This episode lays out exactly how to start using ChatGPT (in two super simple steps), for even the most beginner of users. I break down why using the tool is the best way to understand and critique it, share my take on AI as an equalizer, and walk through a surprisingly useful feature called “Schedules”. Let’s get curious.

• Why this episode exists (for true beginners)
• How ChatGPT can possibly level the playing field
• Two simple steps for getting started
• The goal: using AI to reclaim human time
• Recent ChatGPT use: Nest Cam + the Schedules feature

• Listen to Ep. 10: Are We In an AI Bubble?
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - Curious
• (00:02:59) - Black People and ChatGPT
• (00:06:34) - Why Should You Start Using Chat GPT?
• (00:10:35) - How to get started with ChatGPT
• (00:11:20) - How I Use ChatGPT
• (00:14:40) - ChatGPT: A Beginner Episode

In this episode of ChatGPT Curious, we break down OpenAI’s newest release: Sora 2, the text-to-video model now living in its own app, Sora. From how diffusion models work to what the new invite-only platform looks like, we’re covering the tech, the ethics, and the implications. You’ll learn how Sora 2 generates videos, why it’s a big deal (for better and worse), and what it means for the future of AI-generated media.

• What Sora 2 is and how it works
• Diffusion explained (drop of dye in water analogy)
• Denoising and the Willy Wonka comparison
• The difference between training and generation
• SlopTok? Sora app features and invite system
• Opt-out policy and data control issues
• Compute cost and environmental impact
• Deepfakes, realism, and misinformation risks
• Personal takeaways and ethical concerns
• Recent ChatGPT use: Sora prompt + Repairing the wine fridge

• Watch the Sora video that I “made”
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - OpenAI's Sora 2
• (00:03:33) - How Video Generation is Made: Diffusion
• (00:08:05) - SORA2
• (00:09:06) - Chat GPT: Sora 2, Unboxing
• (00:14:22) - Is AI Content Bad For You?
• (00:17:52) - OpenAI Rolls Out 'Sora 2' for Video Making
• (00:18:39) - How I Use Chat GPT this Week
• (00:21:58) - How to Diagnose a Wine Fridge Problem with a Multimeter

In this episode we dig into why ChatGPT sometimes gives you garbage outputs and what you can do about it. From hallucinations and drift to bad prompts and long chats, we’ll cover the common pitfalls, what to do when it sucks, and how the imperfections of AI might actually be keeping your own skills sharp.

• WTF moments with bad ChatGPT outputs
• Why it’s math, not magic (probability, tokens, predictions)
• Hallucinations and why “AI slop” happens
• Improving your prompts
• Memory checks and correcting drift
• When to start a new chat
• The importance of knowing your own stuff
• Skills-of-operation vs skills-of-understanding
• Historical parallels: calculators, smartphones, cameras
• A solution to the concern about outsourcing thinking and expression
• Weekly use case: Joe’s meal planning with ChatGPT

• Listen to Ep. 1: What You Actually Need to Know about ChatGPT
• Listen to Ep. 8: Getting ChatGPT to Do What You Want
• Listen to Ep. 9: Helpful ChatGPT Features You Might Not Know About
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - Why Chat GPT SUCKS & What to Do About It
• (00:05:07) - How to Train ChatGPT to Stop Sucking
• (00:08:14) - ChatGPT: What You Can Do to Make It Less Stupid
• (00:13:17) - Talking to a project in a chat
• (00:13:38) - GPT: Know Your Right
• (00:14:37) - ChatGPT: Its Stupidity has Value
• (00:15:14) - Skills of Operations vs Skills of Understandability
• (00:19:58) - The Problem With Out-Of-Touch Thinking
• (00:21:57) - How I Use Chat GPT
• (00:23:48) - ChatGPT: Curious

This episode is all about custom GPTs: What they are, what they can do, and how to “build” one. If you’ve ever wished you could clone yourself, this is basically how you do it. In this episode I share how I created my own ChatGP-TA for the Instagram Intensive, the files and instructions I used to make it sound like me, and the simple steps you can take to “clone yourself” without writing a single line of code. Along the way we talk vectors, transformers, input quality, and how to set capabilities so your Custom GPT does exactly what you want.

• GPT definition refresher: generative, pretrained, transformer
• How transformers work: tokens, vectors, and context
• Definition of a Custom GPT and why it’s like “cloning yourself”
• Example: building a Custom GPT (ChatGP-TA) for the Instagram Intensive
• Files and instructions used to train it (outlines, sales page, emails)
• Using Projects vs the GPT Builder (create + configure modes)
• Importance of context and instructions for best outputs
• Capabilities and settings (internet access, file uploads, toggles)
• Use cases and limitations of custom GPTs
• How Kate uses ChatGPT vs Claude

• Ep. 1: What You Actually Need to Know About ChatGPT
• GPTs FAQ in the Open AI Help Center
• Open AI’s GPT Builder
• Ep. 6: An Intro to Using ChatGPT to Create Content
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:02:26) - Generative, Pre-trained Transformer in AI
• (00:06:51) - What is a Custom GPT?
• (00:08:06) - What is a Custom GPT?
• (00:12:47) - How to create a custom GPT in ChatGPT
• (00:18:08) - ChatGPT: Creating a Markdown File
• (00:19:01) - Making a Custom GPT
• (00:22:43) - How I Use Chat GPT
• (00:23:45) - Chat GPT vs. Claude: What's the Difference?
• (00:25:42) - How to make a custom GPT for chat
• (00:28:15) - A Techie Introduction To Chat

This episode takes a look at the hype surrounding AI and asks a simple question: Are we in a bubble? Spoiler alert: ABSOLUTELY. To make sense of it, I dig into the history of the dot-com boom and bust, walk through today’s AI financials, and explore what it might mean for companies, investors, and everyday people like you and me.

• Audience Q: ChatGPT vs. Gemini
• What a bubble actually is
• Story of the dot-com bubble
• Today’s AI numbers: OpenAI and Anthropic
• How greed fuels investment
• Oracle’s $300B OpenAI deal and “jumping the shark”
• Neuro-symbolic AI and Gary Marcus
• Who loses when the bubble bursts
• How I used ChatGPT this week: Agent mode for car rentals

• Listen to Ep. 2: ChatGPT and the Environment: Energy, Water, and Carbon Emissions
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - Are We In An AI Bubble?
• (00:01:18) - ChatGPT vs. Gemini: Should I Switch?
• (00:04:24) - The AI Bubble Explained
• (00:08:22) - OpenAI is projected to lose $115 billion through 2029
• (00:13:36) - Investment in AI is a Ponzi Scheme
• (00:16:07) - OpenAI Jumps the Shark With Oracle
• (00:18:55) - GPT 5: OpenAI's Best Days Are Behind It
• (00:19:29) - Getting to AGI with OpenAI
• (00:24:23) - We're In A Bubble in AI
• (00:26:43) - How I Use ChatGPT
• (00:29:49) - Thanks for Reading & Review!

In this episode of ChatGPT Curious I share a handful of ChatGPT features that you might not know about, and that I think you might find genuinely useful. These aren’t “hidden gems” or shiny distractions, they’re tools and settings I personally use and that I believe can improve both your user experience and the model’s outputs. From release notes and memory controls to project settings and the surprisingly powerful Study Mode, this is a practical tour of features that can actually make a difference.

• ChatGPT Release Notes and how to find them
• Personalization settings (desktop + mobile)
• Managing and customizing memory
• Personality modes and interaction styles
• Customizing ChatGPT’s voice options
• Projects, project-only memory, and instructions
• Study Mode: toggle vs. manual prompting
• How I used ChatGPT this week: lifting cycle + exercise swaps

• Check out ChatGPT Release Notes
• Listen to Ep. 6: An Intro to Using ChatGPT for Content Creation
• Listen to Ep. 3: Is ChatGPT Killing Creativity?
• Listen to Ep. 8: Getting ChatGPT to Do What You Want
• Connect with me on Instagram
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - 5 ChatGPT Hidden Features You Need to Know
• (00:02:30) - Two helpful features of ChatGPT that you didn't know
• (00:03:55) - ChatGPT: The ability to personalize the memory
• (00:07:46) - Can You Customize ChatGPT?
• (00:11:09) - Podcast: The Voice feature
• (00:13:25) - ChatGbt: Projects now available for the Free tier
• (00:18:41) - Facebook Chatbot: Improve the Experience for Everyone
• (00:19:44) - ChatGPT: Best Feature Study Mode
• (00:20:22) - Facebook Learning: "Study Mode" or "Manual Mode?"
• (00:24:35) - How I Use ChatGPT This Week

In this episode we’re talking about what it really takes to get ChatGPT to do what you want. From clarifying your own thoughts to understanding the basics of prompting, this is a how-to guide without the hoopla. Really though, it’s not that serious. Whether you're asking it to write an email or act as your assistant, specificity and clarity are the name of the game.

• Prompting = communication
• Why prompt obsession is overblown
• Why I don’t give you “best prompt” templates
• Never ask it to create from scratch
• Quality input = Quality output
• The 7 Clarity Items
• Bonus strategies to try
• Reverse prompting recap
• Where ChatGPT still falls short
• Relational fuckery and AI
• How I used it this week: Model switching

• Listen to Ep. 6: An Introduction to Using ChatGPT for Content Creation
• Check out @inquisitive_human on Instagram
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - Curious on Chat GPT
• (00:01:56) - The Curious Companion: Amy's Questions
• (00:02:59) - How to Leave a Review on Apple
• (00:04:11) - Getting Chat GPT to Do What You Want
• (00:07:45) - ChatGPT: Better Memory, Better Output
• (00:10:39) - Chat GPT
• (00:11:35) - 7 Things You Need To Write For Your Presentation
• (00:13:08) - How to Use ChatGPT for Creativity
• (00:18:20) - 7 Confirmatory Items for Chat GPT
• (00:20:30) - Chat GPT Bonus Strategy: Ask Chat GPT to Interview
• (00:21:14) - You Don't Need To Describe Your Requirement
• (00:22:05) - ChatGPT: How to minimize the back and forth
• (00:25:53) - ChatGPT: The AI of Conversations
• (00:27:26) - Chat GPT: GPT5 vs 4.0
• (00:29:44) - Cognitive Defenses

This episode is about giving you a clear, simple definition of a word that gets thrown around constantly: AI. You’re hearing it in every commercial, on every app, and in every new feature rollout. But what is it, really? I share a plain-language definition — “software that can guess” — contrast everyday examples of AI with simple automation, and give quick context on where the term came from, how regulating agencies define it, what is meant by “agents” and “AGI”, and how close we realistically are to what Terminator predicted. (Spoiler, not close at all.)

• Creating informed consumers
• “AI is…” exercise
• A colloquial, plain-language definition for AI
• Things That Are AI vs Things That Are NOT AI
• AI as a kitchen sink marketing term
• AI origin story: John McCarthy + the Dartmouth proposal
• Official definitions from OECD and NIST
• Understanding autonomy and “AI agents”
• The forecast on AGI: artificial general intelligence
• How I used ChatGPT this week: bulkhead light and bulb hunt

• Listen to Ep 1: Everything You Actually Need to Know About ChatGPT
• Listen to Ep 4: Overhyped or Underestimated: Is ChatGPT Coming for Your Job?
• Read the proposal for the Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence
• Subscribe to the ChatGPT Curious Newsletter: The Curious Companion
• Submit a Question
• Visit the Website
• Feeling curious AND generous? Click here to support the podcast.

• (00:00:00) - ChatGPT Curious
• (00:00:38) - What Is AI?
• (00:03:57) - What is the Definition of AI?
• (00:06:58) - A Taste of AI in 2017
• (00:11:54) - Not AI: What Is It?
• (00:16:53) - AI Agents and the Oxford Dictionary
• (00:23:47) - AI Is Math, Not Scary
• (00:27:49) - Putting a new light bulb in my yard on Chat GPT
• (00:30:26) - Curious About ChatGPT