ChatGPT For Dummies

by Pam Baker

Overview

Updated to provide a deeper and closer look at ChatGPT

Expanded and extended, this new edition of ChatGPT For Dummies covers the latest tools, models, and options available on the popular generative AI platform. You'll learn best practices for using ChatGPT as a text and media generation tool, research assistant, and content reviewer. If you're new to the world of AI, you'll get all the basic know-how needed to add ChatGPT to your professional toolbox. And if you've been doing the genAI thing for a while already, this book will sharpen your skills as you apply AI to real-world projects in an ethical manner. You'll get insight on the best practice for using ChatGPT to make your life and work easier and how to write prompts that result in high-quality output.

• Understand what generative AI is and how ChatGPT produces human-like responses
• Get tips on writing effective prompts and using ChatGPT to generate sound and images
• Apply ChatGPT to your daily work or personal life
• Discover the best way to fact-check AI-generated content to avoid errors and hallucinations

Anyone using ChatGPT to enhance their work--whether for professional or personal use--will get better results with ChatGPT For Dummies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781394314454
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	04/08/2025
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Pam Baker is a freelance journalist who is focused on emerging tech topics like artificial intelligence, data analytics, and edge computing. She is the author of Decision Intelligence For Dummies.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

About This Book 1

Foolish Assumptions 2

Icons Used in This Book 3

Beyond the Book 3

Where to Go from Here 3

Chapter 1: Introducing ChatGPT 5

Setting Up an Account 6

Comparing ChatGPT, Search Engines, and Analytics 7

Understanding What ChatGPT Is and Isn’t 9

Unwrapping ChatGPT fears 10

Competing with ChatGPT for your job 12

Redefining the Chatbot with ChatGPT and ChatGPT Plus 14

Comparing the two versions 16

Sampling its many uses 16

Discovering other forms of GPT 18

Grabbing Headlines and Disrupting Businesses 20

Grokking that ChatGPT is a harbinger of exponential change 20

Weighing the initial effect on existing businesses and industries 21

Bracing for future upheaval 22

Breaking the spell of heartless machine overlords 23

Opening the Door for Bigger AI Products 24

Categorizing types of Generative AI 24

Understanding ChatGPT’s creator, OpenAI 25

Chapter 2: Discovering How ChatGPT Works 27

What’s Different About ChatGPT 27

Peeking at the ChatGPT Architecture 29

Discovering the supercomputer and GPUs underneath 29

Considering the importance of transformers 31

Setting the stage: training the model 32

Grasping the importance of the dialogue format 34

Pondering ChatGPT’s limitations 34

Increasing the Number of Versions and Integrations 37

Glimpsing ChatGPT in Microsoft add-ins 40

Mainstreaming ChatGPT via the power of an API 41

Checking out early ChatGPT API adopters 42

Expanding the field of extensions 43

Building New Businesses Based on ChatGPT 44

Chapter 3: Writing Prompts for ChatGPT 47

Prompting Basics 48

Starting a chat 50

Reviewing your chat history and more 52

Understanding Prompt Engineering 54

Circumventing Token Limits and User History Storage Issues 55

Thinking in Threads 57

Chaining Prompts and Other Tips and Strategies 58

Chapter 4: Understanding GPT Models in ChatGPT 61

Summarizing Model Progress 61

Comparing GPT-4 to Earlier ChatGPT Models 62

Choosing ChatGPT Models 64

Learning about GPT-4 Advancements 67

Adjusting to GPT-4’s Limitations 68

Chapter 5: Warnings, Ethics, and Responsible AI 71

Making Responsible AI 71

Troubling developments 72

Protecting humans from humans using AI 74

Understanding the good, the bad, and the ugly 75

Heeding OpenAI Warnings 75

Considering Copyright and IP Protections 77

Searching for Predictability 78

Reaching for reliability 78

Hallucinating versus accuracy 79

Humanizing the machine 81

Mitigating Risks and Liability 83

Chapter 6: Probing Professional and Other Uses for ChatGPT 87

Finding ChatGPT Embedded in Software 88

Locating ChatGPT in business software 88

Integrating with everything, everywhere, all at once 93

Zooming in on ChatGPT in virtual meetings 95

Letting ChatGPT summarize and translate 96

Searching for ChatGPT in other applications 97

Seeing ChatGPT in AR, VR, and the Metaverse 99

Discovering ChatGPT in search engines 101

Coding with ChatGPT and Copilot X 103

Learning Where to Use ChatGPT for Marketing 105

Retrieving Smart Answers for HR 106

Harnessing ChatGPT in Legal 106

Storytelling in Journalism 108

Consulting ChatGPT in Healthcare 109

Cashing In on ChatGPT in Finance 110

Chapter 7: Working with ChatGPT in Education 111

Flipping Critical Thinking to a New Learning Model 112

Leveraging ChatGPT to Aid Overworked Educators 115

Changing How Subjects Are Taught 117

Banning ChatGPT Stifles Education 120

Chapter 8: Using ChatGPT in Daily Life 121

Dying Keywords 121

Moving from Information Search to Knowledge Assistants 123

Living with Misinformation and Manipulation 126

Narrowing Options 127

Chapter 9: Recognizing the Ways ChatGPT and Generative AI Will Change the World 129

Understanding What Is and Isn’t of Real Concern 130

Measuring the Good and Bad in ChatGPT 130

Weighing Job Threats and Other ChatGPT Liabilities 131

Sampling the Disruptions Ahead 132

Chapter 10: Ten Other Generative AI Tools to Try 135

DALL-E and DALL-E 2 136

DeepL Write and DeepL Translator 138

Cedille 139

Notion AI 141

YouChat 142

ChatSonic 143

Poe 144

Jasper 146

Durable 146

God Mode 148

Index 151