Phil Shapiro ChatGPT Explorations

Mapleford was a typical Vermont town, with a vibrant public library. Children, adults, cows all loved going to the library to read. The library's director, Jessica Stephens, hit upon an idea for the library to open a cafe. Adjacent to the library was a laundromat that was closing. That would be the ideal setting for a cafe. To sell this idea to the town leaders, Jessica needed to come up with a sales plan. She needed to create projections of how much food the cafe would sell each year. Faced with this challenge, Jessica had a bold insight. Almost all of the food served in this cafe would have whimsical literary themes. Visitors to this cafe would be laughing so hard, they would order multiple items from the menu. So, using a simple Google Form, Jessica started collecting suggested cafe menu items from residents in the town. Soon, suggestions started pouring in. A hot entree named Unfettered Feta Fettucini A tasty wrap named Grapes of Wraps An aromatic bread named Chronicles of Naan...

Lorraine was a different kind of philanthropist. Slightly quirky and slightly goofy, she sought to achieve her philanthropic goals in creative new ways. She steered away from traditional philanthropic methods and sought to blaze new trails in the field of philanthropy. Her foundation attracted workers with a similar bold mindset. One day, at a staff meeting, she issued the following challenge to her staff. "I want to hear new ideas of how to promote kindness in society. By the end of this week, I want each of you to list five new ways our foundation can promote kindness. The best ideas will have these qualities: 1. Use a relatively small amount of money to change the behavior of large numbers of people. 2. Be quirky enough to engender a lot of press and conversation. 3. Expand upon an existing, successful idea – but take the idea in a whole new direction. 4. Bring greater financial benefits to people who are kinder. Her staff of eight buzzed with excitement at this challenge. Ever...

Airlines have been quick to adopt AI technology to streamline their operations. Now, they are able to lose more luggage, faster. Not only that, airlines can offer passengers the option to pre-lose their luggage. This option is offered right at the curbside, before passengers even enter the airport. Pre-lost bags can then be pre-found, further streamlining the process. Airline executives are hailing this new advancement as a major leap forward in efficiency. "With AI, we can now lose luggage with pinpoint accuracy," said one airline spokesperson. "In the past, it was all guesswork. We had no idea where your bags would end up. But now, we can confidently assure you that your suitcase will end up precisely in a remote corner of Uzbekistan." Passengers are also thrilled about the new pre-losing option. "It's so convenient," said one frequent flyer. "I used to have to wait until I landed at my destination to find out my bag was lost. Now I can just dro...

Sometimes you need to buy socks, but you don't have enough money to buy socks. In that case, you could buy overstock socks. These deals are not easily found, so you need to stalk overstock sock deals. When you do snag a deal, they will bundled your overstock socks in to a large packing box. Sometimes the box is so big, you'll be shocked. You'll be shocked at the quantity of overstock socks. You might wonder if they mistakenly sent you a refrigerator instead of socks. You tear into it eagerly, only to find the socks stuffed with excessive amounts of packing paper—so much that it feels like you've adopted an entire recycling project. As you pull out the socks, you realize they aren't just regular socks. These are "mismatched specials," socks that couldn't quite find their partner in life. Stripes, polka dots, neon colors, and even a pair with tiny sharks chasing after tacos. It's as if the sock gods have decided to throw a chaotic fashion parade just...

My mom's favorite pastime was competitive Scrabble. Sitting in front of a Scrabble board, my sweet mother was transformed into the most bloodthirsty competitor. I used to call her - Tyrannosaurus Lex. When visiting her, I would pretend to be interested in playing Scrabble with her, fully aware of the carnage that awaited me. But this time, something was different. As I sat down across from her at the table, her usual gleam of anticipation seemed slightly dimmed. Her fingers, always swift and sure as they arranged her tiles, hesitated. "Ready to lose again, dear?" she asked, a faint smile pulling at her lips. I braced myself for the onslaught. The game started as it always did — with me trying my best to build modest words like "cat" and "dog," while she unleashed seven-letter monstrosities like "quixotic" or "zygote" without breaking a sweat. Her words stretched across the board, devouring every triple-word score like a ravenous bea...

On a brisk October day in 1963, Aisha Akinola received a telegram at her job at the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The telegram stated: "The Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1963 to the International Committee of the Red Cross and the League of Red Cross Societies with a half to each." Akinola, the office manager took a deep breath. This was a moment for celebration, but not a moment to divert attention from the work being done that day. She made a brief announcement on the public address system of the office: "Co-workers, I have some happy news to share. The International Committee of the Red Cross has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 1963. Let's all take a 20 minute break to celebrate, but please resume your day's work after that. The people whose lives we are saving are counting on us. They do not have the privilege to be able to celebrate." As the words left Aisha Akino...