesis
Give it multiple sources, ask it to find common themes, contradictions, and gaps. It's really good at this.
I researched a technical topic last month using 15 different articles. Instead of reading them all fully, I had ChatGPT:
- Summarize each article
- Find common points
- Identify disagreements
- Tell me which sources seemed most credible
This took 10 minutes. Would've taken me 3-4 hours manually.
Language Translation and Learning
Better than Google Translate for most things. It can:
- Translate with context (knows idioms, cultural references)
- Explain why it translated something a certain way
- Help you practice conversations
- Correct your grammar and explain mistakes
I've used it to practice Spanish. It's endlessly patient and can adjust difficulty on the fly.
What ChatGPT is Surprisingly Bad At
Current/Real-time Information
Even with web browsing, it's not great for breaking news or real-time data. It'll try, but the information is often minutes to hours old, and sometimes it doesn't realize when something has changed.
Don't use it for:
- Stock prices (by the time you get the answer, it's changed)
- Breaking news (Twitter is faster)
- Live sports scores
- Real-time availability of anything
Precise Calculations
It's gotten better, but I still don't trust it with math. It'll do basic arithmetic fine, but anything complex—forget it.
I once asked it to calculate compound interest over 30 years with variable contributions. The answer was off by $40,000. That's... not a rounding error.
Use actual calculators or spreadsheets for anything where the numbers matter.
Maintaining Consistency
In long conversations or ongoing projects, it forgets its own rules. It'll contradict itself from 20 messages ago.
I worked on a coding project across multiple sessions. It suggested one approach initially, then later told me that approach was wrong and suggested something else. When I pointed out that it had suggested the first approach, it apologized and explained why both were actually valid.
Cool, but not helpful.
Genuine Creativity
It can combine existing ideas in new ways, but it doesn't create truly original concepts. Everything is a remix of its training data.
I asked it to write a science fiction story with a truly novel alien species. What I got was basically a combination of existing sci-fi tropes. Not bad, but not original.
The best creative work requires breaking patterns ChatGPT doesn't even know exist.
Understanding Nuance in Sensitive Topics
Politics, religion, complex ethical situations—it gets weird. It's been trained to be safe and inoffensive, which means it often refuses to engage meaningfully with controversial topics.
I asked it to steelman a political position I disagreed with. It gave me a sanitized, both-sides-have-good-points response that was useless.
For anything requiring real nuance, depth, or willingness to engage with difficult ideas, it disappoints.
The Stuff That Should Worry You
Hallucinations (Making Stuff Up)
This is still a problem. Less than before, but it happens.
I asked GPT-4o about recent AI research. It cited a paper that didn't exist. When I pushed back, it apologized and... cited a different fake paper.
Always verify important information. Especially:
- Research citations
- Legal information
- Medical advice
- Historical facts
- Technical specifications
- Anything you'll base important decisions on
Overconfidence
It states wrong things with the same confidence as correct things. There's no "I'm 60% sure" qualifier. Everything sounds authoritative.
This is dangerous for learners who don't know enough to spot errors.
Bias in Training Data
It was learned from the internet. The internet is full of biases. Therefore, ChatGPT has biases.
I've noticed:
- Western/American cultural assumptions
- Gender stereotypes in certain contexts
- Occasional political lean (though OpenAI tries to balance this)
- Outdated information presented as current
- Overrepresentation of certain viewpoints
It's not trying to be biased, but it reflects its training data.
Privacy and Data Use
Everything you tell ChatGPT could be used to train future models unless you're on Enterprise (or opt out).
Don't share:
- Passwords or credentials
- Personal medical information
- Confidential business data
- Private personal details
- Anything you wouldn't want potentially seen by others
OpenAI says they have safeguards, but still. Be smart.
Dependency and Skill Atrophy
Here's a thing I've noticed in myself: I reach for ChatGPT for things I used to figure out on my own.
Need to write an email? ChatGPT.
Forgot how to do something in Excel? ChatGPT.
Can't remember a fact? ChatGPT.
This is convenient but slightly concerning. Am I losing the ability to think through problems independently?
Maybe. Probably. I'm aware of it, at least.
How to Actually Use ChatGPT Well?
Be Specific
Don't ask: "Help me with my essay."
Ask: "I'm writing a 1,500-word essay on climate change adaptation strategies for coastal cities. Help me create an outline that covers both infrastructure and policy solutions."
The second one gets you useful output. The first gets you garbage.
Iterate
First response is never the best response. Refine, push back, ask for alternatives.
"Make this more concise."
"Give me three different versions."
"This sounds too formal, make it conversational."
"You missed X, incorporate that."
Conversation is the feature. Use it.
Fact-Check Everything Important
I can't stress this enough. ChatGPT will confidently tell you wrong things. For anything that matters, research, professional work, and important decisions are verified through other sources.
Use It to Augment, Not Replace, Thinking
Best use: Help you think better
Worst use: Do your thinking for you
I use it to:
- Challenge my ideas
- Find counterarguments
- Explain things I don't understand
- Generate options I haven't considered
I don't use it to:
- Make decisions for me
- Replace learning fundamentals
- Shortcut understanding complex topics
Learn Basic Prompting Techniques
- Give it a role: "You are an expert Python developer..."
- Provide examples: "Like this... not like this..."
- Ask for reasoning: "Explain your thought process."
- Request specific formats: "Give me this as a table" or "Use bullet points."
- Chain prompts: "First do X, then using that output do Y."
These small changes dramatically improve output quality.
The Real Future of ChatGPT (My Best Guess)
GPT-5 is here. GPT-5.2 is current. So what's actually next?
Based on the current trajectory and some industry rumors:
Within 6 months (Mid-2026):
- OpenAI's internal codename for the next architecture. Rumored to be either GPT-5.5 or GPT-6. The goal is a smaller model that retains the knowledge of a much larger system, dramatically reducing computing costs with better response times.
- OpenAI confirmed a collaboration with Jony Ive (a legendary Apple designer) to create a screenless, AI-native device. Expected late 2026. Think: a persistent AI companion that knows your context without manual input. This could be huge.
- Video understanding beyond what we have now (upload full videos, detailed analysis)
- Agents that can complete multi-day projects autonomously
Within 1-2 years (2027):
- GPT-6 (or whatever they call it): Early reports suggest focus on "Infinite Context" and "World Modeling"—the ability to simulate physical reality and predict outcomes of complex systems. Climate patterns, global markets, and physical engineering.
- Seamless integration with work tools (calendar, email, project management)
- Much better personalization (it'll actually learn your preferences and style)
- Probably some form of ChatGPT OS or desktop environment that replaces traditional computing workflows
Within 5 years:
- Either this becomes infrastructure (like Google search) that we barely think about
- Or it gets replaced by something fundamentally different
- Or AI development plateaus, and we're roughly where we are now with incremental improvements
My bet? We're in the middle of a shift from "AI as a tool" to "AI as infrastructure." GPT-5's agentic capabilities, its ability to autonomously complete multi-step tasks, are the beginning of this. Within 2-3 years, most knowledge workers will have AI agents handling routine tasks completely independently.
The question isn't whether this happens. It's how fast.
Should You Use ChatGPT?
Here's my honest take after three years:
Yes, if you:
- Want to learn things faster
- Do knowledge work (writing, coding, analysis)
- Need help with creative projects
- Want a patient tutor for complex topics
- Work with data or documents
- Are you willing to fact-check important outputs
No, if you:
- Need 100% accuracy with no verification
- Want something that truly understands you
- Are you looking for current information without verification
- Expect it to replace human expertise
- Want to outsource all thinking
The Bottom Line
ChatGPT is the most useful AI tool currently available to regular people. It's not magic, it's not AGI, and it's not perfect. But it's a legitimately transformative tool if you use it right. I save hours every week. I learn faster. I write better (after editing its output). I code more efficiently.
