It seems that barely a week goes by without a billionaire tech CEO putting firing off a missive about how artificial intelligence is going to change the world. Meta's Zuckerberg was the most recent to bless us with his thoughts.
But technology rarely behaves in the ways its creators expected or intended. The World Wide Web was invented to help scientists share information, but we ended up using it to argue with strangers, watch cat videos, and order socks at midnight.
As Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park, “Life, uh, finds a way.” Give people new technology, and they'll find a way, too.
And that's certainly proving to be the case with AI. Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg might dream of us using its God-like abilities to colonize Mars, create abundance for everyone on Earth, put an end to illness and democratize education, but people will find uses for it that its creators likely never imagined. And most of them won’t be earth-shattering. They’ll be mundane.
A recent Reddit thread caught my attention, because people were sharing examples of how they actually use AI. They were weird, specific, boring — and genuinely useful.
1. Forget Mars — people just want to eat
It’s only when you reach adulthood that you realize that, unless you can afford to eat out every night, the rest of your life will be spent deciding what’s for dinner. Then buying the food. Then making it. Over and over again.
It turns out that AI is very good at answering that endlessly recurring question, "What's for dinner tonight?".
One person in the thread shops for whatever is on clearance or sale, tells ChatGPT what they’ve brought home, and asks it to turn everything into a meal. You can also ask it to plan three days of dinners in advance, produce a single shopping list, and give you instructions for making everything.
You don’t even need to know what meals you want. Tell it the flavors, cuisines, and textures you like, how much time you have, and what needs using before it goes bad, then let it come up with the ideas. If you want to get serious, you can give ChatGPT a spreadsheet containing everything in your pantry — although personally, I’d say that sounds more like creating another household chore.
2. Deciphering the ancient runes on your washing machine
I mean, who designs these things, aliens? I challenge anybody to look at the control panel of a modern washing machine and know what the hell is going on. It’s covered in arcane symbols that belong in a 12th-century manual on alchemy, not on a 21st-century household appliance.
Fortunately, you now don’t need try to decipher them, because you can get ChatGPT to do it instead. One person in the thread gave ChatGPT their washing machine manual alongside a spreadsheet of their clothes and care labels. Now they can tell it what needs washing, and ask exactly which setting to select and which buttons to press. Job done.
3. Pretending you understand the wine list
Unless you went on that weekend sommelier course back in 2010, you’re probably not an expert on wine. And yet, whenever you visit a restaurant that doesn’t have pictures of the food on its menu, you’re expected to choose between several intimidating bottles, many of them described in terms of obscure regions of France, Italy and other countries.
Here’s what people are doing instead: take a photo of the wine list, tell ChatGPT what you’re eating and what kinds of wine you normally enjoy, then ask it to find the best-value pairing. Voilà! Now the waiter might think you actually have a clue what you’re doing.
4. Turning ChatGPT into a personal stylist
What do I wear to work today? What do I wear to the bar tonight, to the hot date, to the wedding, to the… it never ends.
I’ll let you into a secret — I suspect most people would rather buy something new than search their vast and unmanageable wardrobe for an outfit that isn’t tinged with regret from whatever disappointment happened the last time they wore it.
But there is a solution. Photograph everything you own and upload the pictures to ChatGPT. Tell it where you’re going, what the weather will be like and the sort of look you’re after, then ask it to mix and match your clothes into outfits you might never have considered.
You could be surprised by what it comes up with. And because it’s working with clothes you already own, it might even save you a few dollars or pounds — or at least remind you why you bought that shirt three years ago.
5. Finding your next great read in a second-hand bookshop
I’m not sure any of us actually have time to read books these days, but we like to think we do. At least I do, anyway. So I’m always on the lookout for my next read. The problem is that there are rather a lot of books in the world, and I haven’t heard of even a fraction of them.
Somewhere on a shelf in a second-hand bookshop, there must be a book sitting there waiting for me to discover it. If only I knew which one.
One person in the thread explained how they used AI to solve this problem. They gave ChatGPT a list of their favorite and least-favorite books, along with the genres, subjects and writing styles they enjoy. Now, whenever they visit a second-hand bookshop, they photograph the shelves and ask ChatGPT to identify the books they’re most likely to enjoy.
It can examine reviews, look for recurring criticisms, and warn them when an apparently perfect book is actually dry, overly academic, or written entirely for people who use the word 'liminal' in everyday conversation.
It won’t stop you buying more books than you could possibly read, but at least they’ll be the right unread books.
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