Welcome to my ChatGPT guide 😀

I’ve compiled everything you need to know about ChatGPT to optimize your work and life with AI.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What you can do with ChatGPT

• How to set up your custom ChatGPT profile

• New features and how to use them

• When to use each of the different models

• Prompting frameworks for better results

• Using and building GPTs

• Generating video and images with ChatGPT

First, let me introduce myself:

I’m Tim Cakir, aka “The AI Operator.”

As CEO of AI Operator, I help leaders and teams adopt an AI-First Mindset.

I’ve been obsessed with ChatGPT since day 1.

I use it every day to accomplish more than I’ve ever dreamed of (and frequently pull all-nighters when a new feature is released).

Never before have we had access to such a powerful tool.

So I made it my mission to teach everyone the limitless possibilities of AI.

I want to show you how to increase your revenue, grow your business, learn new skills and achieve your ambitious goals with AI.

We are living in an AI-powered world, and those who adopt an AI-First Mindset have a unique advantage.

Table of Contents

🗂️ Section 1: Setting up

In this section, you’ll learn the basics of setting up your ChatGPT account to achieve your goals and enjoy the process too.

Custom instructions

Custom instructions are guidelines you create to help ChatGPT produce more relevant and accurate answers.

I always recommend filling up custom instructions first so responses match your needs, preferences, and communication style, without having to repeat the same general instructions in every prompt.

To set them up, follow these steps:

1. Click on your profile icon in the top right, and select “Customize ChatGPT.”

2. Add your name (or whatever you want ChatGPT to call you) and your profession.

3. In the box below, you can explain what traits you want ChatGPT to have - i.e., how you want it to behave and respond.

4. You can choose from some of the preset options (witty, chatty, straight-shooting, etc.) or just write your own explanation, giving some guidance on whether you want ChatGPT to be opinionated, neutral, professional, casual, formal, and so on

5. In the next box, write everything you want ChatGPT to know about you in up to 1500 characters. In every conversation, ChatGPT will be guided by this information, which will give vital context to all your future interactions and help you get your desired results faster.

6. Finally, tick all the capabilities to ensure ChatGPT can search the web, generate images and code, and create documents, so you can get the most out of ChatGPT and get accurate, up-to-date responses .

Settings

Once Custom Instructions are in place, go back to your profile icon and choose Settings from the menu. Go through each tab to adjust settings as you wish, from personalization to connected apps.

My tips:

• In the Personalization tab, turn on Memory. This allows ChatGPT to remember specific details when you mention them, across all your chats. At any time. you can instruct ChatGPT to remember something and it will be added to the memory. Click “Manage” to review the important details ChatGPT has memorized about you.

• In Notifications, select how ChatGPT should reach out to you when you give it tasks and set reminders. Turn on Push notifications and email to make sure you don’t miss an interaction.

• Select your preferred voice for advanced voice mode in the “Speech” tab. You can choose from a variety of male and female options.

• Go to “Work with apps” to access docs from Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive in ChatGPT.

Organizing your workspace

In late 2024, ChatGPT released Projects, a new feature to help you stay organized and further customize ChatGPT’s answers to be even more relevant to your work.

1. In your ChatGPT sidebar, go to Projects. Create a new Project by clicking the + icon.

2. Start new chats inside the project, or drag and drop existing chats into it to organize your work.

3. Inside a project, you can:

Projects transform your ChatGPT account from a collection of random conversations to an organized workspace where you and your team can collaborate with AI and get things done.

Tips for staying organized:

• Use Projects to group together similar work (e.g., blog articles, research for content, sources, content styles, etc.).

• Rename chats to save time and easily identify what each conversation is about.

• Delete or archive conversations that are no longer relevant.

When we talk about ChatGPT models, what we’re really talking about are versions of the AI, programmed slightly differently and producing different results.

In any conversation you can click on the dropdown at the top-left to select a model.

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🤖 Section 2: Models and Plans

At a glance

How to choose in one sentence

• Need raw coding power or million-token docs? → GPT-4.1.

• Need similar quality but ultra-low latency? → GPT-4.1 mini.

• Want a broad, empathetic writer while it’s still around? → GPT-4.5.

• Designing voice/vision experiences or real-time demos? → GPT-4o.

• Tackling multi-step, tool-using reasoning problems? → o3.

• Reasoning at scale on a budget? → o4-mini (bump to high for tougher prompts)

That’s the landscape as of June 5 2025, a landscape that is constantly changing—the GPT-series is your go-to for multiple use cases and applications, while the O-series doubles down on depth and agentic reasoning.

My recommendations:

• At a minimum, invest in the $20 a month plus plan.

• Companies should invest in a team package so your employees have access to paid features.

• Consider upgrading to Pro if you’re a power user. For me, $200 is worth the investment for the time I save every week with ChatGPT and its invaluable help.

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💬 Section 3: Starting a conversation

To start a conversation with ChatGPT, simply type in the box or select a tool from the menu.

A quick overview of the tools available:

Attach files

Click the + sign  icon to the bottom left of the text box to attach a file to the conversation. Upload from your computer or link to a doc from Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive . You’ll need to integrate your accounts - learn how to do that in Section 10: Work with Apps.

You can ask ChatGPT anything about that document (translate, summarize, explain, etc.), or use it as reference material or a template to create something new.

Toolbox

You can only use one toolbox element at a time — e.g., you can’t use Canvas and Deep Research at the same time, but you can use Canvas and add a file in the same message.

Search connectors

In the toolbox, select “Search connectors”. A new icon and menu will appear, called “Add sources”. From there, you will see a dropdown with a variety of apps you can connect with to allow ChatGPT to provide better, more relevant answers, based on your needs.

Generate an image

Click on “Tools” next to the +sign and select “Create an image”.

Explain what kind of image you want ChatGPT to generate. You can continue prompting it until you achieve your desired result.

You’ll learn more about image generation in Section 8.

Create documents with Canvas

ChatGPT Canvas is a great way to work on a document or write code.

When you select “Write or code” from the toolbox, the results of your prompt will appear in a separate document, not just as text in the conversation.

You can view your document side by side with your ongoing conversation, and continue to prompt to tweak different aspects. You’ll learn more about Canvas in Section 11.

Search the web

When you click the toolbox icon, select “Search the web” to allow ChatGPT to search the web to generate a response.

For example, to get information about current news stories, trends or updates, you would need to use the search feature because ChatGPT won’t have access to information like this in its training data.

Run deep research

From the toolbox, select “Run deep research” to generate in-depth, accurate, and analytics reports. ChatGPT will search the web, read through multiple sources, reason through the prompt, synthesize and put everything together, and provide the report to you.

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✍️ Section 4: Prompting

Instead of just giving a “cheatsheet” of prompts to copy and paste, I believe it’s more valuable to learn the theory of prompting so you can create custom prompts for anything you need.

1. What is prompting?

Prompting is giving instructions to AI tools to get the result you want.

At a basic level, it's just talking to the machine in natural language, as if you are speaking with a colleague. As AI gets smarter, it gets better at understanding what you want and prompting gets easier, just like speaking with a friend.

Good prompts are clear, detailed, and provide plenty of context.

Before you even get to prompting, make sure you complete your custom instructions and turn on memory, because these give context to all your prompts.

2. Components of a prompt

A prompt can be made up of a number of components.

It might include any combination of the following:

• Task: What you want ChatGPT to do.

• Instructions: How to do the task.

• Context: Background information for better responses.

• Parameters: Constraints like tone, style, or length.

• Input: Resources like text, links, or data.

3. Assign a role

You can give ChatGPT different roles to play.

For example, try telling ChatGPT to be a:

• Professional copywriter

• Helpful teacher

• Marketing expert

• Angel investor

This sets the tone and expertise level for the response.

Here’s a fun exercise:

Ask ChatGPT to assume the role of your ICP (ideal customer profile).

Then, experiment and ask questions to better understand your customers’ needs and desires.

4. Define your goal

Telling ChatGPT what you want to achieve can help shape the response.

Instead of just saying “Write an email inviting customers to our event”, add some more detail by explaining that the goal of the email is to get customers to click through to sign up.

5. Include specifics

Include instructions to keep ChatGPT on track to avoid specific words, phrases or anything.

For example, you can say:

• Make a bullet point list of do’s and don’ts.

• Avoid technical jargon.

• Make it conversational.

• Include a Christmas-themed joke.

6. Provide examples

A good way to get the results you want is to give ChatGPT examples to follow.

Here’s one way to do it:

"Here’s a job description for a Sales Manager. Please create a similar one for a Marketing Manager, keeping the same structure and tone but adjusting the responsibilities and qualifications accordingly."

This helps ChatGPT understand your preferred format and style, making the output more accurate and useful.

7. Determine how creative ChatGPT is

You can influence the style and creativity of the responses by specifying your preferences in your prompts.

For straightforward, factual answers, you could say something like:

“Please provide a concise explanation of [topic].”

If you want ChatGPT to be more creative, try something like:

“Brainstorm some innovative ideas about [topic] - think outside the box and give me some unconventional suggestions.”

Note: Some people talk about “temperature” settings on a scale of 0-1 to adjust the creativity of responses. Try using this scale to explain how creative you want ChatGPT to be.

8. Iterate and refine

There’s no need to try and get the perfect prompt the first time.

You can go back and forth indefinitely to adjust the results.

Give clear feedback to ChatGPT about what you like and don’t like, and ask for changes to specific sections.

For example, “Make it shorter and use bullet points.”

9. Ask for feedback

Another way to refine your results is to ask ChatGPT to critique its own response.

For example, you can say “Evaluate your answer and suggest improvements.”

You can also ask it to play another role in the feedback stage. For example, ask it to act as a ruthless editor or writing critic.

10. Self-prompting

Self-prompting is when you get ChatGPT to create its own prompts.

To do this, you can start by explaining the result you want, then ask ChatGPT something like, “What would be the best prompt to achieve this goal?”

It will then provide a prompt and might ask if you want to make any changes, or go ahead and run the prompt.

Another technique is the prompt iterator, where you go back and forth refining a prompt until you are happy with it.

To do this, write out your prompt. At the end, ask ChatGPT to “suggest three ways to improve this prompt”. Keep on improving the prompt until you’re satisfied, then tell ChatGPT to go ahead with the prompt.

In the next section, you’ll find templates and frameworks to try out these prompting techniques.

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📝 Section 5: Templates and frameworks

Next up, I’ve provided a collection of templates and frameworks to adapt to your needs.

Customize and experiment with these however you like 🥳

Prompt iterator

You can optimize your prompt using this prompt iterator:

I want you to do the following: [Write your prompt here.]

Don’t start yet - first:

• Suggest three ways to improve this prompt

• Ask me 3 questions to improve this prompt

For example:

I want you to become my Prompt Creator. Your goal is to help me craft the best possible prompt for my needs. The prompt will be used by you, ChatGPT. You will follow the following process:

1. Your first response will be to ask me what the prompt should be about. I will provide my answer, but we will need to improve it through continual iterations by going through the next steps.

2. Based on my input, you will generate 3 sections: a) Revised prompt (provide your rewritten prompt. It should be clear, concise, and easily understood by you) b) Suggestions (provide suggestions on what details to include in the prompt to improve it) c) Questions (ask any relevant questions pertaining to what additional information is needed from me).

This prompt is an infinite loop, and you’ll be able to refine your prompt forever - at some point, tell ChatGPT to stop, then start a new chat with your revised prompt.

Self-prompt

Imagine you want to write a LinkedIn post about personalizing sales emails.

To create a perfect prompt, start by asking ChatGPT something like:

I want to write a LinkedIn post about the importance of personalizing sales emails that includes examples. Write 5 suitable ChatGPT prompts that will help me achieve the goal. Before writing the prompt, ask me any relevant questions that will help you write a perfect prompt.

This process will give you a highly customized result, as ChatGPT will ask you questions to determine the specifics of what you want.

Once prompts are suggested, you can even ask why certain prompts are good. This can help you improve your prompting skills.

Prompt frameworks

1. E.R.A. Framework (Expectation, Role, Action)

• Expectation: Define the desired outcome.

• Role: Assign a role to ChatGPT.

• Action: Describe the task.

Example:

Expectation: Provide a concise summary.

Role: Act as a financial analyst.

Action: Analyze recent market trends affecting technology stocks.

2. A.P.E. Framework (Action, Purpose, Expectation)

• Action: State what ChatGPT should do.

• Purpose: Explain the reason behind the task.

• Expectation: Define the desired outcome.

Example:

Action: Draft a social media post.

Purpose: Promote an eco-friendly product line.

Expectation: The post should highlight key benefits and be engaging.

3. T.A.G. Framework (Task, Action, Goal)

• Task: Specify the job to be done.

• Action: Describe how to perform the task.

• Goal: State the desired result.

Example:

Task: Improve website user engagement.

Action: Suggest design changes.

Goal: Increase session duration by 20%.

4. C.A.R.E. Framework (Context, Action, Result, Example)

• Context: Provide background information.

• Action: Specify the task.

• Result: Define the expected outcome.

• Example: Offer an illustrative example.

Example:

Context: Email open rates are declining.

Action: Recommend strategies to improve.

Result: Achieve a 15% increase in open rates.

Example: Suggest sample subject lines.

5. R.T.F. Framework (Role, Task, Format)

• Role: Assign ChatGPT a specific role.

• Task: Define the activity.

• Format: Specify the response format.

Example:

Role: Career advisor.

Task: Provide tips for transitioning to a tech career.

Format: Bullet points.

Give these frameworks a try to simplify prompting and get clear, relevant, and actionable responses from ChatGPT.

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🗣️ Section 6: Advanced Voice Mode

It’s no exaggeration to say that Advanced Voice Mode has changed my life.

Now, I can be productive on the go by talking to ChatGPT at the supermarket, in the car, or on a walk by the sea.

In fact, I come up with my best ideas and get incredible things done when I’m just chatting away to AI like a friend.

Let’s dive into how you can use Advanced Voice Mode.

What is Advanced Voice Mode?

Advanced Voice Mode lets you have real-time, spoken conversations with ChatGPT. Instead of typing, you can talk to it, and it'll talk back in a natural, human-like voice.

It’s a smooth, engaging, hands-free interaction.

How does it work?

ChatGPT’s regular Voice Mode allows you to dictate your prompts, and this can be used on desktop or mobile.

What sets Advanced Voice Mode apart is that you can have a real-time conversation with ChatGPT. You can interrupt and go back and forth just like a human conversation, and it performs much better than other voice assistants like Siri.

When you speak, ChatGPT understands not just your words but also nuances like tone and pace. It can even pick up on emotions and respond accordingly, making the conversation feel natural.

The benefits of Advanced Voice Mode:

1. Natural conversations — ChatGPT responds in real-time, understanding interruptions and adjusting its tone to match the flow of the conversation.

2. Multiple voice options — Choose from nine distinct voices, each with its own character and tone, to personalize your experience. Go to Settings to test and select a voice.

3. Accent recognition — Understands various accents, making it accessible to a wider range of users.

4. Background play — You can continue your conversation even while using other apps or when your phone is locked, adding convenience to multitasking.

5. Custom instructions and memory — Memory and custom preferences work when you’re in Advanced Voice Mode, making conversations more personalized.

6. Conversations recorded — ChatGPT will keep a record of your conversations so you won’t lose what you’ve talked about. You can switch to text mode at any time.

How to use Advanced Voice Mode

Currently, Advanced Voice Mode is available for ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Team users on the latest versions of the iOS and Android apps.

1. To access Advanced Voice Mode, start a new chat.

2. Tap the voice icon and just start speaking. On the app, you’ll see a blue orb which indicates that Advanced Voice Mode is active.

3. The first time you use it, you'll be prompted to select a voice. You can change this anytime in the settings.

There are daily limits on how long you can use Advanced Voice Mode. Users on the plus plan have a larger daily limit than free users, and use is unlimited for pro users. You'll receive a notification when you're nearing your limit.

What can you do with Advanced Voice Mode?

Whether you're multitasking, have accessibility needs, or simply prefer talking over typing, Advanced Voice Mode offers a seamless and engaging experience.

In addition to speaking, you can also click on the video icon to open your camera and share visuals with ChatGPT.

Here are some cool things you can do:

• Hands-free note-taking — Quickly record ideas or notes while multitasking, perfect for when you're on the move.

• Language learning — Practice pronunciation and improve language skills in real-time by conversing in different languages.

• Interview practice — Prepare for an interview or speech by simulating Q&A sessions, helping you build confidence and improve responses.

• Creative brainstorming — Engage in dynamic brainstorming sessions, discussing ideas for writing, music, or other projects.

• Real-time problem solving — Get immediate assistance with troubleshooting issues, like fixing a device or understanding a complex concept.

• Voice-guided learning — Receive step-by-step guidance on tasks such as cooking recipes or DIY projects through voice instructions.

• Entertainment — Enjoy interactive storytelling, jokes, and games on request.

Advanced Voice Mode can also be a game-changer for people with physical or visual impairments, allowing them to interact with ChatGPT without typing or screen navigation.

ChatGPT Vision

ChatGPT's Advanced Voice Mode now includes live video and screen-sharing capabilities, enhancing real-time assistance by allowing the AI to see through your device's camera or view your screen.

To use the camera feature in Advanced Voice Mode:

1. Tap the video camera icon at the bottom left corner.

2. Grant ChatGPT access to your device’s camera.

3. Point your camera at the object or scene you need help with and ask ChatGPT your question. For example, "Can you help me identify this plant?"

For screen sharing:

1. Tap the three-dot menu and select 'Share Screen.'

2. Follow the on-screen instructions to begin sharing your screen.

3. Once screen sharing is active, switch to the app or screen where you need assistance.

4. Describe your issue or ask a question related to the content on your screen.For instance, "I'm having trouble formatting this document; can you guide me?"

These features are currently available to ChatGPT Plus, Pro, and Teams users, and they come in super handy — I prefer to show what’s happening instead of typing or speaking out.

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🎓 Section 7: GPTs

GPTs are available for ChatGPT plus users, and they are essentially customized versions of ChatGPT, built for specific purposes with unique settings and knowledge.

The benefit of using GPTs is having custom versions of ChatGPT set up to act in a certain way, so you don’t need to include that information in every prompt.

For example, a copywriting GPT can be programmed to follow a style guide and tone of voice, and will also draw on copywriting expertise.

There is a massive range of GPTs available that:

• Perform specific roles, i.e., marketing expert, copywriter.

• Respond like famous people or historical figures.

• Create images in a specific style.

• Teach skills like coding.

• Help with functions like sales or travel planning.

You might want to build your own GPT to help with tasks you often do, such as an email-writing GPT or a content drafter. The GPT can contain all the relevant information needed about your company and context.

Or, you can click “Explore GPTs” on the top left-corner to view featured GPTs and browse by category.

To create a GPT:

1. Go to “Explore GPTs” and click “Create”

2. Explain in natural language exactly what you want, on the left hand side.

3. You’ll see your GPT take shape on the right side of the screen.

4. The GPT builder will ask you questions about what you what, all you have to do is explain.

5. For advanced customization, go to the Configure tab. Here, you will find that some information has already been filled out according to what you requested. You can now customize the name, description, and instructions.

6. Choose Conversation starters to appear in the chat, or create your own.

7. Upload files to give your GPT extra detailed knowledge or instructions. For a company copywriting GPT, you could upload information like a style guide, brand voice guidelines, and examples of successful content.

8. Create actions to let your GPT connect to other tools or apps, like your email, CRM, etc, and get real-time information or carry out actions.

GPT Actions example:

Imagine you set up a custom GPT that has Google Calendar as an Action.

You could say:

"Schedule a meeting with Tim for next Tuesday at 2 PM."

And instead of just saying “Sure, I can help you write a message,” the GPT would actually schedule the event in your Google Calendar because it has access to that tool.

GPT tips and best practices:

• Call up GPTs in any chat thread using the "@" symbol. This allows for collaboration between multiple GPTs.

• Use GPTs for internal knowledge sharing, like an HR GPT where team members can ask questions and get instant answers about company policy and procedures.

• Keep GPTs laser-focused on specific goals, and upload detailed, high quality knowledge documents.

• Avoid overloading the GPT with too much diverse information, it may lose sight of its purpose.

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🖼️ Section 8: Generating images

You can generate high-quality images in various styles, including photorealistic imagery and paintings, with ChatGPT’s 4o model.

How to prompt for image generation

In a new chat, click the options to view tools, and select “Create image”.

Now, you can simply start explaining the image you want to create.

The only challenge is accurately describing what you want.

Do you want a photo-realistic image, a cartoonish illustration, or a Picasso-style abstract work? The possibilities are endless, so you need to learn to describe the kind of image you want to create.

While many think AI-created images have no merit, you’ll soon realise there is some skill involved in being able to effectively prompt.

Let’s take a look at a basic prompt: “A serene beach at sunset with palm trees.”

Here’s what that prompt produced:

Pretty simple, but we can get a lot more specific if we think about the following criteria:

• Subject — What’s the main focus of the image? It could be the sunset, the palm trees, or maybe you want to add a person or something else to be the focal point of the image.

• Environment — The beach is serene, and the palm trees suggest it’s tropical. But what other details could you give here? Is it rocky or sandy, with cliffs or flat? Is it a popular tourist spot, or a remote island?

• Lighting — We’ve mentioned that it’s sunset, which gives a good description of the lighting. If you want to get really specific, you can describe whether the sun is setting over the sea, or land, and whether it’s cloudy or clear.

• Style — Give ChatGPT styles to follow to experiment with wildly different results. Examples of styles might be: photorealistic, watercolor, impressionist, Renaissance, neon noir, vector art.

• Mood — What emotion or atmosphere do you want to convey? A serene beach scene might be tranquil and calm, but it could also be lonely and desolate. Include some adjectives to describe the mood.

• Composition — How should the elements in the image be arranged? You could add instructions about where the palm trees should be and where the sand meets the sea.

You don’t have to include all of these elements in every single prompt.

Here are three detailed, advanced prompt examples based on the original prompt:

1. A serene beach at sunset with palm trees, photorealistic, ultra-detailed. The golden sunlight reflects off the gentle waves, creating a shimmering path leading to the horizon. The palm trees cast long, soft shadows on the sand, swaying slightly in the warm evening breeze. The sky is a gradient of deep oranges, purples, and soft pinks, with wisps of clouds stretching across the horizon. The image has a balanced composition, with the ocean occupying the lower third and the sky dominating the upper two-thirds.

1. A serene beach at sunset with palm trees, in a cartoon, cyberpunk style. Neon lights illuminate the water in shades of electric blue and magenta, as if infused with futuristic energy. A glowing city skyline in the background contrasts with the natural elements of the beach. The palm trees have an artificial, metallic sheen, their leaves pulsing with bioluminescent patterns. The lighting is vibrant and dynamic, with sharp contrasts between dark shadows and neon highlights. The mood is mysterious, a blend of technology and nature coexisting in a surreal harmony.

1. A serene beach at sunset with palm trees, in a cinematic style. The scene is bathed in dramatic golden hour lighting, with long shadows stretching across the sand. A soft lens flare from the sun creates a warm glow in the sky. The ocean reflects the orange and pink hues, creating a breathtaking mirror effect. The composition follows the rule of thirds, with the horizon slightly off-center, leading the eye toward a lone silhouette of a person walking along the shore, adding an emotional touch.

Things to remember:

• More details lead to better results — Instead of "a cat," consider "a fluffy white Persian cat lounging on a red velvet cushion."

• Consider angles and framing —Desired perspectives, such as "aerial view," "close-up portrait," or "wide-angle shot," can influence image composition. For example, "A close-up portrait of an elderly woman with a warm smile, her face illuminated by soft candlelight."

• Set the scene — Provide context about the environment or scenario. For instance, "a robot barista serving coffee in a cozy, rustic café during a rainy evening."

• Experiment with style and medium — Mentioning an art style or medium can influence the outcome. For example, "a cubist painting of a cityscape" or "a pencil sketch of a mountain range."

• Use natural language — Don’t overcomplicate it! Write your prompt exactly as you’d describe the image to another person.

• Iterate and experiment — Refine and rerun your prompts. Experimenting with different descriptions can lead to more interesting results.

Images created in ChatGPT are yours to use as you wish, including monetization.

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📽️ Section 9: Make videos with Sora

Sora is OpenAI's advanced text-to-video model, capable of transforming textual prompts into high-quality videos up to 20 seconds in length.

To generate video, go to https://openai.com/sora/ and login with your OpenAI account.

Once you’ve logged in, start typing your prompt in the chat window.

Just like with images, a good video prompt requires specificity.

Elements to consider:

• Subject — Identify the main focus of the video. For example, "a bustling city street" or "a serene mountain landscape."

• Environment —Describe the setting in detail. Is it day or night? Urban or rural? What season is it?

• Lighting — Talk about the lighting conditions. Soft morning light, harsh midday sun, or dim evening ambiance can dramatically change the video's mood.

• Style — Determine the visual style. Options include photorealistic, animated, film noir, or vintage.

• Mood — Explain whether the emotional tone of the video should be cheerful, melancholic, suspenseful, etc.

• Composition — Mention camera angles or movements, such as a close-up, wide shot, or panning motion.

Here are some examples:

1. Animated explainer video for product demonstrations and sales.

Create an engaging animated explainer video demonstrating how AI-powered automation can streamline customer service. The animation follows a seamless customer journey, from submitting a query to receiving an instant AI-generated response, reducing wait times. The video uses smooth transitions, bold typography, and a clean, minimalist color scheme that aligns with a tech brand.

1. Cinematic style customer success story

Produce a cinematic-style video featuring a satisfied client sharing their experience using an AI-driven workflow automation tool. The scene alternates between the client speaking confidently in a well-lit office and dynamic, slow-motion clips of their team using the tool in action. Subtle lens flares and warm lighting add a professional, uplifting feel.

1. Short-from promotional ad for social media

A high-energy, 15-second vertical video designed for LinkedIn and Instagram, showcasing a startup’s latest AI-powered productivity app. Quick jump cuts show users effortlessly automating tasks, responding to emails with one click, and analyzing data in seconds. The upbeat soundtrack and animated text overlays highlight key features in sync with the visuals.

Video generation tips

• Be descriptive — As with image prompts, the more detailed your prompt, the more accurate and engaging the video will be.

• Specify camera angles and movement — Indicate desired perspectives to influence the video's composition.

• Set the scene — Provide context by describing the environment or scenario in detail.

• Specify the style and medium — Mentioning a particular visual style or medium can influence the outcome.

• Use everyday language — Write your prompt as you would describe the desired video to another person.

• Iterate and experiment — Refine and rerun your prompts. Experimenting with different descriptions can lead to more interesting results.

All videos you create with Sora are yours to use as you wish, including monetization.

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📱 Section 10: Work with apps

Work with Apps is a feature that lets ChatGPT integrate with other tools on your computer.

It allows integration with specific applications, particularly coding and terminal apps, streamlining workflows for developers and power users.

This feature is designed to provide context-aware assistance, particularly for coding tasks, by accessing the content within these applications.

Currently, it’s focused on coding and terminal-related workflows, but you can expect more integrations in the future.

How to use Work with Apps

To use Work with Apps, you need to download the ChatGPT macOS app. In the app settings, toggle on “Work With Apps” in the settings to turn the feature on.

When prompted, you’ll also have to give ChatGPT access to supported apps.

ChatGPT can read the content within supported applications to provide more accurate and contextual responses.

You can ask questions like:

• "Can you help me debug this Python script from VS Code?"

• "What’s the correct syntax for this command I’m working on in Terminal?"

• “Where is the file about our 2025 marketing strategy?”

ChatGPT provides coding support, so you can get assistance with code snippets, debugging, or commands without switching between multiple platforms. While ChatGPT can read content from supported apps, it cannot directly write or modify code or files within the applications.

Tip: Only give access to designated apps and data to maintain security over your digital workspace.

ChatGPT's Work with Apps feature is a step forward in integrating AI with desktop workflows, especially for developers and tech-savvy users, providing real-time, context-aware support that simplifies complex tasks.

In the near future, Work with Apps may extend to email management, cloud storage access, task automation, or smart home controls.

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🎨 Section 11: Canvas

Canvas is a feature that lets you work on long-form content, documents, or code in a dedicated side panel, like a built-in editor right next to your chat.

Instead of just chatting back and forth, you can create or edit full documents (like articles, strategies, emails, or code files) while talking to the AI. You give input, and the AI helps you refine or rewrite the content directly in the canvas.

What are the benefits of using Canvas?

For certain tasks, you’re better off using Canvas than a typical chat.

When editing longer documents, it can save you the time and energy of piecing together answers from ChatGPT prompts into another tool.

Benefits of Canvas vs regular chat:

• Live editing — You and the AI can co-write or revise in real time.

• Clear layout — Keep your content all together, structured, and separate from the chat.

• Highlight specific sections to work on — Highlight sections and prompt to make changes, without updating the whole document.

• Make manual changes — As well as prompting to edit, you can also manually edit text, making this a perfect example of AI - human collaboration.

• Export once you’re done — You can finalize all the editing in ChatGPT before you copy your results into another document or share a link with a colleague.

Canvas use cases

Here are a few different ways you might create documents in Canvas:

• Collaborative brainstorming – Generate and refine ideas for marketing campaigns, product names, or business strategies in a shared text space.

• Live content drafting – Co-write blog posts, emails, or reports with ChatGPT helping to edit, restructure, or improve clarity in real time.

• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) – Create, review, and update SOPs or internal documentation efficiently with suggestions and structured editing.

• Client proposal building – Draft and polish client proposals or presentations collaboratively with AI helping streamline formatting and structure.

• Product copy optimization – Edit product descriptions, sales pages, or onboarding flows while getting AI-powered suggestions to boost clarity and conversions.

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🔍 Section 12: Deep Research

Deep Research is a feature in ChatGPT that lets the AI search the internet in real time to find accurate, up-to-date information to answer complex questions, gather current data, or explore a niche topic that goes beyond the scope of what AI already knows.

What makes Deep Research different?

In a typical ChatGPT conversation, the AI responds based on information it was trained on, which might be generic or outdated.

With the Search feature, ChatGPT can search the web to provide up to date information in a quick, concise answer.

However, Deep Research goes much further.

It runs a deeper, thorough search, analyzing multiple sources and pulling information from different places across the web.

Then it will summarize and compile the information into a detailed or nuanced report, often citing several sources.

Deep Research can provide expert-level insights in minutes, making it ideal for market analysis, competitor research, strategy development, and financial forecasting without hiring a full research team.

What you need to know about Deep Research

• Deep Research is only available on paid plans (Plus, Teams, Pro, and Enterprise)

• There are usage limits per subscription plan. Pro users have 120 queries per month, everyone else has 10 queries.

• Usage limits reset every 30 days.

• A task typically takes between 5 to 30 minutes to complete, depending on the complexity of the query.

• The feature is designed for in-depth, multi-step research tasks that require comprehensive analysis and synthesis of information from the web.

• Deep Research is energy intensive. Therefore, use it responsibly and don’t waste your credits on simple questions that could be answered with a regular chat or search.

Use cases for deep research

Here are three business-related use cases where ChatGPT’s Deep Research feature would be ideal:

1. 🧩 Competitor Analysis

Prompt: "Do a deep dive on the top 3 competitors in the AI training space for enterprises: what they offer, their pricing (if available), unique value props, and recent updates."

Deep Research can pull data from company websites, blogs, reviews, and news sources to give you an up-to-date, comparative overview and save hours of manual research.

2. 📈 Industry Trends Report

Prompt: "Create a summary of the latest 2025 trends in digital marketing for B2B SaaS companies, focusing on emerging tech, buyer behavior, and content strategies."

Deep Research will scan reports, expert articles, and conference recaps across the web to give you a current, synthesized trends report, perfect for presentations or strategy planning.

3. 🤝 Tool Evaluation

Prompt: "Compare the best customer support platforms (like Zendesk, Freshdesk, and Help Scout) for a growing startup—include features, integrations, user reviews, and pricing."

You’ll get a clear, side-by-side comparison based on recent reviews and feature updates, so you can make faster, better-informed buying decisions.

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FAQs

Does ChatGPT produce generic or robotic-sounding content?

ChatGPT is getting better at writing natural language, and these improvements will likely continue.

However, it does have a tendency to write in a generic, AI-sounding style, and overuse certain cliches like “game-changing” and “supercharge”.

More detailed, specific prompts can help this, and of course, mentioning words or phrases to avoid in your custom instructions.

Why are some responses inaccurate or contain errors?

LLMs like ChatGPT can occasionally make things up.

This is known as hallucinating, and it’s what allows the models to be creative. However, we have to be careful when dealing with facts.

If you need factual information, specify in your prompt and do your own fact-checking about any suspicious information. Verify the sources it provides as well.

What do I do if ChatGPT doesn’t follow my instructions?

The model may misunderstand vague instructions. Clearly specify what you want and repeat or refine instructions if needed.

Use structured prompts for more predictable results.

How do I improve ChatGPT’s understanding of my style or needs?

Complete your custom instructions, use projects to separate different types of work, and train ChatGPT with examples of your preferred tone and structure.

When you’re not happy with responses, explain what you don’t like, so that ChatGPT can learn from your feedback.

Why does ChatGPT sometimes generate incomplete answers?

This may happen if prompts lack sufficient detail or are overly broad. Break down complex queries into smaller parts or provide context to guide the AI.

Can ChatGPT understand highly technical or niche topics?

While ChatGPT handles many subjects, it might struggle with highly specialized topics. Provide relevant context, examples, or references to improve results. You can also use the Search feature to allow ChatGPT to seek answers from the web.

Why doesn’t ChatGPT access external links or current events automatically?

For ChatGPT to access the web, you need to enable Search.

If you want it to review a particular web page, provide a link.

How can I make ChatGPT’s outputs more creative or engaging?

Ask ChatGPT directly to be more creative, think outside the box, or use phrases like "in an engaging tone" or "with a humorous twist" in your prompt.

Trying different models - 4.5 in particular - may also help you produce more interesting and creative content.

How do I address plagiarism concerns in AI-generated content?

AI generated material should not plagiarise existing content, but you can run outputs through a plagiarism detection software.

If you are ever worried about plagiarism you can ask ChatGPT to rewrite the content.

Why does ChatGPT struggle with specific formats or word counts?

ChatGPT doesn’t conform to word counts because it processes text in tokens, not words, and generates text dynamically without precisely counting length.

However, it can do a decent job of formatting work nicely when you work on a document in Canvas.

Does ChatGPT have biases?

OpenAI actively works to reduce bias and make the AI as neutral and fair as possible, and in my experience, ChatGPT gives fair and objective answers to most questions.

However, biases may still appear in responses. If you're using ChatGPT for critical decision-making or research, it's always best to fact-check, cross-reference multiple sources, and be aware of potential biases in the information provided.

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Final thoughts & further reading

Thank you for reading my ChatGPT Guide.

I hope you’ve gained the knowledge and confidence to start using AI in your business today.

If I can help you with anything, don’t hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn.

You can also subscribe to my weekly newsletter, The AI Operator Weekly, where I share tech tools and tips for growth with a strong focus on AI.

For further reading, here are some excellent resources I highly recommend:

• Ethan Mollick for thought-provoking, deeply-researched think pieces on the implications of AI.

• Allie K Miller for practical AI guidance.

• Matt Wolfe to keep up with AI news and the latest tools.

• Andrew Ng for technical expertise and education.