- Sabrina Ramonov
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- ChatGPT for Beginners (Part 1)
ChatGPT for Beginners (Part 1)
What is ChatGPT? How do you start using it? Is it free? How do you upload files? Multiline prompts?
This is part 1 of my free course, ChatGPT for Beginners.
Many of you have asked, “How do I make money with AI?”
This is a tough question to answer in generalizations because everyone comes from a different background with varied preferences and skills.
After a lot of brainstorming, I truly believe this is one viable path for most people:
teach people about AI
offer AI education workshops and consulting
target niches you have experience in or are passionate about
For example, you’re an accountant. Offer AI education workshops and consulting for local accounting firms, leveraging my beginner course as foundational content, then tailoring it to specific use cases and concerns for accounting.
Why?
Everyone wants to learn about AI.
Nobody wants to fall behind.
But, most AI influencers/educators aren’t focused on non-tech industries.
I’m a great example. My background is tech. I am absolutely not an expert in accounting, law, finance, healthcare, beauty, art, insurance, music, the list goes on…
Yet, AI can be used in ALL of these areas.
I say “most people” because this approach is NOT for you if you don’t want to talk to people. This is totally fine, by the way, I recommend building AI apps or just step 1 😀
By the end of this free course, you’ll be able to remix all this content for your own course and create a compelling AI education workshop offer.
This is intended for absolute beginners.
So, the first couple videos will feel slow if you’re already using ChatGPT.
Just keep in mind, many people still don’t use ChatGPT regularly, so we need to start from the absolute beginning.
@sabrina_ramonov One idea to make money with AI, seeking your feedback 🙏 what will be the biggest challenges? Do you have a better idea? #ai #artificialint... See more
Table of Contents
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI.
It’s designed to engage in natural language conversations, enabling you to interact with it like you’re talking to a friend or colleague.
Natural back-and-forth conversation.
In fact, it’s in the name!
Chat - refers to conversation
GPT - refers to Generative Pretrained Transformer
GPT means it’s a type of AI that has been trained on a vast amount of text data — books, articles, websites — to understand and generate human-like responses in a conversational manner.
ChatGPT can assist with a wide range of tasks.
To illustrate its mindblowing breadth of applications:
1. Customer Support & Service
Answering customer queries
Handling FAQs
Providing product recommendations
Troubleshooting technical issues
Responding to support tickets
2. Content Creation
Writing blog posts and articles
Creating social media captions
Composing marketing copy
Generating product descriptions
Scripting videos or podcasts
3. Education & Tutoring
Explaining difficult concepts
Assisting with homework and assignments
Creating study guides and summaries
Answering educational questions
Language learning and translation help
4. Creative Writing
Story or plot generation
Writing poems, short stories, or novels
Writing dialogue for characters
Creating jokes and humor
Developing scripts for plays, movies, or games
5. Personal Assistance
Providing reminders and task management
Offering meal and recipe suggestions
Giving personalized fitness advice
Recommending books, movies, or music
Offering travel tips and itineraries
6. Business & Productivity
Drafting emails and professional letters
Summarizing reports and documents
Creating meeting agendas and notes
Generating business plans or strategies
Managing project workflows
7. Programming & Coding Help
Write and debug code
Explain programming concepts
Solve coding challenges
Automate repetitive coding tasks
Providing examples and templates
8. Research & Data Analysis
Summarize research papers
Generating hypotheses or theories
Analyze data and drawing conclusions
Offer statistical explanations
Find and share relevant research sources
9. Health & Wellness
Summarize information about health conditions
Recommend exercises or diets
Offer mental health advice
Companionship via conversation
Nutrition advice
Sharing mindfulness techniques
10. Entertainment
Generate trivia questions and quizzes
Creating engaging conversations with AI characters
Recommending entertainment content (movies, shows, games)
Simulating role-playing game (RPG) adventures
Generate creative challenges or activities
11. Marketing & Advertising
Copywriting
Go-to-market research
Suggesting marketing strategies
Creating email marketing campaigns
Brainstorming social media content
12. Legal & Compliance
Drafting legal documents
Answering legal questions
Reviewing terms and conditions
Summarize legal precedents or case law
Offere legal compliance advice
13. Human Resources
Write job descriptions
Help with interview questions
Assist with performance reviews
Create onboarding and training materials
14. Financial & Accounting
Explain financial concepts
Assist with budgeting and personal finance
Analyze financial reports
Offer investment and saving tips
Explain taxes
15. Event Planning
Help plan weddings, parties, or corporate events
Create detailed schedules or itineraries
Recommend venues, themes, and decorations
Brainstorm gift ideas
Help write invites and RSVPs
It may be hard to believe…
But there are many more use cases beyond this list!
ChatGPT also supports multiple languages. You can ask ChatGPT a question in English, then translate the answer to 3 different languages.
In addition to individual use, ChatGPT can be integrated into products via OpenAI's API. This allows developers to enhance their products with natural language understanding and generation capabilities.
Overall, ChatGPT represents a significant step-function advancement in AI.
It’s much more versatile and flexible compared to traditional chatbots, which were often too rigid and failed to respond in human-like ways.
While many people use terms like AI and ChatGPT interchangeably, it's important to note AI is a broad field that has been around for decades.
Here’s how to think about the terms:
AI is the umbrella category
machine learning is a subset of AI
deep learning is a subset of machine learning
generative AI is a subset of deep learning
ChatGPT is an example of generative AI model
Today, however, most news about “AI” refers to generative AI like ChatGPT.
How do I start using ChatGPT?
You don’t need to download anything or create an account to start using ChatGPT!
Simply go to chatgpt.com where you can access it completely for free, even without creating an account. However, I recommend eventually creating an account to save your conversation history, which helps ChatGPT learn your preferences over time.
To start using ChatGPT, type a question into the text input box where it says “Message ChatGPT” or click one of the suggested pre-made questions.
For example, I asked ChatGPT to plan a mental health day. It responded with follow-up questions to better tailor its response to my preferences.
I answered — my favorite ways to relax are hiking and reading.
This ongoing back-and-forth conversation means the more information and feedback you share with ChatGPT, the better it will personalize its answers for your specific needs.
Once you start typing your message, press "Enter" or click the send button to submit it.
ChatGPT will process your input and generate a response, which will appear immediately in the chat window.
You can provide feedback to ChatGPT by asking it to adjust its output based on your preferences, resulting in even more tailored answers.
ChatGPT is designed to maintain context within the conversation, allowing for seamless back-and-forth conversation, just like talking to a friend or colleague. This means you can ask follow-up questions, seek clarifications, or discuss different topics without repeating information.
Simply type a new question!
If you choose to create an account, click the "Sign Up" button in the upper right hand corner. You'll be prompted to enter your email address and create a password, or sign in with a cloud provider (Google, Microsoft, Apple).
Then, you'll receive a confirmation email to verify your account. After verifying your email, return to the ChatGPT login page and enter your credentials to log in.
Once logged in, you'll see the ChatGPT web interface, which features a chat window:
Go ahead and ask ChatGPT anything you want!
Below, I ask ChatGPT to create a business plan for a local donut shop in Salt Lake City:
Also, ChatGPT has multimodal capabilities, which means it can work with multiple "modes” like text and image.
Here, I ask ChatGPT for an illustration for a new bakery specializing in sourdough bread:
Note - I’m still on the free plan and able to do all of the above!
If you want to start a new conversation or reset the context, click the “New Chat” button in the upper left hand corner.
If you want to view previous conversations, click on the conversation in the left sidebar.
ChatGPT automatically names each conversation based on the topics discussed.
But, you can rename a conversation by clicking the 3 horizontal dots next to it:
I hope it’s clear…
All you need is a web browser and internet connection to start using ChatGPT!
You don’t need to pay or create an account to start learning how to use it.
Is ChatGPT free to use?
Yes!
ChatGPT offers free access to basic features without requiring an account, allowing you to start using it immediately without any initial cost or signup process.
The free version lets you experience ChatGPT 4o-mini, which is quite powerful and adequate for most use cases.
However, the free tier has limits: such as reduced availability during peak usage times, caps on the number of messages you can send, and limited access to advanced features like advanced data analysis, file uploads, multimodal capabilities, and custom GPT creation.
OpenAI offers a subscription plan called ChatGPT Plus, priced at $20 per month.
The Plus plan includes faster response speeds, priority access to new features (such as the latest o1 models for coding and math), and access to the GPT-4 model. It also includes advanced data analysis, web browsing capabilities, and the ability to upload files, enhancing the performance for tasks like complex reasoning, coding, and research.
For my own use, here the Plus features I find most valuable:
web browsing - search the internet for up to date and accurate information
data analysis - upload a spreadsheet and perform data cleaning and analysis
file uploads - upload PDFs, images, etc.
For businesses, ChatGPT has a Team plan available for $25 per person per month, which includes higher limits for all features, the ability to create and share custom GPTs within teams, and an admin console for managing workspaces.
Most importantly, data used in the Team plan is EXCLUDED from training, addressing crucial privacy concerns for businesses.
To subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, log in to your OpenAI account and navigate to the subscription section. Here, you can select the plan, provide payment details, and manage your subscription settings.
Is it worth subscribing to ChatGPT?
In my opinion — yes, if you’re a professional, educator, developer, or already relying heavily on ChatGPT for your work or projects.
$20/month for Pro is the cost of a Netflix subscription or 4 coffees per month ☕️
But, you can always start with the free plan and upgrade later.
And, you can bounce between multiple free AI models:
ChatGPT’s free plan
Perplexity’s free plan
Anthropic’s free plan
Once you’re hitting limits across all AI models, then it’s probably time to upgrade! 😀
How do I attach files and submit long prompts?
First, let’s cover how to give ChatGPT longer prompts.
Imagine you’re talking to ChatGPT back-and-forth in a conversation.
Everything you say to ChatGPT is a prompt.
If you want to brainstorm ideas for TikTok videos, for example, you could give ChatGPT a prompt requesting a list of viral hooks.
For more complex requests, your prompt may span multiple paragraphs.
Here’s how to format and submit these longer multi-line prompts:
As an example, let’s first start with a one-sentence prompt such as: “Brainstorm a list of 50 viral hooks for my TikTok videos.”
To add more information, hit "Shift + Enter" to create new lines. This makes it easier to read and follow along as your prompt becomes longer.
To submit your final prompt with multiple lines, hit Enter.
ChatGPT will analyze your entire request and generate an answer.
The ability to break up your prompt into multiple lines is very useful, especially for longer requests.
Next, let’s walk through uploading files.
For example, I upload a PDF containing suggestions on how to become more comfortable in front of the camera for filming Tiktoks.
Here’s how to upload the PDF and ask ChatGPT to analyze it:
Upload File: Click on the paperclip icon in the message bar to attach your file. You can either upload from your computer, Google Drive, or OneDrive.
Analysis: After uploading the file, tell ChatGPT what you want it to do. You could say: “Analyze this PDF and brainstorm 10 more hooks inspired by its content.”
ChatGPT will read the PDF and come up with new ideas related to it.
In addition to PDFs, ChatGPT can also analyze spreadsheets, CSVs, and images.
In this next example, I upload a screenshot of an AI chatbot workflow, then I ask ChatGPT to summarize how the chatbot works.
I provide no additional context!
Upload the Image: Click on the paperclip icon in the message bar to attach the image.
Analyze Image: Submit this ChatGPT prompt: “Analyze the image and describe step by step how the chatbot works.”
ChatGPT will analyze the image and explain how the chatbot works, all without any additional context. I only fed in the image and asked ChatGPT to analyze it.
To wrap up, you’ve learned how to:
Submit longer multi-line prompts
Upload files like PDFs for analysis
Upload and analyze images
Has my free AI education helped you?
It would mean the world to me…
If you are willing to share your story and inspire others too! 😍🙏 😊