Story

I’m a lazy person, and I’m proud of it. As a programmer, I’m always on the lookout for creative and efficient ways to use LLMs, especially ChatGPT. Here are some weird ways (or maybe not so weird?) I’ve been using different LLMs:

Extracting IBANs: A while back, I needed to add someone as a beneficiary in my banking app. Instead of sending me the IBAN as text, they sent a screenshot via WhatsApp. I was already lying in bed, using my phone, and didn’t feel like typing it out. So, I uploaded the screenshot to GPT and instructed it to extract just the IBAN. Initially, it resisted, warning me about sensitive information. But after some persistence, it provided the IBAN — though it annoyingly prefixed it with, “Here is...” Eventually, after tweaking my request, it gave me the IBAN in isolation. Lazy? Yes. Efficient? Absolutely.

Code generation and conversion: I work in multiple programming languages and frequently use LLMs as converters and generators. For instance, while working on a contact export script in PHP, I printed the $contacts associative array to the console, copied one of the entries, and asked GPT to create a Symfony entity file. It generated it perfectly, complete with accurate data types. I often do the same to generate CREATE TABLE commands from arrays.

Database functions: I copy table schemas from TablePlus and ask GPT to generate functions for fetching connections, storing, and retrieving data. Saves me a ton of time.

Time tracking helper: I work remotely and use Toggl for logging hours. To streamline calculations, I created a custom GPT app called TimeAdder[1]. I simply copy each time entry, and it converts them into the decimal format for easy calculations.

Bootstrap forms: I upload a table schema to GPT and ask it to generate a Bootstrap-based form. It handles the field generation beautifully.

UI design inspiration: Sometimes, I upload a screenshot of a product and ask GPT to create a similar UI. It provides a good starting point for prototyping.

There're probably many more but I can't remember at the moment. What are some weird or unconventional ways you use GPT/LLMs? Share your experiences — I’d love to hear them!

[1] https://chatgpt.com/g/g-RxQPSCC4H-timeadder