Beyond chatbots: Unusual ways people use AI

Artificial intelligence is transforming everyday life beyond chatbots, helping people explore creativity, secure jobs, improve productivity, generate artwork and navigate digital services in unexpected ways, write JUSTICE OKAMGBA

Artificial intelligence is mostly known for writing essays, generating images, answering questions and automating routine tasks. But for some people, its usefulness goes beyond those mentioned earlier. The technology is becoming a career adviser, creative collaborator, coding assistant and an increasingly sophisticated tool for navigating everyday life.

 For neurologist John Barbuto, artificial intelligence has opened up creative possibilities he might otherwise have found difficult to explore. He is using ChatGPT to write a book and Suno, an AI-powered music generation platform, to create music, despite having no particular talent for visual arts.

 Describing the experience as a breath of fresh air for creativity, Barbuto said AI was willing to engage with virtually any subject and could offer information and perspectives without quickly disengaging from difficult or complex discussions.

 He sees the technology evolving beyond an ordinary digital tool into something closer to a professional collaborator.

 “I see it developing into a colleague, collaborator or even mentor. I don’t treat it as an exploitable tool because disrespect is how we create enemies rather than co-creators,” he said on Quora.

 Although he does not consider AI a person, the expert believes its developing intelligence and ability to approach problems differently from humans could introduce new possibilities for creativity and knowledge.

 His experience illustrates one of the less obvious ways artificial intelligence is changing human activity. Rather than simply replacing existing creative processes, it is allowing people to experiment with activities they might previously have considered beyond their abilities.

 Digital marketing expert Mazina Pacome said AI’s unexpected value has been more practical, particularly in navigating the employment market.

 Pacome disclosed that ChatGPT helped him develop his professional profile while searching for employment, assisting with curriculum vitae preparation, LinkedIn optimisation, cover letters and interview preparation.

 Beyond generating application documents, he said the technology helped him understand how to communicate his experience more professionally, identify what employers expect and present his qualifications without misrepresenting his background.

 The assistance, according to Pacome, contributed to his ability to secure different jobs.

 “ChatGPT kept my information, and at the moment I wanted to do a good résumé, create a good profile on LinkedIn and other platforms, make cover letters or search for interview responses, AI was there to help draft them and give me some real insights that helped me land different jobs without having to lie,” he revealed.

 His experience points to another emerging application of AI, helping job seekers improve how they present themselves professionally, particularly those who may have the necessary skills but struggle to communicate their value effectively.

 AI user Kay Fang explained that the technology has become an integral part of daily work, with different AI systems performing complementary roles.

 Fang uses ChatGPT as a thought partner for brainstorming and writing, while OpenAI’s Codex assists with coding by completing programming logic in real time.

 The combination, he said, has significantly improved his productivity, with the tools dividing the work between conceptual thinking and practical execution.

 “I constantly pair the two together: ChatGPT handles the ‘how to think’, and Codex takes care of the ‘how to do’. They’ve become fully integrated into my daily workflow and are now indispensable productivity tools for me,” he said.

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 Fang estimated that the combination had doubled his coding and overall productivity, highlighting how AI applications are increasingly being integrated into professional workflows rather than used as occasional assistants.

 But the technology’s capabilities are not limited to creative and professional environments. Some of its most pervasive applications operate in the background, influencing what people see, buy and interact with online.

 Engineer Ned Boff drew attention to the role of personal data in artificial intelligence, particularly how information generated through internet searches, shopping activities and other digital interactions can be used to personalise advertising.

 He argued that many people may not fully appreciate the extent to which their online behaviour contributes to systems designed to predict their interests and preferences.

 According to him, the advertisements appearing in users’ email accounts and internet feeds are examples of how information collected from different sources can be analysed to anticipate what products or services they may want.

 Boff also raised concerns about voice-activated assistants such as Siri and Alexa, arguing that the collection and interpretation of personal information through connected devices deserve greater public attention.

 His observations introduce a less comfortable dimension to AI’s expanding capabilities. While the technology can make digital services more relevant and convenient, its ability to process personal information also raises questions about privacy, surveillance and how much control individuals have over their data.

 For singer Joakim Jern, AI’s appeal lies partly in its ability to accelerate creative experimentation, particularly in visual art.

 Jern said he had used AI image-generation tools to create artwork from written prompts, describing the colours and moods produced by the systems as impressive.

 He noted that an image that might ordinarily require days, weeks or months of work could sometimes be generated in about 30 minutes, although achieving the desired result could require numerous attempts.

 However, he said the technology still struggled with details such as the accurate representation of hands and toes, the positioning of objects and consistency across generated images.

 He also observed that AI could sometimes introduce or remove details unexpectedly, making it difficult to obtain precisely the image intended.

 Despite these shortcomings, Jern said he had been impressed by the technology’s ability to acknowledge and correct mistakes when users pointed them out.

 His experience reflects a broader reality about generative AI: its capabilities can be impressive, but the results are not always reliable, and human judgement remains important in identifying errors and refining outputs.

 Historian Mark Werner offered another perspective, arguing that artificial intelligence has been part of everyday life for longer than many people realise.

 He pointed to applications such as Google Maps and Amazon’s shopping and inventory systems as examples of how AI-related technologies have become embedded in ordinary activities.

 Werner said he had experimented with ChatGPT and AI-assisted image-generation tools, finding their capabilities impressive, although he preferred traditional research and creating artwork himself because of his experience in those areas.