ChatGPT examples: 282 real use cases with prompts

Turn leftover holiday ham into a gluten-free fried rice with ChatGPT

After Christmas, Shasta Kearns Moore's household still had a lot of ham. Moore asked ChatGPT for healthy ideas without too many vegetables, since the people at home aren't big fans. The first five ideas didn't fit, because one eater is gluten-free and the family prefers Asian cooking, so Moore told it that. ChatGPT came back with new suggestions and, on request, a recipe for a simple fried rice dish that was 'a big hit.' Moore says it took seconds and saved 'time, money and a headache.'

Find out why two Medicare Advantage plans have different deductibles with ChatGPT

Comparing 2027 Medicare Advantage plans, John Major found two from one company with nearly identical features and premiums and copays within $10, but plan E had a $2,000 deductible on non-routine care and plan S had none. Major couldn't find a benefit to explain it and asked ChatGPT. It admitted it couldn't find an explanation either, but on its own it compared the 2026 versions: then, plan E's deductible was $1,500 with an out-of-pocket maximum $2,750 lower than plan S. Major concluded the company was 'apparently squeezing existing plan E customers', counting on them to renew without looking.

Preview flower arrangement options before cutting a stem with ChatGPT Images

Florist Ashley Greer of Atelier Ashley Flowers tested ChatGPT Images 2.0 with the flowers for a favorite client's arrangements. The first prompt returned three designs in brass footed vases after a little over a minute. Greer then showed it the vases and bases already in use, asked for three versions of each (round and tight, round and bouncy/wild, wild and asymmetrical), and told it to remove the dahlias and phalaenopsis orchids Greer had decided against. Greer called the images 'polished provocations, several possible outcomes made visible before I cut a single stem'. Asked to identify the flowers without a materials list, it did 'a fairly decent job', given some obscure varieties.

Separate land descriptions in an 1836 dower record with ChatGPT

Working from an 1836 Jefferson County, Indiana, probate record, the Heartland Genealogy blogger asked ChatGPT to pull out the land description. It separated Thomas D. Crawford's 113-acre tract from the 43¾ acres set aside as the dower of Crawford's widow, Jane. While drafting a blog post from the record, ChatGPT also found that this Jane appeared to be Jane Todd Crawford, remembered in medical history for surviving an operation performed by Dr. Ephraim McDowell. The writer treats it as a lead to keep researching: 'AI found the connection. It didn't finish the research.'

Explain retirement money ideas simply and prepare for a planner meeting with ChatGPT

Therese M., a retiree who isn't a financial professional, uses ChatGPT between appointments with a financial planner, not instead of them. Therese asks it to 'explain these concepts to me like I'm in fifth grade'. Before meetings with an accountant or certified financial planner, Therese says what the meeting should achieve and asks ChatGPT for targeted questions. When Therese was thinking about redoing a bathroom, ChatGPT ran the numbers and the pros and cons, and Therese decided to just fix the leaky faucet. One firm rule: no real account numbers, Social Security number or identifying details go into the chat.

Trace a family tree from half-remembered details with ChatGPT (partial)

Ryan Aubrey didn't know where the family came from, or even the grandparents' middle names. Aubrey turned ChatGPT's effort level up as high as it would go and shared everything known, mistakes included. On the father's side it quickly found a grandfather's obituary (a high school state championship and a basketball scholarship to the University of Tampa) and went through FamilySearch and Find a Grave to suggest a colonial Virginia line of 'Awbrey's' with a possible, unconfirmed Welsh origin. On the mother's side the line got lost after the grandparents in West Virginia, so Aubrey says the next step is to 'go analog'.

Spot a jury duty scam targeting your spouse with ChatGPT (partial)

On July 21, men posing as sheriff's deputies told Kimberly Fudge, 38, a Florida finance manager, that Fudge had missed federal jury duty and faced arrest. Fudge spent nearly 10 hours driving and feeding $25,000 into cryptocurrency machines as 'bail'. Following the callers' script, Fudge texted spouse Jonathan for money, and Jonathan sent $3,000. At a second request, Jonathan asked ChatGPT why a spouse would make such a demand. It listed ordinary explanations, then flagged a possible scam, and Jonathan called 911. The money already sent is gone; reports went to the sheriff's offices, the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center and the FTC, but the family is 'not counting on recovery.'

Shape your own memories into a father's eulogy with ChatGPT as editor

Writing the eulogy for a 99-year-old father, Alec Duthie, the writer behind Wheelchair John didn't ask ChatGPT to write it. Instead, the writer gave it personal stories and memories and asked questions such as 'Where would this story fit best?', 'Does this repeat something I've already said?' and 'Does this sound like natural speech?' The finished eulogy took almost twenty minutes to deliver, and afterward people said: 'That was a great eulogy. Thank you for sharing your relationship with him.'

Scale catering recipes for 25–30 people up to hundreds with ChatGPT and Claude

Brian Reilly, co-owner of Arlington's Catering and Historic Venue in Springfield, took a six-week small-business AI workshop sponsored by Innovate Springfield. Reilly now uses ChatGPT and Claude to make routine checklists, such as cleaning procedures, and to scale recipes built for 25–30 people up to, say, 330. Reilly says accuracy depends on the input. When Reilly fed it information inaccurately, those mistakes were caught 'pretty quickly', and now Reilly screenshots the recipe into the tool instead to avoid user error. 'It might take a time or two, but it's been pretty accurate.'

Fix a washer that leaves soap on clothes by cleaning the drain filter with ChatGPT

Mohan Natarajan's Samsung front-load washer, almost 10 years old and out of warranty, started leaving foam on the clothes and not draining. A service visit would probably have cost at least ₹1,000. ChatGPT listed likely causes and walked Natarajan through opening the drain filter, warning that water might spill out and not to force anything out unless it was clearly foreign. The filter was full of 'dirt, lint, sand, and hair'. After cleaning it, 'The machine worked perfectly.' Natarajan adds a limit: no AI help for repairing electrical systems.

Find support and coping strategies for a loved one's Alzheimer's delusions with ChatGPT

The writer behind Alzheimer's Witness lives with Frank, whom the writer has loved for 44 years and who now has Alzheimer's disease. Living with Frank's delusions means answering Frank's questions quickly and soothingly, so the writer talks to ChatGPT, asking questions that ease Frank's mind and the writer's own. What the writer learned brought a better understanding of what Frank is going through and how to meet Frank's needs, and ChatGPT's strategies for coping with a delusion became 'an invaluable source of support and sanity when it is most needed'. In the writer's words: 'With AI, I no longer feel as alone.'

Cut a family grocery bill by planning meals from fridge photos with ChatGPT

Tom's Guide's Amanda Caswell asked ChatGPT for one trick to lower a grocery bill. It said to photograph the fridge, freezer and pantry, ask for five meals using what was already there, and buy only what those meals still needed. It came back with dishes like chicken tacos and bean and tomato soup, leaving Caswell needing maybe $40 of filler items instead of the usual $200. Caswell says the weekly spend went from about $350–$400 to about $200–$250.

Write a mother's obituary for the local paper with ChatGPT (partial)

Soon after Jeff Fargo's mother died, while Fargo was still emotionally raw, the mother's friends started asking about an obituary. Fargo asked ChatGPT for an obituary to memorialize the mother and typed for a really long time to capture the nuance of who the mother was. The result was printed in the local paper. Fargo felt it was passable and saw it as a gift, since it didn't take a lot of time or more emotional effort. Washington Post reporter Drew Harwell, who read it, found it 'serviceable' but almost 'templated', without all the emotional resonance Fargo had poured in, and suggests using AI drafts as a head start to edit and make your own.

Make a father's handwritten crop ledger, kept since 1971, searchable with ChatGPT

At Sharp & Sharp Certified Seed in Allendale, South Carolina, Rachael Sharp used ChatGPT to digitize the farm's handwritten crop ledger, kept by Sharp's father since 1971, and make it searchable. 'Every single crop we've ever planted is now accessible,' Sharp says, with past planting dates, yields and practices in one place. In the field, Sharp uses voice mode to log loads, and when soybeans looked stressed, Sharp photographed them and asked ChatGPT what was wrong.

Diagnose and fix a rental property's washer that won't spin with ChatGPT

When a tenant reported that the washing machine at a rental property wasn't spinning, self-described not-handy landlord Sam Guertler asked ChatGPT. It laid out a few possible causes and a step-by-step checklist in one response. Following it, and sending photos and observations along the way, Guertler found the suspension rods needed replacing. ChatGPT gave links for replacement parts and how-to videos; Guertler ordered the parts, replaced them and used ChatGPT to check the work. The tenant later texted that the washer was 'purring like a kitten'. A traditional search, tried for comparison, led to a fix that wasn't the issue.

Adjust a 1,200-calorie diabetes meal plan day to day with ChatGPT

Ankush Joshi has lived with type 2 diabetes since 2012 and used ChatGPT to build a 1,200-calorie, high-protein, high-fiber plan of four meals a day. When a day goes off plan, Joshi asks for quick changes, such as moving calories toward dinner or adding 20 g of protein without adding calories. After 2 laddoos and a small chakli at a festival, ChatGPT estimated the extra calories and suggested lighter swaps and a 45-minute walk. Joshi says it is less accurate for homemade, restaurant and festival food, and the rule stays: 'NEVER change medicines based on AI.'

Read an 18-page blood test report with ChatGPT, then find what it missed

Simran Sukhnani gave an 18-page blood report to ChatGPT. Within seconds it flagged high triglycerides (252 mg/dL), low vitamin D (14.9 ng/mL) and blood in the urine. But it never asked about Sukhnani's life. It suggested walking 30 minutes a day, though Sukhnani walks 15,000 steps and does weight training five days a week. It recommended 60,000 IU of vitamin D weekly without asking about supplements already being taken. And it never asked whether Sukhnani was menstruating when giving the urine sample, though that was the case and is a common cause of blood in urine. Sukhnani went to a doctor, and calls ChatGPT 'a starting point, not a destination'.

Build an evidence packet for a stalled insurance drug approval with ChatGPT

Rich Kaplan has catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome, a rare autoimmune clotting disorder. Kaplan's insurer wouldn't cover an expensive prescribed medication without evidence it had helped someone with a condition that rare, and 90, then 120 days passed. Kaplan asked ChatGPT to find every reference to the drug being used for the disease and got back a referenced, five-page synthesis of trials, case reports and studies. With a short plain-language note added ('I'm alive today. I have a rare disease. I'm trying to stay alive longer.'), the packet was approved through the insurer's third-party arbitration process.

Draft and submit a $20,000 arts grant proposal in 12 minutes with ChatGPT

Mary Catherine Brooks, board president of the Greenville Arts Council in Mississippi, learned at 4:48 PM that a $20,000 grant proposal was due by 5:00 PM. Brooks opened ChatGPT, uploaded the council's past successful proposals and had it use them to produce a new draft. The proposal was submitted before the deadline and won the $20,000, which will support arts and education programming for children and families across the Delta. '12 minutes of ChatGPT is making an impact on the lives of thousands of kids,' Brooks says.

Ask ChatGPT whether an online crypto 'investment' is a scam

Margaret Loke, a 70-something widow in San Jose, met a man called 'Ed' on Facebook who persuaded Loke to 'invest' in crypto through an app that showed big profits. Loke wired money from an IRA, including $120,000 and a final $62,000, and took out a $300,000 second mortgage. When the account was 'frozen' and Ed demanded a million dollars to unfreeze it, Loke asked ChatGPT, which replied: 'no, this is a scam, you better go to police station'. That warning came too late: Loke lost nearly $1 million in a 'pig butchering' scheme, faces a huge tax bill for withdrawing the IRA at once, and could lose the house.

Spot reduced IEP services and rehearse school pushback with ChatGPT

Preparing for an IEP meeting, parent Yessenia Salomon uploaded the child's IEP to ChatGPT and asked it to break down the current services and compare them with last year's. It flagged services that had been reduced, something Salomon hadn't caught yet. Next, ChatGPT played a school administrator objecting to Salomon's requests; the objections 'matched almost word-for-word' the pushback from last year's meeting. In a new chat, Salomon asked for responses as the parent, citing IDEA, FAPE and Florida law. Salomon notes AI can make mistakes with citations, so every one gets double-checked.

Turn a parent's care needs into a shareable daily schedule with ChatGPT

Lisa Mitchell, 59, of Brooklyn, cares for a 92-year-old father who is legally blind and has several health problems. Mitchell puts all of the father's needs into ChatGPT, including occupational therapy, physical therapy, medication routines, adult day care appointments and daily care tasks, and asks for a structured daily plan to share with a brother. 'The schedule that is created gives me back time and peace of mind, and keeps my dad's care organized and my family on the same page.'

Build a zero-based budget to pay down $5,000 of credit card debt with ChatGPT

Myra Donohue, 28, an HR administrator in Grass Valley, California, had US$5,000 of credit card debt plus car payments and other bills, and a partner who had just been laid off. A Facebook post about fixing your finances in seven steps said to start with a zero-based budget, where every dollar gets a job. Donohue plugged the household numbers into ChatGPT and asked for a personalized plan instead of paying for one. 'It was really about me getting back on the horse,' Donohue said. The same New York Times report warns that AI money advice can be wrong, and advisers say to double-check it.

Study for a failed history exam retake with ChatGPT and NotebookLM

A bright, deeply dyslexic Grade 8 student failed an end-of-year history exam with 57% and had to rewrite it in summer school. Tutor Lori Kiteala had ChatGPT simplify the textbook into bullet-point summaries, then loaded those into NotebookLM to build study guides, briefing documents, timelines and a podcast for each chapter. The student also made handwritten vocabulary flashcards on neon cue cards and learned how to prompt the tools. On the rewrite, the student scored 87%.