How To Become a ChatGPT Expert: Step-by-Step Guide
Ahsan Zakir
Top 5% Upwork Digital Marketer & WordPress Designer | Meta | Google | Elementor Expert
ChatGPT experts are comfortable interacting with OpenAI's powerful artificial intelligence (AI) program—and they're able to coax specific results out of it.
This is because a true ChatGPT expert understands how a generative AI tool is trained, and why it produces specific results.
These professionals also understand the limitations around what a tool like ChatGPT can't do—allowing them to keep expectations realistic and in line with the limits of generative AI technology.
If you've begun experimenting with ChatGPT and are interested in taking your skills to the next level, keep reading—we're going to cover some of the key things you need to know about becoming a ChatGPT expert.
Understand ChatGPT foundations
The first step in becoming a ChatGPT expert is understanding how the program came to be.
Originally launched as a "research preview" of an existing OpenAI tool, ChatGPT became available to the public in November 2022. While its creators hoped to get the public's feedback on how the generative AI chatbot worked, they didn't expect it to become as widely popular as it did.
Given the public's interest, OpenAI has been steadily working on speeding up, enhancing, and adding features to ChatGPT ever since.
At present, anyone can sign up for the free version of ChatGPT—as long as it’s allowed in your country, that is.
Experimenting with a free ChatGPT account is one of the best ways to begin learning how the program works.
Learn how ChatGPT works
ChatGPT is a computer program known as a generative pretrained transformer—that's where the "GPT" in its name comes from!
A GPT is a type of large language model (LLM). An LLM is a computer program trained by machine learning engineers using massive amounts of data.
In the case of ChatGPT, this data came in the form of existing internet content. OpenAI's engineers trained the LLM to break down this data and look for patterns.
LLM architecture
Because ChatGPT's LLM is trained on all kinds of internet content—numbers, blog posts, and more—it must be able to recognize and replicate lots of different patterns.
This in itself isn't new. Computers have been identifying patterns in data for decades.
What does feel new to many of us, though, is conversational AI and data analysis. Typing into its text box can feel more like messaging a friend than interacting with, say, a Microsoft Access database.
The reason for this is something called natural language processing (NLP). LLMs equipped with NLP can identify data patterns that match natural human speech.
After finding patterns, the LLM can then generate an output that also contains natural human speech patterns. It's not actually speaking or writing, though—the process is a series of mathematical predictions around what words are likely to appear in a sequence.
OpenAI training models
The process of training an LLM is very time-consuming and data-intensive. And when an LLM is used by more than 180 million people, training is an ongoing process.
ChatGPT's initial training data ended around September 2021. While OpenAI has continued to train the LLM with newer information, it's not yet updated in real time.
This is why ChatGPT sometimes says it doesn't know the answer to a question.
This lack of up-to-date information can also contribute to "hallucinations," which is when an AI chatbot returns an output that's factually incorrect. (And is why it’s very important to always check your ChatGPT outputs for accuracy!)
While there are a variety of ways to train an AI, OpenAI uses something called "adversarial training" with ChatGPT.
This type of training is meant to help prevent an AI chatbot from producing undesirable answers. It involves two AI programs interacting with each other: chatbot A and chatbot B.
Chatbot A predicts and tries different methods of forcing chatbot B to produce a result that goes against its initial programing constraints.
These constraints are what make ChatGPT sometimes say that it can’t answer a question.
If chatbot A is successful, and gets chatbot B to output something inappropriate, for example, this is considered to be a successful "jailbreak."
AI trainers use data from these jailbreaks to further enhance LLM training data and create new constraints to resist a similar attack in the future.
Practicing with ChatGPT
Understanding how ChatGPT works can help you better structure your interactions with the tool. Ultimately, though, the best way to become a ChatGPT expert is to use the tool extensively.
Explore prompt engineering
Mastering the art of prompt engineering is key when you're working to become a ChatGPT expert.
Prompts are the strings of text that you feed into an AI in order to receive an output. Depending on the AI tool you're using, your prompt may result in a text, table, code, image, audio, or video output.
ChatGPT Plus lets you produce a wide variety of outputs—from written responses to Dall-E images.
Even if you only have access to the free version of ChatGPT, though, you can still hone your skills as a prompt engineer.
Good ChatGPT prompts are specific, clear, and straightforward. You can reference earlier outputs and even give ChatGPT feedback about what you did and didn't like—it's a bit like training the AI as you go.
Start experimenting with prompts that include details like:
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Once you feel comfortable with basic one-prompt-to-one-output exchanges, you can begin to level up your ChatGPT prompting with additional techniques including:
Using AI prompt generators—like this one from Hall Analysis—is another way to explore what components are important for successful prompting.
Try different plug-ins
If you're using ChatGPT Plus, you can take your outputs to a new level with the help of plug-ins.
A growing range of plug-ins gives ChatGPT new functionality, including:
Plus users can add up to three plug-ins at a time to their account. This selection isn't permanent, so if you find that you need different functionality in the future you can easily switch plug-ins.
Build a custom GPT
When you're feeling comfortable with prompting and plug-ins, you can take your ChatGPT expertise to the next level by creating a custom chatbot for a specific use case.
ChatGPT Plus subscribers can create an unlimited number of custom chatbots.
It's important to remember that your chatbots will still be foundationally similar—they're all using the same GPT training data put together by OpenAI.
However, you can provide context around what each chatbot is supposed to do and even upload reference documents for the chatbot to refer to when formulating outputs.
There are countless ways to use these custom chatbots.
You don't need to know how to code, either! The entire process is done using natural language.
Ethics and privacy
There's one other big part of being a ChatGPT expert—understanding how OpenAI and other tech companies use the data that you feed into an AI tool.
Privacy policies and rules around how data is used for training can vary based on the type of ChatGPT account you have.
Be sure to familiarize yourself with your specific account's terms and conditions, usage rules, and privacy guidelines. Being aware of any potential privacy conflicts or legal issues is an important part of being a ChatGPT expert.
Stay updated on ChatGPT developments
Generative AI is evolving rapidly—finding trusted resources and courses can help you maintain your competitive expert edge.
Explore courses and certifications
A number of companies and groups offer ChatGPT certification programs, though there aren't any available directly from OpenAI at this time.
Having a certification can show clients that you're skilled and invested in your area of expertise. On the other hand, though, generative AI is evolving so rapidly that you may find your certifications become out of date quickly.
It's entirely up to you as to whether or not becoming a certified ChatGPT expert is worthwhile for your career.
You can still be a ChatGPT expert without a credential, though—and some useful courses are available right now that can help you learn additional skills from other ChatGPT pros.
Upwork's Generative AI 101 learning path is a great place to start.
You can then find other courses on AI and machine learning through education marketplaces like Coursera, Udemy, and edX.
Share your work
As you become more comfortable with ChatGPT and discover new uses, consider sharing your findings with others!
Looking at what other people have done with generative AI—including getting to take a peek at the prompts they used—is a great way to harness the full potential of ChatGPT.
Contribute your knowledge
You can share what you learn with others through community forums, including the ChatGPT subreddit and Upwork's AI & machine learning community group.
You can even create your own Upwork mini course on ChatGPT skills and submit it for consideration.
Allow others to use your GPTs
Right now, ChatGPT Plus users can share their custom GPT chatbots with others via a link.
For example, you could create a bot that answers questions about a style guide you developed for a client—and then give them the bot as a resource to use after your contract ends.
Soon, you'll be able to share your custom-built GPT chatbots with the public, too. OpenAI plans to roll out the GPT Store, where verified builders can offer their custom bots for anyone to use.
Tap into the AI freelance market
You can use your growing ChatGPT expertise to enhance your work as an independent professional.
From offering your skills as a ChatGPT specialist to using the tech to enhance your work as a developer, writer, or artist, you’ll find countless possibilities available for freelance ChatGPT pros.
Senior Managing Director
11 个月Ahsan Zakir Fascinating read. Thank you for sharing