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You're right, it's just mostly garbage output. I eventually get to a moderately usable answer a lot of the time, but more often than not I have to constantly tweak the prompt or tell it to follow the goddamned system prompts I give it, and it still feeds me obvious bullshit on 1/4-1/2 of the responses.

Maybe you're working in a common area where the AI doesn't have to work hard to give you good outputs, but the AI is trash for the tasks I give it.

Yeah, I have deep reservations about the various AI companies, the environmental impacts of the industry, and many of the other issues that people are bringing up here. And, I have still found a few very practical uses.

My partner was fighting with their insurance company about getting reimbursed for several thousand dollars of medical expenses. After a couple of rounds of rejections I had them send me the paperwork, insurance information, and rejection letters and then asked ChatGPT what we should say to get them to reimburse us. It came up with a letter that had the right legal mumbo jumbo to convince the insurance company to agree and pay us. Yes, I could have hired a lawyer, but the legal fees would have eaten up most of the money. And I guess I could have gone to law school, gotten a specialization in insurance law, and figured it out myself. But that also would have cost more time and money.

I still think “AI” is overhyped and has a lot of ethical issues, but there are also some very practical uses.