The holidays are upon us, and so is the annual quandary of what to buy everyone. If, like me, you’re completely underprepared, then here’s the most 2023 way you can shop: with the help of artificial intelligence.
Though AI struggles with artistic endeavors like creating a story or Christmas carolĀ (because it lacks human emotions and experiences), chatbots are adept at churning out lists. The secret lies in giving them a prompt with descriptors and hints.
This year we saw the explosion in popularity of generative AI chatbots, thanks to the late 2022 launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. In March,Ā a huge upgradeĀ came to the tech behindĀ ChatGPT, a large language model called GPT-4, which has been trained on enormous data sets so it can generate answers with original content. It’s since been hailed as smart enough toĀ pass the bar exam.
The field widened quickly with other contenders, including Microsoft’s Bing AI and Google’s Bard. The Bing search engine began incorporating info from OpenAI in search results, and Microsoft added a chat window where you can use AI to make shopping lists, summarize PDFs, generate LinkedIn posts and get advice.
You can use Bing AI chat without a Microsoft account in any browser, and in iOS and Android phone apps. It’s free to use.
Since one of this year’s updates involved AI tools for shopping — including auto-generated buying guides, product reviews and price matching — I decided to use Bing for my holiday 2023 shopping.
How to use Bing AI to generate personalized shopping lists
Getting set up
Microsoft has made it beyond simple to get things ready. I didn’t even have to switch from my preferred Chrome browser to Microsoft Edge. I simply went to the Bing site and clicked on the “chat” tab next to “search.” When I did the same on my phone, it directed me to download the Bing AI app on Android.
Make your prompt specific
When writing my prompt, I tried to be very specific. I gave as many details as I could think of about each person’s hobbies,…
Read the full article here