How to use ChatGPT? A complete beginner's guide to ChatGPT and practical questioning tips

What is ChatGPT? How to register and use it? Why do I always feel that the answers from ChatGPT are not good enough? How can I ask questions to get truly useful answers from ChatGPT? This article provides a complete guide for ChatGPT novices, from registration to proficiency, including account registration, basic operations, and practical questioning techniques.

What is ChatGPT

ChatGPT is a large language model product developed by the American artificial intelligence company OpenAI, and was officially released in November 2022. GPT stands for "Generative Pre-trained Transformer", which can understand and generate human language, enabling natural and smooth conversations with users.

In simple terms, ChatGPT is a super intelligent conversational assistant. You can ask it questions, ask it to help you write articles, code, and emails, and you can also ask it to help you analyze data, translate content, and brainstorm ideas. The latest version is GPT-4, which has even more powerful functions.

ChatGPT is divided into a free version (GPT-3.5) and a paid version (ChatGPT Plus, using the GPT-4 model). The free version can already meet most daily usage needs, while the paid version is suitable for users who require more precise answers and enhanced functionality.

ChatGPT registration and login method

1. Preparations before registration. To register ChatGPT, you need to visit the official OpenAI website (chat.openai.com), which requires you to have normal access to the Internet. Registration requires an email address (Gmail or Outlook is recommended) and a mobile phone number capable of receiving text messages (domestic phone numbers may be successfully registered in some cases; if registration fails, you can try using a virtual number service).

2. Detailed registration steps. Step 1: Open chat.openai.com and click "Sign Up" to enter the registration page; Step 2: Enter your email address, or log in directly using a Google/Microsoft account; Step 3: Set a password and verify your email; Step 4: Fill in your name and select your date of birth; Step 5: Use your phone number to receive a verification code to complete verification (if you cannot receive the verification code with a domestic phone number, you can try using a virtual number service).

3. Login for use. After registration, every time you want to use it, simply open chat.openai.com, click "Log in", enter your account and password, or use third-party authorization to log in, and you can enter the conversation interface.

4. Domestic alternatives. If you cannot access the official website of OpenAI, you can consider the following alternative products: ERNIE Bot (produced by Baidu, free to use, with good Chinese support), Tongyi Qianwen (produced by Alibaba, free to use, with strong Chinese capabilities), and Xunfei Xinghuo (produced by iFLYTEK, free to use, with excellent performance in Chinese scenarios). These products can already meet most daily needs in terms of Chinese conversation and document processing.

Basic Operation Guide for ChatGPT

1. How to ask questions correctly. The quality of ChatGPT's responses largely depends on how you ask the question. Avoid asking overly general questions (such as "Help me write an article"), and instead provide sufficient context and specific requirements.

Good example of a question: "I am a recent college graduate who is preparing for an interview for a product manager position at an Internet plus company. Could you help me prepare 10 frequently asked interview questions and key points for answers?" Poor example of a question: "Help me prepare for the interview.".

2. There is a "Stop Generating" button below the conversation bar. If ChatGPT's response goes off track, you can click this button to interrupt its output and then rephrase your question.

3. Conversations can maintain context. ChatGPT can remember previous chat content within the same conversation thread, allowing you to continue asking in-depth questions based on previous conversations without having to repeat background information every time. However, if you start a new conversation, the previous context will be lost.

4. Regenerate the response. If you are not satisfied with ChatGPT's response, you can click the "Regenerate" button, and it will answer the same question in a different way.

Practical questioning skills

1. Provide a clear role and context. Assigning a role to ChatGPT when asking questions can make the answers more targeted. For example: "You are a product manager with 10 years of experience, and you are interviewing a junior product specialist. Please suggest 5 interview questions that can best assess the candidate's logical thinking ability.".

2. Break down complex tasks. If what you need to do is complex, don't ask to complete it all at once. Instead, break it down into multiple steps and guide you step by step. For example: "Please help me write an article about the development trend of AI" → "Please help me list the outline structure of the article first" → "Please write the first part based on this outline: the current development status of AI technology.".

3. Provide format requirements. If you require a specific format for the output, simply instruct ChatGPT. For example: "Please list the average temperature, population, and GDP of these cities in a table format." "Please write a project plan in Markdown format.".

4. Instruct ChatGPT to adopt a specific style. You can say "Introduce this product in Li Jiaqi's live streaming style" or "Write a paragraph in Lu Xun's literary style", and it will generate content imitating the specified style.

5. Continuously inquire and optimize. The first response is often not the best, and it is the correct way to use ChatGPT to continue asking questions and making optimizations based on the content of the response. For example: "Can the cost of this plan be further reduced?" "Can you elaborate on the third point?"

Limitations of ChatGPT

1. Knowledge has an expiration date. ChatGPT's knowledge has an expiration date (GPT-4's knowledge is up to around June 2024), and it is unaware of events that occurred after that date. When asking for the latest information, ChatGPT may provide outdated or inaccurate information.

2. It may generate "hallucinations". ChatGPT sometimes confidently provides incorrect information (referred to as "hallucinations"), especially when it comes to specific data, statistics, and cited sources. Before using key information provided by ChatGPT, it is essential to verify it through other channels.

3. ChatGPT is not adept at real-time computation and accessing the latest prices. Queries involving real-time data, such as current stock prices, up-to-date exchange rates, and real-time weather, are not suitable for ChatGPT, as it cannot connect to the real-time network to obtain such data.

4. Complete privacy cannot be guaranteed. Do not enter highly sensitive personal information (such as ID number, bank password, private content, etc.) in ChatGPT. Although OpenAI has a privacy policy, as a general practice, it is not recommended to disclose too much personal information in conversations.

Summary

ChatGPT is one of the most powerful AI conversation tools available today, and mastering its correct usage can significantly enhance work and life efficiency. The core principles of use are: formulate specific and clear questions, provide sufficient background information, break down complex tasks, and continuously optimize results. At the same time, it is important to recognize the limitations of ChatGPT - knowledge has expiration dates, it may generate incorrect information, and it is not suitable for querying real-time data. Use ChatGPT reasonably and make it an efficient assistant for your work and life.