Beyond Novelty: Practical Ways People Are Using ChatGPT for Personal Productivity

The Hacker News community is actively exploring and integrating Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT into their personal lives to enhance productivity, as highlighted in a recent discussion. Users are finding value far beyond the initial novelty phase, with applications ranging from simple information retrieval to complex collaborative tasks.

Evolving Interaction: From Search Replacement to Deep Collaboration

One commenter, laze00, outlined a compelling progression of LLM usage:

Level 0: Initial tinkering and novelty, like creating silly stories.
Level 1: Using LLMs as a direct replacement for internet search engines. Many users find themselves at this stage, often preferring tools like Perplexity over traditional Google search for quick answers without clicking through multiple webpages.
Level 2: Engaging in conversations with LLMs that involve follow-up questions, bordering on a collaborative interaction.
Level 3: Full collaboration, where users discuss ideas with the LLM, challenge it, and have it challenge them back. This level unlocks significant value, applied to diverse tasks such as planning date nights, creating baking schedules with family, or strategizing other life events.
Level 3.5/4: Advanced delegation of deep research tasks. This involves passively running and iterating on searches, providing directions as needed, and ultimately saving substantial time each week.

Practical Applications for Everyday Life

Beyond general research and planning, specific use cases shared by the community include:

Exercise Optimization: User sloaken detailed a systematic approach to improving workouts: asking ChatGPT about muscle engagement for various exercises, visualizing this data in a spreadsheet to identify overlaps and gaps, and then requesting exercises for neglected muscle groups. This led to more productive workouts.
Interior Design: Feeding floor plans into an LLM to generate design ideas, acting as a virtual interior designer for inspiration, even if not always perfectly accurate.
Learning and Curiosity: Using LLMs to quickly get overviews on random thoughts or complex topics, like understanding the effects of multiple moons on other planets.
Posture Correction and Motivation: Applying LLMs to delve deeper into exercise posture correction and for journaling or motivational support.

The LLM Landscape: ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini

While ChatGPT is a popular choice, users also discussed alternatives:

Perplexity: Frequently mentioned as a strong Google search replacement, valued for its direct answers and useful free tier, especially for "how-to" queries and concept clarification.
Gemini 1.5 Pro: Recommended by one user for its generous free access via Google AI Studio (25 free requests per day, up to 1M tokens each). However, concerns about Gemini's accuracy and confident delivery of incorrect information were also raised.

Some users pay for multiple services, finding different strengths in each. For instance, one user preferred Perplexity for search but found their paid ChatGPT subscription offered better overall value for more complex tasks.

Concerns on the Horizon

The discussion wasn't without its caveats. A significant concern raised was the potential for "enshittification" – a term describing the gradual decline in quality of online platforms as they prioritize profits. Users worry that AI outputs might eventually be diluted with advertisements or sponsored content, diminishing their utility. There's a hope for at least a few more years of high-quality, unbiased responses before such changes might take hold. Accuracy of LLM responses, particularly with newer models, remains an ongoing point of caution, necessitating critical evaluation of the information provided.