ChatGPT examples: 282 real use cases with prompts

Get a dog with sudden foamy coughing to an emergency vet in time after ChatGPT flagged possible bloat

When the family dog began coughing up foam after drinking, Chase Williams asked ChatGPT to question them like a vet would. After asking about breed, age, frequency and when it started, ChatGPT said it could be urgent and might be bloat, which in bigger dogs can be fatal within hours. The dog was put in the car immediately; the vet diagnosed bloat needing emergency surgery and said the dog had arrived just in time. Williams stresses ChatGPT is not a vet and shouldn't be trusted on its own.

Make sense of dealership lease printouts mid-visit with ChatGPT

A first-time car shopper who found the dealer's math confusing asked for a minute alone, took screenshots of the printouts, gave ChatGPT some context and asked how to negotiate and which options were right for their family. They say it explained the pros and cons clearly and told them what to negotiate; they followed about 90% of its advice, said 'no' about 4 times to 'meet in the middle' offers, and leased the car on their terms.

Cut a $195,628 uninsured ER bill to about $32,500 by checking it against Medicare rules with Claude

After a relative died following four hours of emergency care, Matt Rosenberg got the hospital's coded UB-04 form and asked Claude to compare each charge with what Medicare would pay. Claude spotted unbundled stent supplies worth over $100,000, a bypass charge for surgery that never happened, and ventilation billed alongside critical care, and estimated Medicare would have paid about $28,675. Rosenberg had ChatGPT check the analysis, spot-checked the rules, and sent a six-page letter. The hospital countered at $36,356 and they settled at roughly $32,500.

Fix a washing machine that won't fill using Gemini, after ChatGPT picked the wrong part

A poster described their broken washing machine to Gemini, which helped them run diagnostics, found it wasn't taking in water and pointed to the inlet valve. They used ChatGPT's shopping help to find and order the part, but the first part didn't fit even though ChatGPT said it would. They installed the right one with Gemini's guidance in about 1.5 hours total, saving about $120 on labour.

Build a biweekly grocery list on a $175 budget with Gemini

Tom's Guide's Elton Jones gave Gemini and ChatGPT the same prompt: a $175 biweekly grocery budget, the foods they usually buy, and a request for a categorized, priced table. Gemini said $175 over two weeks was realistic if they balanced splurges like steak and shrimp with rice and potatoes, and gave a table by category, item, quantity and estimated cost with a total. ChatGPT's similar chart added items they don't usually buy, like eggs and shredded cheese. They picked Gemini as the better financial adviser overall.

Appeal a denied cardiac test using studies found with ChatGPT Deep Research

When insurance denied the poster's husband's cardiologist-ordered nuclear stress test as 'experimental' (a $1,500 out-of-pocket cost), the poster used ChatGPT Deep Research to find peer-reviewed studies on the test's effectiveness: five studies in ten minutes. Five minutes later they had a draft appeal letter for the cardiologist to review and send. The poster says a week later the insurer reversed its decision and covered the test.

Tailor a resume, cover letter and LinkedIn summary with ChatGPT, then get Gemini to judge them

A writer fed ChatGPT a job description and their existing application details to produce a tailored resume (two attempts; the first looked too plain), a one-page cover letter and a LinkedIn summary with recruiter keywords. They then asked Gemini to play the hiring manager: it scored them 8.5 out of 10 with 'a very high probability of landing an interview', but said the documents were too 'tech-first' rather than 'finance-first' for this employer.

Narrow down why a gas dryer takes three hours with a ChatGPT video chat before calling a repair company

When a dryer took three hours to dry a load (normally 45 minutes), Lisa-Anne Chung showed ChatGPT the model number, the parts that weren't working and the pipes at the back over a video chat. It identified the model from a photo, walked Chung through checks such as whether the burner glowed and listening for clicks, gave a shortlist of likely causes, and suggested Sunnyvale repair companies via Yelp with a fair diagnostic fee. Chung says they had a solid hypothesis in about 10 minutes and could talk knowledgeably when they called a repair company.

Figure out why a car suddenly won't go over 19 mph from a dashboard photo with ChatGPT

On a dark, rainy drive, TechRadar's Graham Barlow's second-hand car would only crawl and the dash showed '19 mph limit'. They photographed the dashboard and asked ChatGPT; it said a speed limiter was switched on at 19 mph and was probably controlled by a button on a stalk behind the wheel. They found the button labelled 'Limit', turned it off and drove on without calling roadside recovery.

Check a 'take-home task' repo from a job offer for malware with ChatGPT before running it

A developer offered a 'unicorn' job taking over a software project was asked to review and run the company's GitHub repository. Instead of cloning or running it, they asked ChatGPT to analyze it, and say it found hidden malware in what looked like a harmless library file, built to connect to an outside server and steal files, keys and credentials when the project was started. They call it a common scam aimed at job seekers.

Find a check-engine air leak a mechanic missed with Grok and ChatGPT

After their mechanic swapped 3 parts without fixing a check engine light and was about to replace another, a driver stopped the mechanic and used ChatGPT and Grok instead. The driver says they found the air leak on their own and fixed the light.

Turn a handwritten family pie recipe into an infographic with Gemini and ChatGPT (it garbled the recipe)

A TechRadar writer photographed their mother's 30-year-old handwritten apple pie recipe and asked Gemini and ChatGPT to turn it into a clear, cartoon-style infographic. Gemini's version was cute but full of misspellings and nonsense like 'Dash nutamon' and a cheese grater, and corrections didn't fix it; ChatGPT did marginally better but left out details. Claude gave the clearest, if plain, recreation. They called Gemini's first try unusable and kept their paper original.

Look for Black Friday laptop deals with ChatGPT (and double-check them)

TechRadar deals writer Alex Whitelock tested ChatGPT on Black Friday laptop deals. Its first picks were pricey and left out MacBooks; asked for budget options, it suggested sub-$200 Chromebooks they felt were too basic. Prices were up to date and brands well known, but after digging they concluded there were better deals elsewhere and say you need to double-check prices and cross-reference expert reviews.

Plan a 4-day family road trip to South Dakota with five chatbots and use the best plan

A Tom's Guide writer asked five chatbots to plan a four-day family trip from near Minneapolis to the Black Hills and Badlands, with gas and food stops, meals, lodging and under 1,400 miles in a borrowed minivan. Gemini was best at routing; ChatGPT did worst, with a broken map link and a needless night in the Badlands; Copilot was minimal; Claude was good apart from the route. DeepSeek won by basing the family in Custer State Park and planning every meal, and they followed its plan exactly, calling it a blast.

Untangle codeshare delay compensation across three jurisdictions with ChatGPT

When a delay turned a 2-hour layover into an overnight stay in Turkey, a traveller first used ChatGPT to translate their correspondence for a Turkish-only support portal, then got the runaround: two airlines, a codeshare, three jurisdictions, and compensation firms that turned them down. Once they explained the full situation, they say ChatGPT reasoned through the rules, told them which airline to chase and what to say, and that airline agreed to compensation; they say they got $500.

Bring down an extended car warranty quote from $22,600 to $7,400 with ChatGPT's advice

When their car warranty expired, a driver was quoted $22,600 by the dealership for a five-year, 60,000-mile extension. They say ChatGPT told them that was far too high; the dealer dropped the same warranty to $11,800 within five minutes. Still told it was too much, they called another dealership and were offered $7,400 for seven years and 90,000 miles.

Overturn a pet insurer's pre-existing-condition denial with a formal ChatGPT-drafted demand letter

A pet insurer denied a claim for a dog's root canal, citing a minor cosmetic chip in the same tooth years earlier, before coverage. Hacker News user awillen used ChatGPT to write a formal demand letter citing California rules on what counts as a pre-existing condition, plus case law on insurers' burden when invoking exclusions; the poster checked the cases were real. The letter gave 14 days before filing in small claims court, and on day 14 the insurer said it would pay in full.

Get a GoDaddy business email charge refunded with ChatGPT's guidance

A poster charged $83.88 for GoDaddy business email followed ChatGPT's guidance on asking for a refund. The poster says GoDaddy refunded the full amount and moved the account to a $35.88 discounted plan, which they count as a $48 saving.

Plan a Tunisia trip with ChatGPT vs Claude, then travel the combined itinerary

A writer and their partner had ChatGPT and Claude each plan one day in Tunis, Tozeur and Hammamet, then built their trip from both. ChatGPT's plan was ambitious and cinematic; its Tozeur day 'nearly flattened' them with a far longer drive than implied, and a sandstorm blocked the road to the film sets. Claude's was slower and added two stops they loved, the Great Mosque of Kairouan and El Jem amphitheatre. They say ChatGPT delivered better memories and Claude more comfort and culture.

Fight off a £5,800 landlord claim in court using Grok and ChatGPT

A UK poster says a former landlord tried to sue them for £5,800 in a year-long dispute. They used Grok and ChatGPT for the whole process from start to finish instead of paying a lawyer's quoted £3,000, and say they won and received the court's closure letter. They add that this is not legal advice.

Find five Prime Day tech gifts under $100 each: ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini

TechRadar's editor-at-large gave ChatGPT (GPT-5), Claude (Sonnet 4.5) and Google AI Mode (Gemini 2.5 Pro) the same Prime Day gift brief: five fun tech gifts under $100, smaller than a bread box, ideally heavily discounted. They found all followed the brief closely; Gemini answered fastest and returned the most varied list and the best breakdown, Claude pulled its picks from TechRadar's own guides, and ChatGPT leaned toward Amazon devices.

Create a Ninjago-themed birthday quest with activity scroll and medallions using Gemini and ChatGPT

A parent who once ran a kids' party business used Gemini and ChatGPT to create visual assets for their son's 7th birthday quest: a ninja 'scroll' showing all the activities and an elemental medallion that kids filled with stickers as they completed challenges. The parent says the scroll helped walk the kids through the activities and the medallions kept them focused and became souvenirs.

Prepare a property tax appeal script and evidence packets with ChatGPT

A homeowner appealing a house assessed at $481,500 says they used ChatGPT to organise a 3-page hearing script and build three evidence packets (for themselves, the Board and the Assessor) from comparable sales, repair quotes and listings. After presenting about 40 pages of evidence, they settled at $422,000, which they say lowers their bill by about $300–$500/year; the whole effort took about 6 hours.

Fix a car's dead AC and check-engine light with a code read and a blown fuse, guided by ChatGPT

When a check-engine light came on and the AC stopped working, Eric Pacifici (@SMB_Attorney) asked ChatGPT, which told them to get the code read at AutoZone. ChatGPT interpreted the code and walked them through replacing a blown fuse, which fixed it.