Having lived in the Bay Area for almost 15 years, I have had the privilege of witnessing several waves of innovation. Despite this, I have always been quite prudent when it comes to adopting new technologies, preferring to err on the side of caution. While this approach has caused me to miss out on certain opportunities, it has also prevented me from being swayed by media hype and popular opinions.
However, when it comes to generative AI, I have been an early adopter and strong proponent from the outset. I believe in the immense potential of this technology and have already started paying for some of the services that employ it.
In the realm of marketing, the phrase "Aha Moment" refers to the pivotal moment when a user uncovers a killer feature of a product that instantly captures their attention and spurs their engagement.
In this post, my aim is to share some of the Aha moments I've had with generative AI, specifically ChatGPT. I hope to provide some counterpoints to those who believe that ChatGPT, despite its popularity and initial success, is just another hyped-up technology, similar to web3 and Metaverse.
My first Aha moment occurred when I was faced with an issue regarding CSS. As usual, I turned to Google for a solution by describing the symptoms of the issue. However, the top answers found on StackOverflow didn't resolve my issue. Despite having the same symptoms as described in the solutions, the root cause of my problem was clearly different. Finding the right solution would have been difficult with Google, as I would have had to navigate through pages of search results to identify the correct answer.
With ChatGPT, however, the first resolution it provided me with was the same as what I had found on Google. I informed it that the solution did not work for me, and it promptly came up with a second suggestion, which also proved to be incorrect. Finally, the third answer that ChatGPT provided was the solution that I had been searching for. The interactive interface provided by ChatGPT is extremely powerful and unparalleled by traditional search engines. It allowed me to use a ruling-out approach to find the right answer, something that is not possible with conventional search engines.
My second Aha moment with ChatGPT was using it as my English teacher, but not just any English teacher – one that also understands Chinese very well. As a native Chinese speaker, I often struggle to express certain ideas in English due to both language differences and differences in expression and thinking. I have found it particularly challenging to find English equivalents for some of the ways we express ourselves in Chinese, even in everyday conversation.
Fortunately, ChatGPT is a master of many languages and is able to understand me well. I can describe what I want to say in Chinese and the context in which I intend to use it, and ChatGPT can provide me with a well-translated English equivalent. This would have been difficult to achieve using traditional methods, such as searching in a dictionary, as dictionaries usually do not cover long phrases or slang. ChatGPT's ability to provide nuanced translations has made learning English much easier and more efficient for me.
My third Aha moment with ChatGPT was when I asked it to explain song lyrics to me. While I enjoy listening to English songs, I often struggle to understand a significant portion of the lyrics. This can leave me feeling unsure about whether the lyrics are intentionally obscure or if it's simply due to a language barrier. Finding a solution in real life can be difficult, as I would need someone who not only understands the language well but also is familiar with the music, the band, and even the band's history. However, ChatGPT has proven to be an excellent resource for explaining song lyrics. It is able to provide clear explanations and even informs me when certain sections of the lyrics are intentionally left open to interpretation.
In addition to this, I've also found other uses for ChatGPT that have made me a big fan. For example, I can use it to jumpstart a code project and then continue development with Copilot. The disruptive potential of AI is evident, and the speed at which new use cases of generative AI are being discovered is overwhelming. I believe it's important to stay alert and avoid underestimating the potential of AI.