10 Fun Ways to Pass the Time with ChatGPT

So often, I’m pushing the narrative to take generative AI seriously and experiment with it in order to control your own automation that I fail to emphasize the fun side of tools like ChatGPT. We should treat these tools like a toddler treats a new toy – exploring all realms of the imagination to see the expanse of joy this toy can bring.

Using ChatGPT can be a great source of entertainment. It’s like this talented court jester that will attempt anything you ask it to – sometimes returning with something impressive and sometimes incoherent, both of which are entertaining.

Taking the time to not be so serious in leveraging ChatGPT and expanding your imagination in how you interact with it is a good creative exercise. Playful tinkering often even leads to groundbreaking discoveries.

These are some of the ways people are using ChatGPT to pass the time.

Write Jokes

A source of endless entertainment is asking AI to tell you a joke. Even better if you tell it who to put in the joke or what to talk about.

Design Word Games

Give ChatGPT a few parameters and it’ll give you a word-based adventure game like this:

I used ChatGPT to generate new cards for the word-guessing game Taboo, themed around specific interests like the NBA. ChatGPT knows how to play 20 questions too. And I’ll bet it makes a great riddle.

Naming Things

ChatGPT is surprisingly good at coming up with creative names. It has more wordplay than you’d expect.

Mountain Dewdle or Green Lightning is what ChatGPT would call a cocktail with Mountain Dew, Kentucky bourbon, and a lemon twist. Glowing Greetings is the name of the business that AI generated for me.

Janelle Shane of AI Weirdness has long tinkered with AI naming things like trendy beer names, band names, and imaginary fruits.

Lots of fun to be had with name disses, nicknames, etc.

Doodling/Cartooning

Gary Larson’s The Far Side is my favorite funny comic because of its observational humor mixed with random premises. I occasionally doodle a funny thought in his style. I asked ChatGPT to help me with a comic idea and came up with an undeniably funny premise. It needs some work, but it generated a logical twist based on my prompt. – Ryan

Plan A Weekend Getaway

I was feeling stressed, so I asked ChatGPT to plan a weekend getaway to Tulum, and it gave me a pretty solid itinerary to run with at that moment. You can use ChatGPT to help you plan birthday parties, events, and holiday gatherings – especially if you need help with ideas for certain themes.

Sorry Excuses

I asked ChatGPT to come up with an apology to send a landlord for late rent in the style of a Michael Jackson song. It took a bit of a weird turn, which was quite funny. I won’t even include a screenshot because it's not worth reading. Nonetheless, it’s entertaining to see how ChatGPT will write emotional things in other people’s voices.

Random Junk

Similarly, having ChatGPT write whatever comes to the top of your head first is a great use of time. Like if Liam Neeson ran a daycare and what would he say to parents to assure them their kids were in good hands? Or how would life be different if the majority of people were left-handed?

Side Projects

If you’ve always wanted to write a book, get into poetry, write satire, or get some sort of creative side project going, ChatGPT is a great tool to help you kickstart your ideas.

Fan fiction is a good way to get started on this path.

Personal Development

Alex Cohen had mixed results when he tried to use ChatGPT to prepare a detailed weight loss plan, complete with food and workout recommendations. It took some repeated questioning to get the calorie counts right, and the AI never did give him a workout that met his constraints. Still, it was able to calculate his nutritional needs, prepare a daily menu, and come up with a detailed grocery list. Nonetheless, it could help design your high-level personal plans.

Crime Fighting

Zack Seipert said: “I researched some famous unsolved murders and ChatGPT did an excellent job laying out the crime, suspects, clues and more. I bet that working with a team of experienced detectives some of these cold cases could be solved.”

As I said in the beginning, everyone should have the mindset of childhood wonder with ChatGPT and treat it like a new toy. Spend as much time having fun and exploring this toy because you never know what ability you might discover or what project you might kickstart.