ChatGPT Tutorial: A Beginner's Guide to Language Models

By
Gijs Ooijen
June 1, 2023
9
min read
Updated
January 9, 2024
Photo credit
Navigate the exciting world of AI language models with this ChatGPT tutorial.
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Introduction

Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, AI chatbots have emerged as incredibly powerful tools. In this ChatGPT tutorial, we dive into the world of AI chatbots and explore the capabilities and applications of AI.

ChatGPT stands out as the biggest and most-used language model that enhances productivity. With its ability to understand context, generate text and provide insightful responses, ChatGPT became the fastest-ever product to reach 100 million users.

ChatGPT can be a game-changer, saving you countless hoursif you use it right. Whether it's automating repetitive tasks, providing customer support or assisting with data analysis, ChatGPT's abilities provide an opportunity to streamline operations, enhance customer experiences and drive growth.

Whether you're an entrepreneur looking to leverage AI in your business or an individual curious about the potential of conversational AI, this guide is a roadmap to navigate the exciting possibilities that ChatGPT offers. 

What is ChatGPT & how does it work?

ChatGPT is a large language model—or LLM—developed by OpenAI. It is designed to engage in interactive conversations, simulating natural dialogue with human-like responses. This means it’s sort of like Google, but smarter—and it actually talks to you!

Deep learning algorithms power ChatGPT and it has been trained on millions of pieces of text from the internet. When it gets a prompt—which is basically a request to ChatGPT—it can guess what the correct answer to the prompt should be, based on the millions of texts it knows by heart.

ChatGPT uses a technique known as "transformer architecture." This architecture enables the model to process and understand language in a hierarchical manner, capturing relationships between words and generating coherent responses. 

By breaking down conversations into smaller components, ChatGPT can analyze the context of previous messages and generate context-aware replies. This makes it a game changer compared to previous AI language models, as it allows the tool to actually build upon what has previously happened in the chat.

AI development has been a topic of conversation for years. We have seen interesting projects and models surface, but the game really changed when OpenAI launched ChatGPT at the end of 2022. It has opened AI up from a niche, tech-savvy audience to the whole wide world, and many tools have been launched since then.

How can I use ChatGPT?

So, ChatGPT can be a really helpful tool—both in business and in your day-to-day life. But how do you actually start using it? Here’s a quick tutorial:

  1. Go to the ChatGPT website.
  2. Create an account. Click "Sign Up" and follow the steps to create your OpenAI account.
  3. Go to the "Chat". It’s really that simple! You are now ready to start using ChatGPT.
  4. Run your first prompt. It is time to start testing the possibilities of ChatGPT. You could try “Write a soliloquy on bread” or “Tell me a joke."

OpenAI
(Source: Openai.com)

But, using AI writing software is not always easy. It is really helpful to be specific. If ChatGPT better understands what you are asking, it can give you a better answer. Another tip is to provide context. What is it you want to know, and why? Again, if it better understands your input, it can give you better output.

If you really want good outputs, you might also consider giving examples. If ChatGPT has an example of exactly what you want, it can give outputs similar to the examples you provided. And as a last tip, just play around. The more you try it out and learn from the inputs and outputs, the better you will get at it. 

Well, what can ChatGPT do for me?

There are hundreds of ways you can use ChatGPT. You can use it for virtually anything you would previously use the internet for and more. Here are a few examples of how to add ChatGPT to your business and everyday life.

1. Enhancing customer support

ChatGPT is a game-changer in business for enhancing customer support. With its ability to understand and respond to inquiries, it can provide prompt assistance, answer frequently asked questions and offer solutions to common issues.

And with the ChatGPT API, many tools have been built specifically to train an AI to take over your online customer support.

2. Training & onboarding

ChatGPT can support also businesses in training and onboarding new employees.

By simulating conversations, it can act as a virtual training assistant, answering questions, providing resources and guiding new hires through processes and procedures. This interactive and personalized approach helps streamline the onboarding experience.

3. Boost productivity

But it’s not just business where ChatGPT can help you. You can also use it to boost personal productivity and help you learn new stuff.

Need help with organizing your schedule? ChatGPT can suggest time management strategies. Learning a new language? Talk to it in that language. The possibilities are endless, literally.

ChatGPT tools & software

ChatGPT is not just a powerful conversational AI model but also acts as a foundation for a range of tools and software that extend its capabilities.

With the release of the GPT-4 API, developers and companies now have the opportunity to build their own innovative products on top of ChatGPT, opening up a world of possibilities.

One such remarkable product that boosts the power of ChatGPT is Scribe. Scribe addresses one of the most daunting aspects of many jobs: how to document processes with AI.

It offers an automated solution for creating standard operating procedures (SOP), training manuals and process overviews for any business process.

‎With Scribe, you can leverage the capabilities of ChatGPT to create process documents effortlessly. By taking care of the documentation, Scribe allows you to focus on the process itself.

Use Scribe

Gone are the days of painstakingly documenting every detail manually. Scribe's intelligent automation captures the essential steps, ensuring accuracy and consistency in process documentation

With tools like Scribe's free ChatGPT SOP generator or How-to guide generator, you can automatically generates step-by-step guides for your processes, and ask the AI to write documents for you.

A great example of a step-by-step guide you could create using Scribe is this "How to merge mail in Gmail" Scribe:

How to merge mail in Gmail: ChatGPT tutorial

And don’t just take our word for it. Bridget, a learning and development intern at a mid-market company, loves us! She said:

"Love the step-by-step visuals! I love how easy it is to record processes to share with my teammates."

ChatGPT alternatives

As the AI landscape expands, the battle for dominance among tech giants has intensified. The biggest corporations in the world are fighting for market share in the world of AI-powered chatbots. While ChatGPT has made significant strides, it is not the only player in this battle. Let’s take a look at some of the most-used alternatives to ChatGPT.

1. Bard

The first example is Bard, Google’s AI chatbot. Bard has emerged as a competitor to ChatGPT. Though initially lagging behind in terms of performance, recent updates have sparked optimism about its capabilities.

With Google's ongoing advancements and investments, Bard may soon offer a better alternative to ChatGPT.

2. Bing

Bing, Microsoft's search engine, has also ventured into the AI chatbot space with Bing Chat. Built on the foundation of ChatGPT, Bing Chat leverages the vast resources and integration potential within the Bing browser ecosystem.

By combining search functionalities with conversational AI, Bing Chat aims to be the next biggest browser.

3. Chatsonic

Chatsonic is another alternative to ChatGPT, but it actually uses the GPT-4 API. With improved performance and enhanced capabilities, Chatsonic offers a glimpse into the potential of the next generation of AI chatbots and what can be done when building on top of the existing APIs.

Key limitations to ChatGPT

While ChatGPT is awesome and feels like it has brought us ten years into the future, it is certainly not perfect. It has its limits and downfalls, but they can be overcome. Here are some of the key limitations of ChatGPT and how to work around them.

1. Lack of contextual understanding

While ChatGPT tries to understand whatever you tell it, it can sometimes struggle with complex nuances. To overcome this limitation, you can provide additional context and be explicit in your prompts.

Clearly specify the desired information or ask for clarifications if needed. Adding detailed examples or background information can assist ChatGPT in producing more accurate and relevant responses.

2. Lack of real-world knowledge

ChatGPT's knowledge is based on pre-existing text data and does not have real-time awareness. In fact, it is only trained on text data available before September 2021.

To overcome this limitation, complement ChatGPT's responses with your own research. Include up-to-date information or specific details in your prompts to guide ChatGPT. By combining its generative capabilities with external knowledge, you can enhance the accuracy and relevance of the responses.

With the launch plugins, a new feature only rolled out to ChatGPT Plus users, this has already become less of a problem.

3. Overconfidence

ChatGPT is like Tyler Durden from Fight Club—very confident. Whether its outputs are correct or incorrect, it always presents them to you like they are 100 percent the truth, no doubt about it. But that’s not actually always the case.

To mitigate the risk of incorrect responses, it's important to fact-check information generated by ChatGPT. Cross-reference its outputs with reliable sources or perform additional research to verify the accuracy of the information.

While AI is a really helpful assistant, human judgment and critical thinking remain essential.

4. Sensitivity to prompt phrasing

Two very similar ChatGPT prompts can give two very different answers. ChatGPT's responses can be sensitive to the phrasing and structure of prompts. To work around this limitation, you can experiment with different phrasings and iterations.

If you receive a response that’s totally different from what you intended, just rephrase your prompt, provide clearer instructions or break complex questions down into simpler ones. 

Supercharge your operations with AI

We hope that this ChatGPT tutorial has provided you with valuable insights and strategies to navigate the world of AI-powered language models. 

To truly elevate your AI game and unlock even greater productivity, check out Scribe's ChatGPT documentation generator. Scribe takes the laborious task of process documentation off your plate, allowing you to focus on what truly matters: executing processes effectively. 

With Scribe you can use what you've learned in this ChatGPT tutorial to propel your business forward. Sign up for Scribe's free Basic Plan or upgrade to the Pro Plan to unlock advanced features and supercharge your productivity.

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