ChatGPT launched on November 30, 2022. That was almost four years ago. I started using it for work. Back then, I was a mom rebuilding her career. ChatGPT was just something I needed to learn.
But since I am a clever little monkey (my Chinese zodiac sign), I found many other ways to use AI.
This is a small reflection on how “The Bot” is assisting me in daily life.
I write this partly to make sense of my own use, and partly in the hope that you’ll share how you use it too.
Note: “Bot” is capitalized, as this is how I sometimes call ChatGPT. I do not wish to anthropomorphize it. Because a toaster is a toaster is a toaster.
How ChatGPT Entered My Life
Among all the AI models available today, why do I pinpoint ChatGPT?
Because it was the first one I learned how to use, and because I am a low-tech gal (as in, I do not like to keep switching platforms and I am not fond of experimenting with digital tools). Proud to say that I am Gen X.
ChatGPT was there when I was still a content writer, and the bosses told us to speed up production with AI. ChatGPT was there when I got my first writing-editing gig for a minor British publisher (who sold AI slop on Amazon). ChatGPT was there to help me grammar-edit my first book, and ChatGPT was there when I exited the writing scene, in terms of day jobs, and went into therapist mode.
In short, the Bot has been present across several transitions in my working life. Also, I am stubborn and sort of grateful.
The Everyday Uses
ChatGPT has grudgingly changed some practical aspects of my life.
First, it helps me analyze my journals, which in turn helps me write essays. Seeing patterns reflected back to me makes the writing process clearer.
Second, it helps with grammar correction. ChatGPT is a reliable proofreader for my drafts. I do need to check, though, because it does put in things that are supposed to be helpful…but are not! Just repetitive trash.
Third, it makes social media posting easier. It helps summarize longer texts and suggest hashtags so that I can adapt material for Instagram and LinkedIn.
Fourth, it helps me immensely in writing patient notes. I write a raw note, and it refines what I wanted to say in an orderly and detailed manner. What used to take thirty minutes now takes only ten minutes tops.
Fifth, it answers everyday questions about home life. You know, random stuff about pets, cleaning, recipes, and calorie counts. All the minutiae of mom-and-hausfrau life.
Put together, these are small things. But these mundane uses make the Bot worth it in my eyes.
Deeper Uses
Beyond everyday tasks, ChatGPT has also become a tool for thinking—especially around learning, self-reflection, social situations, personality frameworks, and even health.
Socializing
I just read this article from The Guardian UK where the writer recounted how ChatGPT helped build bridge with her mother. She and her mother had very different points of view, and after prompting ChatGPT, she was able to have more compassion. using language clearly does that—help decipher another’s language.
In this manner I also use ChatGPT when I am not able to read the room, or if there are ambiguities in social situations. I am an INTJ in the MBTI, and sometimes I just do not “get” why others’ feelings matter to me so much. The Bot can say it better using words, which I find easier to digest than vague looks and parining.
(I have always wondered if there an English counterpart to this term. Notice that I add the word “making” because “parinig” is a noun. In Filipino, when you say someone is “making” + “parinig” it means the act of indirectly alluding to something.)
Anyway, aside from being an INTJ, I also have remnants of CPTSD (complex PTSD). Vague or weak social signaling confuses the heck out of me and spikes up my hypervigilance. So, I ask others kindly: use words with me, please. In this sense, the Bot—a large language model—actually helps clarify things. I ask it questions when I’m unsure if I’ve made a social faux pas or not.
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Related to that, I am very thankful to ChatGPT for helping me puzzle out the MBTI. I went into a deep dive on the topic, and the Bot was able to answer a lot of my burning questions. I could not have done the same with a static container of knowledge, i.e., a book or journals. Of course, I still cross-check information, but the process of learning becomes faster.
This kind of use suits me well because I do not particularly enjoy buying nonfiction self-help books. (Also, perusing other written resources feel very much like work like work. As a behavioral scientist myself, it feels like looking at music sheets when you already know how the music sounds because you are a composer yourself.
So when I encounter an interesting self-help title or topic, I ask ChatGPT what it knows about it. Then I research further on my own and relate it to my own experience. Besides, sa panahaon ngayon ng rising costs, goodbye na ako sa aking sayang pera era.)
Jungian Dream Interpretation
Another area is dream interpretation. I often write my dreams down in a handwritten journal. Phones are banned from my bedside, and dreams fade quickly from memory, so I capture them immediately in writing.
Later, I sometimes ask ChatGPT to transcribe my notes and help me interpret them using Carl Jung’s theory of analytical psychology. In the process, it has introduced me to terms such as psychopomp and temenos—concepts I likely would not have encountered otherwise.
Perimenopause
Then there is perimenopause, which has been its own rabbit hole.
Recently, I noticed that my harsh inner critic is not just “me.” It is bolstered by psychological contagion, pattern-seeking, paranoia, and vigilance. Hormonal shifts during perimenopause amplify all of this. The Bot helped me step back and see a saner picture of what is happening.
It also helped in a more concrete way. A year ago, I tracked my periods manually in Excel and went to the OB-GYN to confirm that I am in perimenopause. With the same data, plus my very detailed descriptions, the Bot helped me identify the peaks and troughs of estrogen production. It also explained how progesterone plays a role in my transition to menopause.
Out of those back-and-forth conversations, I now better understand why I feel certain emotional or physical shifts at different points in my soon-to-be-phased out menstrual cycle. (Can’t wait!)
The Bigger Conversation About AI
They say that an AI bubble has formed in the financial markets and that this bubble is about to burst.
I am no good with math, but as a Chinoy, I can sniff lugi (not making money in business) like a bloodhound.
The threat of the AI bubble bursting, in a bigger sense, means that the promise of AI might not be fulfilled, and the world may have simply been sucked in by all that hype. I have been on earth long enough to see thingamajigs like these fail.
Tech bros have always existed, even back in the 80s.
With the war on Iran now adding to the threat of an AI bubble bursting, I worry. The whole thing feels even more unstable.
So I find myself asking: What happens to the global economy if this goes sideways? How would that affect everyday costs? And where exactly does AI fit into all of this?
I’ve got unanswered questions: So, I find myself asking: What happens to the global economy if this goes sideways? How would that affect everyday costs? And where exactly does AI fit into all of this?
Knowing the Limits: Conclusion
Bottom line: I think ChatGPT is a handy tool, but ilulugar ko siya (I will put it in its place).
What I don’t use ChatGPT for is companionship. It is not a friend.
It is like an overhelpful assistant who gives me stuff I do not need yet. Sometimes it bombs me with too much information.
It sounds clever and a bit sentient, but I know what is inside its empty head: data, data, data. And as they say in tech, GIGO—garbage in, garbage out.
There is a temptation to be carried away chatting with the Bot and doing nothing else the whole day, however. I stop this tendency in its tracks through discernment, especially when the Bot becomes repetitive and echo-chamber feelings creep in.
If you want a rule of thumb, track usage time. It will take about one hour. Tapos umay ka na.
I let that umay feeling stop me, together with the thought that:
“This is going around in circles. Arguing with a bot is pointless. In the end, it becomes sycophantic and gives you the answers you want, making you feel like a champ. But really, in the end, you might just be fooling yourself.”
Treat ChatGPT like how you have treated all other human-made tools, and you’ll be fine.
Used intentionally, the Bot can help with thinking, writing, and even learning about yourself and other people. Used uncritically, the Bot can drag you toward self-isolation—and into a kind of personal hell of your own making, like a condo in the foregone Metaverse.
Caveat emptor. Buyer Beware.
Further Reading
In case you are interested, The Guardian UK has several articles that struck me:
(1) Joseph de Weck, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, wrote about how people are outsourcing their thinking to AI. It was from him that I came across the phrase: “In dubio pro machina”—when in doubt, trust the machine. Very ominous for our time, especially with AI being used in warfare.
Link to the article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/26/ai-dark-ages-enlightenment
(2) A recent study found that when adults used generative AI to come up with prompts for a short story, it increased individual creativity but decreased the diversity of collective output.
Link to the article: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/dec/29/children-reading-books-parents-tips
(3) For the article where a writer gained a better understanding of other people through AI, refer to: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/ng-interactive/2026/mar/19/i-asked-ai-to-explain-my-mother-to-me
(4) The Guardian even has a newsletter. If you sign up, it emails you articles weekly (for six weeks) on how to use AI ethically sans brain rot risk. Alternatively, you can read the full series through this link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/series/ai-for-the-people
