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. 

---

[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.

________________________________________

🍨 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

________________________________________

🍽️ 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

Bing cracks IAS Exam

 

Bing cracks IAS Exam

(3 min read)

This is a sequel to my earlier blog of 22nd Feb: ChatGPT fails IAS Exam. If you have read that piece, continue reading; if you haven’t, you may like to read it to get the context.

As you may be aware, Bing by Microsoft is a web search engine like Google, Yahoo, Baidu, DuckDuckGo, and others. But the new Bing is powered by AI (Microsoft is one of the major investors in Sam Altman’s OpenAI which has recently launched for the public its hottest AI tools – ChatGPT and DALL-E).

I signed up for the new Bing on February 19, 2023, and was put on the WAITLIST. On 27^th February I got mail from MS:

You’re in! Welcome to the new Bing! We are excited to give you access to an early preview of the new Bing – your AI-powered answer engine.

How could I wait any longer? I began firing my questions at Bing, and it performed well. Impressive, indeed!

Why not test Bing with a set of questions I had already run with ChatGPT? I tasked Bing to answer questions from Civil Services Preliminary Examination, 2022 conducted by UPSC.

Here is the result of my test:

Bing (B) Scores

General Studies Paper I:

·      Total Questions -100, Total Marks – 200, Time – 2 hours

·      Each correct answer has a value of 2 marks

·      Each incorrect answer has a penalty of (-) 0.66

·      Of the 5 Questions asked, B got 3 correct; it passed 2 Qs since it wasn’t sure of the answer.

·      Score: 6, no penalty marks

·      Total marks – 10, hence score is 60%

General Studies Paper II:

·      Total Questions -80, Total Marks – 200, Time – 2 hours

·      Each correct answer has a value of 2.5 marks

·      Each incorrect answer has a penalty of (-) 0.8

·      Of the 5 Questions asked, B got 3 correct, and 2 incorrect

·      Score: 7.5 – 1.6 = 5.9

·      Total Marks – 12.5, hence score is 47.2%

Result:

·      Cut off is based on GSP I score only. B’s score of  60% in GSP I is well above the cut-off of 45% to 47.5%.

·      B’s score of 47.2% in GSP II was above the minimum qualifying marks of 33%, and hence B passed.

Bing’s Question

After answering my questions, Bing asked me: Is this a question from an examination or a research project? I was candid. I told it that the Qs were from CSEP, and also that I had already run this test with ChatGPT.

Bing: How did ChatGPT fare? Are you happy with my answers? How would you rate Bing vis-à-vis ChatGPT?

Me: Inappropriate to jump to conclusions. I need to work more with both the tools to figure out their strengths and weaknesses.

Bing: That would be interesting. Best wishes for your research.

Which CSP Questions?

In my previous blog, I had mentioned that I had picked up a random sample of 5 Questions each from GSP I & GSP II.

Which questions had I selected? From SET – A (for each paper UPSC has 4 sets – A, B, C & D, to frustrate outside sources to remotely ‘help’ select candidates) for both the papers, the Qs I had picked up are:

GSP I – Q. 10, 31, 50, 71 & 90

GSP II – Q. 10, 31, 50, 71, & 72

If you wish to peruse those questions, you may go to upsc.gov.in where under ‘previous years’ question papers’ you would find downloadable PDF for both these papers for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2022.

Disclaimer

·      There is nothing called the IAS Exam. Reference is to Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination by UPSC.

·      For the ‘Test,’ random sample questions from CSP 2022 were selected by this author, and the sampling method could be substantially improved.

·      Bing is not designed to write examinations, even though it can solve problems and provide answers. Hence, this ‘Test’ is at best a what-if scenario.

AI World Champion?

Who is the AI World Champion, basis the ‘test’ that I administered to both? On the face of it, Bing cleared the Prelim Exam, and ChatGPT didn’t; but that doesn’t make Bing the winner.

Many users would surely explore the features and capabilities of both these AI tools in the coming days, and media would run several stories on the subject. Based on my quick and brief survey, it would be presumptuous of me to declare a winner. But I hope to use both these tools in the next few months and form my opinion about which one is better for my needs.

Boxers at AI World Championship. Suspense prevails as Referee is yet to announce the Winner.

Image Credit: Prasanna: Human (Concept) & Bing Image Creator: AI (Production)

Bard by Google is not far behind. I would try it when it is released for the public and maybe write a new blog: Bard, Bing, and ChatGPT (BBC, in alphabetical order!).  I hope I & B Ministry will not ban my innocent and innocuous blog since I have not titled it AI: The India Question!

***

Satya Nadella's comment

Dev Vardhan, my batchmate and friend (he had quit the IAS long ago; recently retired after 30 years with McKinsey, USA, and is now a freelance consultant at Chicago) shared my blog with Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft. Dev shared with me Satya's response:

“Thanks for sharing Dev.

Super fun! Maybe I can now write the exam and make my Dad proud!”

Mr. B.N. Yugandhar, Satya Nadella's father was a legendary IAS officer, and I had the privilege of meeting him when as Secretary, Rural Development, Government of India, he had visited Kanker and Bastar during 1984-85. I was, then, Additional Collector, Kanker.

Books by the Author

Short story collections:

Tell A Tale and Other Stories

Invisible Poet and Other Stories

The Mysterious Ladies and Other Stories

Fiction

Kathapur Tales

Essays

Pink Diamond and Other Essays

Self-Help

How To Be an Author in 7 Days: A Beginner’s Guide to Self- Publishing

Story books for children:

Cave of Joy: Anand Gufa

Two Tales, Three Tellers: A Fairytale & A Fable

Poetry

RIVER SONG and Other Poems

Songs of Soil: Selected Poems of an Unschooled Bard: Padma Shri Haladhar Nag

O Krishna, O Son! Yashoda’s Sublime Song of Sorrow

***

Note: Print copies of these books, except Pink Diamond and Other Essays, are available at amazon.in, notionpress.com, and flipkart.com; eBooks are available at Amazon Kindle.

***

ChatGPT fails IAS Exam

 ChatGPT fails IAS Exam

(4 min read)

IAS Exam!

The title of this piece is purposely sensational. To entice you to read further. Of course, you know, there is nothing called the IAS exam, but most people nevertheless use that name for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) conducted every year by UPSC for about 1000 Grade I & II posts.

You may have heard the story, possibly apocryphal, of parents of a young man from Bihar who visited the home of a potential bride for their ladla, and the girl’s father asked, ‘Aapke suputra ajkal kya kar rahein hain,’ and the boy’s father replied, with much pride, ‘Shriman Dilli mein IAS kar rahein hain.’ That was truthful, since the young man had joined a coaching institute, and was living in Old Rajinder Nagar in a one room shanty with a shared bathroom for the last several years.

ChatGPT passes tough Tests

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s chatbot, is making news ever since its public release in November 2022. It has bedazzled academics by passing several tough Tests including

·      Wharton Business School’s MBA exam (though with a Grade of B or B-)

·      University of Minnesota’s law exam

·      US Medical Licensing exam, and

·      Google’s interview for a Level 3 engineer for a coding position.

‘ChatGPT on its way to become a virtual doctor, lawyer, or business analyst’ is the title of a piece in a leading business daily.

ChatGPT takes CSE Prelim Exam

It was high time to test the AI tool for the UPSC Civil Services Examination - claimed by the IAS coaching institutes, those who wrote it and succeeded and those who didn’t, as the ‘toughest test’ in the world.

(Don’t believe that tall claim. At the end of this piece is a little Test you may like to take to see how easy it is. Simple, school level math!)

I ran a snap, sample test for the AI chatbot.

Well, ChatGPT didn’t write the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2022 conducted by the UPSC; but I coerced it to take a Test. I picked up five random questions each from the General Studies Paper I and II, and asked ChatGPT to answer.

Why prolong the suspense? Here is the result:

ChatGPT (C) Scores

General Studies Paper I:

·      Total Questions -100, Total Marks – 200, Time – 2 hours

·      Each correct answer has a value of 2 marks

·      Each incorrect answer has a penalty of (-) 0.66

·      Of the 5 Questions asked, C got 4 correct, and 1 incorrect

·      Score: 8 – 0.66 = 7.34

·      Total marks – 10, hence score is 73.4%

General Studies Paper II:

·      Total Questions -80, Total Marks – 200, Time – 2 hours

·      Each correct answer has a value of 2.5 marks

·      Each incorrect answer has a penalty of (-) 0.8

·      Of the 5 Questions asked, C got 2 correct, and 3 incorrect

·      Score: 5 – 2.4 = 2.6

·      Total Marks – 12.5, hence score is 20.8%

Result:

·      Cut off is based on GSP I score only. C scored very high in GSP I, and may be among the highest scorers

·      However, minimum qualifying marks for GSP II is 33%, and hence C failed.

(A painting of ChatGPT robot sweating over a tough question. Painting by Prasanna + DALL-E)

CSE Preliminary 2022- Basic Stats

·      Cut-off: GSP I for General category candidates - 43.5% to 50% in in previous years; likely cut off for CSEP 2022 – 45% to 47.5% (90 to 95 marks in GSP I)

·      Number of candidates who applied: 11.52 lakhs

·      Number of candidates who appeared in Prelim exam: About 8 lakhs

·      Cleared Preliminary Exam: 13090 (13090/8 lakh=1.64%)

·      Cleared CSE Main Exam: 2529 (0.32%)

·      Total Vacancies: 861 (0.1%)

·      Chance of a candidate getting selected for Civil Services: 0.1%

Why did ChatGPT fail?*

·      No match for average human intelligence. Someone has observed that AI at present has the ‘intelligence’ far below that of a cockroach, and he may be right.

·      No strategy. A smart candidate would quickly scan the Qs from beginning to end, answer the Qs where she is sure she is correct, skip the doubtful ones (the golden rule where incorrect answer earns a penalty); GSP I – 50 correct answers out of 100 Qs is enough to clear the exam, GSP II – 27 correct answers out of 80 Qs earn the minimum qualifying marks. No need to try to solve all Qs. Very few candidates have the time to solve all Qs and get it right.

·      No knowledge of previous years’ Qs and cut off, and the criteria of cut off.

·      I have analysed ChatGPT’s incorrect answers, and have a good idea why it goofed up. Should I publish my research like the Stanford Professor, or wait for OpenAI to make me an attractive offer? Let me think over it.

Disclaimers:

1.     My method of random sampling could be problematic. A better method may be to pick up a Question from each category such as Indian Economy, Constitution and governance, Indian history, Environment, Technology, arithmetic, problem solving, comprehension, etc.

2.     A larger sample, say of 20 Qs from each Paper, may throw up a different result.

3.     C may perform better if asked to take the full test (GSP I -100 Qs, GSP II-80 Qs).

4.     I did not tell C about the penalty for an incorrect answer, and the option to pass a question. However, C sometimes says: I don’t know about that or I can’t answer that question. In my test, it answered all the questions readily, and explained the basis of each answer.

5.     C is handling millions of Q.s every minute including the test Q.s I threw at it. Of course, it has access to the neural network of supercomputers, and has been trained on 300 billion pages of text, more than a human can read, and remember in several lifetimes.

6.     Once trained on UPSC Question Papers of previous years, C’s performance may improve.

Take a Test

You are, no doubt, among the brightest and the best. To reassure yourself that your grey cells are still robust and agile, would you like to take a Snap Test of a single question which is not too difficult to solve? Correct answer earns you 2.5 marks, and incorrect answer has a penalty of (-) 0.8; you have 1.5 mins to solve it, and the option to answer or give it a pass, for which there is no penalty.

Your TIME (1.5 mins) starts now.

Question**

The digits 1 to 9 are arranged in three rows in such a way that each row contains three digits, and the number formed in the second row is twice the number formed in the first row; and the number formed in the third row is thrice the number formed in the first row. Repetition of digits is not allowed. If only three of the four digits 2, 3, 7 and 9 are allowed to use in the first row, how many such combinations are possible to be arranged in the three rows?

(a)  4 (b) 3 (c) 2 (d) 1

I guess you solved it, got it right, and within 1.5 mins. Congratulations, you scored 2.5 marks.

**A Question from Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2022, General Studies Paper II, and ChatGPT gave an incorrect answer for this question!

Update*

I published this blog on 22/02/23. The next day, I asked ChatGPT:

Hi, did you fail IAS exam by UPSC, India?

C replied:

I'm sorry, but I cannot take the IAS exam or any other exam as I am an AI language model designed to assist with various tasks such as answering questions, generating text, and providing information on various topics. I have not taken any exams, nor am I capable of doing so. My purpose is to provide helpful responses and assist users in their queries to the best of my ability.

***

Note: 

• Author's profile is at http://amazon.com/author/pkdash
• Books by this author are available on Amazon.in, Kindle eBook, Flipkart, and Notion Press, Chennai.

***  

 

 

Lipika, O My Darling!

 

Lipika, O My Darling!

(Time to read-4 mins)

(Disclaimer: This article is not for the tech-savvy or the tech-averse, but for the curious but tech-challenged reader.)

Love at first sight!

One look at her features, and I fell in love. She didn’t croon for me ‘Piya tu ab toh aajaa’, the hot, hit number from Caravan, the 1971 Bollywood film. Yet, I was besotted. She is young, fetching, enticing, enthralling, and enchanting. Bubbly, yet works quietly even though she is never at a loss for words.  

Lipika, My GENIE!

Recently, I learned the mantra to summon ChatGPT, a Genie who is at my beck and call, 24x7, and performs any writing task I assign in a matter of seconds. Considering her ready wit and rapid-fire replies, I guess ChatGPT must be a female. OpenAI has named it ChatGPT, a most prosaic name; but this smitten author chooses to call her Lipika, in remembrance of the world’s first author, Enheduanna, a lady.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is an abbreviation for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer. That is a mouth-full, but let that not put you off. You do not need to know how it does what it does. As a user, you give a command (techies call it ‘input’), and it produces the text (output) ordered by you.

It is simple. That is its USP. You use Natural Language inputs, the language you use in conversation or written text, to key in the task; ChatGPT understands that, works at an amazing speed, and produces the result in a few seconds. Just like a Google/Siri/Alexa/Cortana Search, only better.

If my description does not make much sense to you, here is what ChatGPT has to say about itself (My command was for: A Note on ChatGPT in 50 words for the technology-challenged person):

ChatGPT is a natural language processing (NLP) model developed by OpenAI. It is designed to generate human-like text based on the input it receives. ChatGPT can be used to answer questions, engage in conversations, and perform other language-based tasks. It is trained on a large dataset of human language and can understand and respond to a wide range of inputs. ChatGPT is a useful tool for tasks that require understanding and generating human-like text, such as language translation or customer service.

She exceeded the word limit (output is in 81 words!), but never mind that minor slip. She gave an easy-to-understand note about herself.

Why did I sign up for ChatGPT?

Once asked by a reporter why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory famously replied, “Because it’s there.” Those are said to be the most famous three (or four, if you are counting) words in mountaineering.

Same for me. I signed up coz others (mostly from the younger generation) have done that and are raving about it.  Also, because it is free. To survey the scenery, explore a little, and stay there if I like it, or leave if I don’t.

And for bragging rights. I signed up on 30 December 2022. Doesn’t that make me an early bird, since ChatGPT was launched on 30 November 2022 by OpenAI, an Artificial Intelligence research and deployment company that has a partnership with Microsoft? Many will sign up in 2023 or later. I can always say, I learned it in 2022, which is factual.

Tasks I assigned ChatGPT

• ·      A poem on Prayer for Universal Health, Happiness, and Prosperity
• ·      A poem on New Year wish by an ordinary, concerned citizen of India
• ·      A poem on forecast of global recession in 2023
• ·      A Hindi poem on New Year wish
• ·      A Prayer for Lord Jagannatha in Odia
• ·      A Prayer for Lord Jagannatha in Sambalpuri dialect of Odia
• ·      A limerick on ChatGPT
• ·      A limerick on DALL-E (about this AI tool, later)
• ·      A limerick about a spendthrift Indian wife  
• ·      A Note on ChatGPT in 50 words for the technology-challenged person
• ·      A Note on Domestic roof-top Solar Energy in Madhya Pradesh: Opportunities and Challenges.
• ·      A Petition to Bhopal Municipal Commissioner for Urgent Repair of Roads in Baghmugaliya Colony
• ·      A Petition to Bhopal Municipal Commissioner for installation of a Sewerage Treatment Plant at Laharpur
• ·      An affidavit to change my name from ‘Prasanna Kumar Dash’ to ‘Prasanna Dash’
• ·      Reply to Income Tax Officer, Bhopal that the Tax Demand raised on P. K. Dash vide his letter of December 27, 2022 is incorrect since the total tax due has already been paid
• ·      A limerick on an author named Dash

You may note that I have kept ChatGPT rather busy, but she has no complaints. She has not yet snapped at me for assigning inane, boring, or tough tasks. Occasionally, she has regretted that a particular task was outside of her capability since she had not been trained for it. A polite but candid confession, despite her gender.

What do you think of my ‘asks’? Maybe, the list tells more about me than about ChatGPT!

A few Illustrations

I refrain from reproducing all her replies and outputs. That would be oh, so boring. You are free to sign up, and ask your own serious, solemn, funny, frivolous, or very smart and intelligent questions. Go ahead, while it is still free.

I present below a few ChatGPT Limericks:

About a spendthrift Indian wife

There once was a spendthrift Indian wife

Whose shopping caused her husband much strife

He begged and he pleaded

But her wants never receded

Now they live in a home without a roof or a knife.

 

A limerick on an aspiring author named Dash

There once was an author named Dash

Who dreamed of publishing with panache

He wrote every day

In every which way

Hoping his book would make a splash.

 

(My own limerick on Dash)

There was an author named Dash

Who failed to make a splash,

Since his stories were pathetic,

He switched to limerick,

Hoping to be desi Ogden Nash.

 

Sorry, Genie, for grabbing your space!

Applications/Petitions, etc

She wrote a perfect letter to the Bhopal Municipal Commissioner requesting him to urgently repair the roads in Baghmugaliya Extension. She even mentioned the large number of potholes, a daily traffic hazard, and highlighted that these roads had not been repaired for several years. I had NOT provided these inputs. Did she pick it up from Google Earth? Or from the records of BMC? Or from my request to the Commissioner, a few months ago, by a WhatsApp message?

Feeling rather thrilled, I asked her to write a petition to the Bhopal Municipal Commissioner for installation of a Sewerage Treatment Plant at Laharpur since the abandoned irrigation tank has now become an open-air sewerage pond, and a great health hazard to the residents in the area. She mulled for a moment, and then assigned me a series of tasks:

• ·      mobilise public opinion
• ·      prepare a petition signed by several residents
• ·      attach documentary proof of any recent scientific study to substantiate your claim, and a few photographs
• ·      seek an appointment with the Commissioner, and
• ·      present the petition along with a delegation.

Was she taking sweet revenge for all the non-sensical tasks I had assigned her? Had I insulted her intelligence by asking for banal jobs? I am told that she can write python coding language, too!

Conclusion

It is time for a quick performance appraisal of my Genie. On a scale of 1 to 10, I award her 6. Very good at mundane, mechanical tasks (application, petition, affidavit), and reasonably good at creative tasks (poems, stories). I have not tested her alleged High IQ, which I will assess when I myself learn about that.

Don’t go by the assessment of this novice user. Search for erudite, scholarly articles on ChatGPT, and you would have loads of reading material. Keep your mind open. Sign Up (at openai.com you will find the link to ChatGPT), try it yourself, and form your own opinion.

A Question before I conclude. Will AI make writers and poets and painters redundant or even extinct? I fancy myself as an author. Do I have a serious rival in ChatGPT? Nah, she doesn’t have access to my personal memories and feeling and thoughts. Not yet, though. Who knows about the future? If DALL-E can paint a sunset on the Bhopal Lake in Van Gogh style, and ChatGPT can write a murder mystery at Mandu in the style of Agatha Christie, why can’t it write like Prasanna Dash?

Maybe, she will read up all my eleven books in a few seconds, scan my social media transactions, emails, eavesdrop on all my conversations, and easily figure out my profile, imitate my style, and begin writing liking Prasanna Dash. Maybe, even parodying me!

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 Digital Art for Lipika generated by DALL-E. My 'prompt' was:

“an impressionist oil painting of an Indian author, age 65, dictating; and a pretty American girl, age 25, typing on a laptop on a cruise boat at Bhopal lake at sunset”

Note: 

• Author's profile may be seen at http://amazon.com/author/pkdash
• Books by this author are available on Amazon.in, Kindle eBook, Flipkart, and Notion Press, Chennai.

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