Using AI is Easy and Fun!

Do you use AI? If you do, great; if not, what a pity! You’re missing out on a helpful tool. Using AI is easy and a lot of fun.

Why use AI, you may ask? Why not, I’d ask, for it’s willing to help YOU, for FREE.

(My Genie with a winsome smile:

Image created by CoPilot upon Blogger's request)

Let me tell you how I use AI, my usage merrily swinging from fun to frivolous to functional.

Healthy BMI

Concerned about my significant weight loss during the last two years (that’s a fact), Sanjukta pesters me to eat more which I resist. To put her fears to rest, I picked up my phone and asked Google Assistant: Hey, Google! My height is 5 ft 8 inches, and weight 61 kg. Is my BMI normal? BMI, I explained to spouse, is Body Mass Index, and the score indicates if you’re underweight, normal weight, or overweight.

GA answered right away: With a height of 173 cm (5'8") and a weight of 61 kg, your Body Mass Index (BMI) is 20.38 which falls within the normal range of 18.5 to 24.9.

I further asked GA: If the height is X and the weight is Y, is the lady’s BMI normal? Spouse didn’t like what GA said. I’ve no time for this bakwas; you must gain weight, she ruled. You must lose weight, I wished to say, but thought better of it.

High Tea

For a ‘High Tea’ we plan to host soon at home, I sought AI help, when Sanjukta was away! She would take offence if she knew I had consulted AI; for she is an amazing host, carefully picks the menu, and cooks most of the dishes herself.

Trust me, I was just curious. What would ChatGPT, Copilot, and Google Gemini suggest? I asked each of them:

“We plan to host a High Tea for 8 couples (all senior citizens) at our home in Bhopal next week during 11.30 AM - 2.00 PM. Please suggest a menu for drinks (non-alcoholic), dishes (veg & non-veg), and desserts; Indian cuisine; healthy, home-cooked food.”

In a flash, each App offered a comprehensive menu, each different from the other, and with one asking: Do you need help with a shopping list for ingredients?

Read the suggestions by ChatGPT [i], I bet you’d be impressed.

Holiday Planner

For a Group Holiday, I asked AI to plan a detailed itinerary and cost estimate for a 7N/8D trip to Sri Lanka. Here’s what I asked:

“Proposed Holiday to Sri Lanka for 25 couples (senior citizens), Ex-Delhi, 2nd week of Dec 2025, Itinerary to include Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Welligama, Mirissa, Galle Fort, Balapitiya, Kosgoda; stay in 4-star or 5-star hotels, Indian veg & non-veg meals for lunch & dinner, economy-class flight tickets Delhi-Colombo-Delhi, transport in Sri Lanka in AC Deluxe coach. Please suggest detailed itinerary, night halts, hotels for night-stay and meals, and estimated cost per person. Also provide contact details of reputed tour operators in India and/or Sri Lanka who may offer a complete package.”

I got all the guidance I was looking for. Each AI app provided a detailed itinerary, similar but with notable differences - including in estimated cost. It gave contact details of tour operators specialising in senior-citizen tours.

Sell old car & Buy a new one

I’m toying with the idea of selling my old car and buying a new one. What’s the resale value of my car, and which new car should I buy? I asked AI.

Just from my car Registration number, AI found out all required details about the car (Year of purchase, Model, etc); and mentioned a range, from minimum to maximum, for the resale value. Do you know, 8 vehicles – same model as your car with different mileages - are listed for sale at Bhopal. Check the prices quoted for guidance, it counselled.

Which new car to buy? It asked for a few details - about my usage pattern, preferences, and budget - which I provided. For mostly city-run, you may buy a hatchback – comfortable for self-drive, and easier to park. It provided several choices with ex-showroom price at Bhopal.

House Renovation

I asked AI:

Hi. I'm renovating my house in Sambalpur, Odisha by affixing GVT tiles over old mosaic floor. Can you pls suggest

1.   Optimal tile sizes for the rooms to avoid wastage?  

2.   Estimate for Kajaria, Johnson, Somany, and Simpolo tiles

3.   Number of adhesive bags (20 kg packs) & estimate for Ruff, Asian Paints, Birla white or any other reputed brand

4.   Total cost estimate for materials, and labour

5.   For tiles, my preferred colours – white, grey, beige; mat-finish, understated but elegant. Pls suggest designs for various rooms.

I uploaded a pic of the Floor Plan of the house.

I guess my architect friends won’t like this, but I found AI Architect’s guidance comprehensive and useful. It recommended tiles costing @60-70 (not the premium costing @100+), a mix of sizes (2ftx4ft for the hall, 2ftx2ft for the bedrooms, and 1x1 ft tiles for bathroom walls), and suitable colours (warm tone for drawing-dining, elegant but understated for bedrooms). It provided the following guidance:

·      Total cost estimate – separately for tiles, adhesive, labour

·      Room-wise lay-out plan, suggested colour, and pick from top tile companies’ catalogues

·      Contact details of tiles dealers at Sambalpur, and of contractors I may consider hiring.

I can give you a PDF or Word file with all these details for your contractor to follow and execute, AI said.

What more could I possibly need?

How I began using AI?

In December 2023, days after launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI, my daughter asked me to try it. I explored its features and was fascinated. Then, I tried Microsoft Bing, and Google Bard; and got all three to solve sample questions from General Studies papers for Civil Services Exam. On my playful assessment of the capabilities of these new AI tools, I had written two blogs – ChatGPT Fails IAS Exam & BING Cracks IAS Exam - for which the links are at endnotes.[ii] [iii]

Thereafter, I’ve regularly used AI – CoPilot (Microsoft), ChatGPT (OpenAI), and Google Gemini – in that order. Why, you may ask, is ChatGPT with largest number of subscribers in the world (200 million) my second preference? Because I have a Free Account which restricts me to 15-20 queries a day (24 hrs). This morning, at 4.30 AM, I began firing questions at ChatGPT, and got the replies, all quite useful, till it flashed a Notice: You’ve exhausted your limit for the day. You’re welcome to return tomorrow at 4.39 AM! You may subscribe to ChatGPT-4, it prompted. It costs $20 per month. No, thanks, I’m happy with my Free Account. CoPilot & Gemini-AI have no limits at present, because they have fewer subscribers than ChatGPT, I guess.

400 Qs, 50 hrs

Since I began, I’ve asked ChatGPT over 400 questions, spent nearly 50 hours exploring different topics, and grown quite fond of my AI “assistant.”

How else do I use AI? Not merely for play, but for work, too, you may note.

·      To understand/know things I didn’t – Nash Equilibrium, Schrödinger’s cat, What-if Scenario for global nuclear holocaust, etc.

·      Research, References, Reading lists, Summary of books, Book/Film Reviews (to choose which books to read and which films to watch)

·      Generate AI-images for my blogs; for my previous satire on bureaucrats, I used an image created by Gemini.

·      Queries – Health & Wellness, nutrition, Utilitarian – Legal (Will, End of Life – Living Will)

·      Esoteric Queries – Compare Tolstoy, Kafka, and Miller – each of these authors wrote a novel where the protagonist dies; Prof Nash’s IQ?

·      Theory of Relativity (E = mc²) - a lucid explanation for middle-school students: A small amount of mass can be converted into a huge amount of energy; Einstein’s delightfully witty quotes on relativity:

“When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder, a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”

I could give a few other brief illustrations.

AI read my annual pathological report (PDF uploaded), complimented me on overall health status, but flagged my Vit-D deficiency, suggested a supplement, and counselled a diet-plan.

It read my Demat Holding, and expressed concern regarding my excessive risk exposure. Thumb-rule for equity exposure is 100 minus your age, it reminded, and recommended seeking help of a SEBI-certified investment adviser to rebalance my portfolio.

Disclaimer

Do I trust AI? Do I act upon its advice? Is it always right? No, it isn’t. Sometimes, it makes mistakes. When I correct it, AI apologises and thanks me. To be fair, AI always makes a Disclaimer: I may not always be right.

So, what to do? Use AI’s reply, help and guidance, but don’t blindly follow it. Use commonsense.

Begin Here if you have never used AI?

I guess you’ve already used AI in some or other form. Just in case you haven’t, BEGIN right away. It’s easy. Your smartphone most likely has Google Assistant. Just click the Mic button and ask: is it likely to rain day after tomorrow in the evening? I just asked: I’m going out in the evening. Should I carry an umbrella? GA said: No, there’d be no rain this evening in Bhopal. I didn’t type my query, I just spoke to GA who answered as a human assistant would but added a written response, too, in case I had missed its words.

Type your questions, if you must, but voice search works fine most of the time. GA very quickly learns how you speak and gets your questions right; it may occasionally fumble a little which you can easily correct.

What to ask, you may wonder. If you know all, and your mind is entirely free from any query, you’re amazingly erudite, and an evolved soul; but if you’re a regular homo sapien, you may have many queries every day. Throw your queries at AI, you’d be pleasantly surprised how useful it is. Would AI snap at you or be impatient if you asked a stupid question? No, AI is not a person, it’s a tool. Ready to help you, 24x7, for free!

Finally, what can AI do for you? It can help in several ways, short of providing a herbal oil-massage or fetching cash from the ATM for you. D

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[i] ChatGPT

That sounds like a lovely and elegant gathering! For a High Tea with senior citizen couples (16 guests total) at home in Bhopal, with a focus on Indian cuisine, healthy, home-cooked food, here’s a well-balanced, flavourful, and age-appropriate menu suggestion for the time slot of 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM:

________________________________________

🫖 DRINKS (served on arrival & replenished during event)

1.       Tulsi-Ginger Herbal Tea – caffeine-free, good for digestion & immunity

2.       Masala Chai (Low Sugar/Milk) – classic choice, can offer jaggery as sweetener

3.       Chilled Aam Panna / Jaljeera – refreshing, aids digestion

4.       Lemon Mint Water – detoxifying and cooling

5.       Fresh Coconut Water – natural and hydrating (optional)

________________________________________

🍛 SAVOURIES / MAIN DISHES

Split into light savouries, one filling dish, and mini portions for easy consumption.

🥗 Vegetarian Options:

1.       Mini Vegetable Sandwiches – cucumber, tomato, mint chutney on atta bread

2.       Dhokla (Steamed, with tempered mustard) – light and protein-rich

3.       Stuffed Mini Parathas (Paneer / Methi) – served with curd dip

4.       Hara Bhara Kabab – shallow-fried spinach-peas cutlets, heart-healthy

5.       Mini Idli with Coconut & Tomato Chutney – easy to eat, soft, non-oily

6.       Upma with Vegetables – light and warm, can be served in small bowls

🍗 Non-Vegetarian Options:

1.       Chicken Seekh Kabab (grilled, not deep-fried) – boneless, mildly spiced

2.       Egg Mayo Sandwiches – protein-rich and soft

3.       Mini Chicken Keema Pav / Puffs – light masala, small portions

4.       Grilled Fish Tikka (optional) – marinated in curd, lemon & mild spices

📝 Tip: Keep 3–4 vegetarian and 2 non-vegetarian savouries. Mark veg/non-veg clearly.

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🍨 DESSERTS (Light & Traditional)

Keep portions small to allow sampling.

1.       Phirni or Seviyan Kheer – made with toned milk, stevia/jaggery option

2.       Fruit Chaat Cups – seasonal fruits with a light chaat masala twist

3.       Sandesh / Rasgulla (small-sized) – low-fat chhena-based sweet

4.       Date & Nut Laddoo / Barfi – no sugar added, natural sweetness

5.       Homemade Kulfi (in matka / shot glasses) – optional for festive touch

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🍽️ Suggested Service Style

•        Set up a buffet counter with name tags, spoon/fork picks, small plates

•        Tea/coffee to be served on tray or thermos flasks by helping hands

•        Dessert corner with mini bowls or cups (easy grip)

________________________________________

🛍️ Additional Touches

•        Use eco-friendly crockery (palm leaf plates/cups) or steel/porcelain

•        Light instrumental music (old Hindi, sitar, flute)

•        A shaded or semi-indoor space with fans, chairs with cushions

•        Napkins, toothpicks, wet wipes available on side tables

________________________________________

Would you like a printable version of this menu or a shopping list & preparation timeline too?

[ii] https://www.pkdash.in/2023/02/chatgpt-fails-ias-exam.html

[iii]  https://www.pkdash.in/2023/03/bing-cracks-ias-exam.html