ChatGPT started with one option: Now there are a bunch of models of the OpenAI chatbot to choose from. GPT-4o is my default, and it works for most tasks. GPT-4o is specialized for writing and coding. o1-preview and o1-mini “think” in a more advanced way. GPT-4 is still available but outdated, so skip that one.
Your next job interview could be with AI
I saw a viral post on LinkedIn where a guy from San Diego, Jack Ryan, logged in for a virtual job interview. Instead of a person on the other side of the screen, it was a bot. You can tell by his face Jack wasn’t impressed. I wasn’t, either.
Everyone’s scared of robots taking our jobs, but you may not realize how many are part of the hiring process now. It goes way beyond resume-scanning tech. If you’re looking for a career change or know someone who is, this is important intel to keep you tech-ahead, not left tech-behind.
And I thought Siri was judgmental
The “hiring manager” shown in that viral LinkedIn post was created by Fairgo.ai, a tech startup out of Australia. Fairgo’s bot asks questions, summarizes the conversation, ships that summary to the company doing the hiring and that’s that.
Using AI saves time, that’s for sure, but what could go wrong? Let me count the ways AI has screwed up in other areas.
Not long ago, New Zealand grocery chain Pak‘nSave’s AI “meal-bot” posted recipes for bug spray potatoes and glue sandwiches. Microsoft’s ChatGPT-powered Bing AI freaked people out with threats and declarations of love. My favorite is the McDonald’s AI drive-thru, where chatbot errors resulted in one hungry customer ordering 260 chicken nuggets.
I don’t want you to be caught off-guard if you’re the only human in your next interview, so let’s go over some tips.
🗣️ Keep it human
“Mirroring” is when we copy someone else’s mannerisms without even realizing it. You definitely don’t want to finish your robo-interview sounding like a robot yourself.
Pretend you’re speaking with a real human being. Maintain eye contact with the camera as much as you can.
💬 Polish your verbal resume
Read the job description before your interview. You’ll want to use phrases from it throughout your resume since the AI’s job is to match what you say to the job description.
How to spot an AI-generated image: Tips, tricks and pro tools
Forget trying to spot if a pic of a model was photoshopped. (It was.) Now we can’t even trust if the person we see in a photo or video is real.
Fear not, I’m here to help you navigate the pixelated wilderness. Let’s look at the seven telltale signs an image is AI-generated.
🏥 When you get a bladder infection, urine trouble: The next time you’re at the doctor, AI could be eavesdropping on everything you say and adding it to your health records. Ambient AI transcribes and organizes patient notes in real time. Sure, it cuts down on admin time, but AI can hallucinate facts and might use your sensitive data for training. You can decline it … for now. Just tell your doc, “No AI for me.”
98% accurate
Success of an AI model that examines your tongue to detect medical conditions. It’s all about color: Yellow signals diabetes, purple can mean cancer and an unusually shaped red tongue can indicate a stroke. Incredible stuff. Can you roll your tongue? I can’t.
Search battle: AI chatbots vs. Google
Still turning to Google for answers? How we search online is changing faster than I’ve ever seen in tech.
Google still processes a massive 8.5 billion daily searches, but AI is coming in hot. As of July, 1.5 billion people globally were using AI chatbots, and that market is projected to hit $455 million in revenue by 2027.
You don’t know me: If you use ChatGPT on the web, you might notice it starting to “remember” things about you, like your movie tastes or knowledge about specific topics. This can mean more tailored answers for you, but if you’d rather the AI forget who you are, click your profile picture (top right) then Settings > Personalization > Clear ChatGPT’s memory.
Zoom’s post-pandemic Hail Mary: Now that many folks are back in the office, Zoom wants to stay relevant. Their new AI Companion 2.0 has an avatar that can talk for you and adds a panel in all your meetings with notes about previous convos, plus related emails, calendar items and uploads. If it works, it sounds pretty sweet.
👅 On the tip of my tongue: AI can help you find a word that’s on the tip of your tongue but you can’t quite remember. Just prompt ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini or your favorite one with, “Help me with a word I can’t think of.” Btw, that phenomenon is called “lethologica.” The more you know!
Like a personal assistant in your browser: ChatGPT’s MyGPTs and Claude’s Personal Projects let you tailor a bot to your needs. It’ll remember what you’ve said so you’re not starting from scratch each time. You can make one for work, scheduling, workouts, recipe ideas — whatever floats your boat!
Attn., writers and coders: OpenAI just launched Canvas, a new tool that lets you highlight specific text or code and make direct edits instead of starting from scratch each time. It’s available for ChatGPT Plus and Teams users. Try it out under the Model dropdown menu. Spoiler: I didn’t see much difference between it and GPT-4o.
🙏 Please be cautious about falling for heartbreaking, AI-generated images like this one circulating on social media after Hurricane Helene. Use this site to detect AI-generated images: https://hivemoderation.com/ai-generated-content-detection
Heads-up, job seekers: Over 75% of recruiters prefer AI headshots over real ones … but only when they don’t know the photo is AI-generated. Most say they’re put off by AI pics, but they’re not so great at spotting them. On average, recruiters detected AI headshots only 39.5% of the time. Moral of this story: If your real headshots stink, try an AI version.
Use AI to prep for interviews: Open your favorite AI chatbot, then copy and paste the job description. Ask it to break down the key details and responsibilities. Next, have the chatbot act as your interviewer.
Gemini Live is free to Android users: Google’s AI assistant chats in real time and you can interrupt it with new info or directions. To try it, open the Gemini app and tap the circular waveform with a sparkle icon in the bottom right. You’ll enter full-screen chat mode.
🫡 Greetings, colleague: Dreading writing an email for work? Open ChatGPT or your favorite AI chatbot. Give it a headstart by typing who you are, your recipient and what the email needs to communicate. If the first draft is awful, give feedback (e.g., “Make it sound more conversational” or “Be more confident”) until it’s ready for your edits.
🤺 Who are their competitors? You’re researching a new service for your business and don’t know who to compare it to. Or maybe you’re looking for new sales prospects. Ask ChatGPT or your favorite AI bot! It’ll spit out a list. Take it with a grain of salt; some results could be outdated.
Identity crisis: You can prime ChatGPT or any other chatbot to answer how you want with one simple phrase: “You are a …” and then fill in that blank with anything — “marketing expert,” “lawyer,” “landlord attorney,” “master gardener,” “personal trainer.” Go ahead, try “Digital Goddess.”
Nerd alert: OpenAI’s Codex (the engine behind GitHub Copilot) provides AI-powered assistance for coding and can help you write, debug and optimize code across various programming languages.
📄 Talk data to me: OpenAI paid users can upload a mountain of PDFs, data files and images. It will spit out a full analysis in moments — something that might take a human team months. It’ll even answer questions and generate charts, too.