What Can You Do With ChatGPT? 15 Practical Uses

Short answer: ChatGPT can explain topics, help you study, draft and edit writing, summarise documents, brainstorm ideas, write and debug code, and plan your work. It is fastest when you give it clear context, and you should always check facts that matter. Here are 15 practical uses, each with a prompt you can copy.

For Studying

1. Explain a hard topic simply

Ask for an explanation at your level, then ask follow-up questions.

Explain photosynthesis to a 15-year-old in 5 short points, then give one real-life example.

2. Quiz yourself

Turn your notes into practice questions and check your answers.

Ask me 5 multiple-choice questions on the French Revolution, one at a time, and tell me why each answer is right or wrong.

3. Summarise long notes

Paste your notes and ask for the key ideas.

Summarise these notes into 7 bullet points and list 3 terms I should memorise: [paste notes]

4. Make a study plan

Give your exam date and free hours.

I have an exam in 3 weeks and 2 free hours a day. Make a day-by-day plan for these topics: [list].

For Writing

5. Draft emails and messages

Give the purpose, audience and tone.

Write a polite email to my manager asking to move Friday's meeting to Monday. Keep it under 80 words.

6. Edit and improve your writing

Ask for specific improvements, not a full rewrite, to keep your own voice.

Fix grammar and make this clearer, but keep my style. Show the changes as a list: [paste text]

7. Translate with the right tone

Mention the audience so the tone fits.

Translate this into simple English for customers, keeping it friendly: [paste text]

For Work

8. Turn meeting notes into action items

Paste rough notes and ask for owners and deadlines.

From these notes, list decisions, action items, owners and deadlines in a table: [paste notes]

9. Write spreadsheet formulas

Describe your columns and what you want.

Column A has dates, column B has sales. Give me an Excel formula for total sales in March.

10. Brainstorm ideas

Ask for many options, then narrow down.

Give me 10 names for a small online bakery, then pick the best 3 and explain why.

11. Prepare for an interview

Practise with a mock interviewer.

Act as an interviewer for a junior data analyst role. Ask me one question at a time and give feedback.

For Coding

12. Explain code

Paste code you don't understand.

Explain what this Python function does, line by line, for a beginner: [paste code]

13. Find and fix errors

Include the full error message.

I get this error: [paste error]. Here is my code: [paste code]. What's wrong and how do I fix it?

14. Write small scripts

Describe input, output and constraints.

Write a Python script that reads a CSV of expenses and prints the total per category.

For Everyday Life

15. Plan and organise

Trips, budgets, routines or event checklists.

Plan a 3-day budget trip itinerary for a family of four, with a daily cost estimate table.

Getting Better Answers

• Give context: who you are, who it's for, and what a good result looks like.

• Ask for a format: a table, bullet points, a word limit.

• Iterate: say what to change instead of starting over.

What ChatGPT Should Not Be Trusted With

• Unchecked facts: it can state wrong information confidently. Read about AI hallucination and verify anything important.

• Private data: don't paste passwords, ID numbers, or confidential company or personal information.

• High-stakes decisions: for medical, legal or financial matters, use it to prepare questions, then ask a qualified professional.

• Your own learning: if it does all your homework, you won't learn. Use it as a tutor, not a replacement.

Key Takeaway

ChatGPT is a powerful assistant for studying, writing, work and coding, as long as you give clear instructions and check what matters. The better your prompt, the better the result, and prompting is a skill you can learn.

Ready to start? Learn to write prompts that work for summaries, emails, study help and data, with practice exercises. Begin with the free course Prompt Engineering for AI: Beginner.