AI Meets Productivity

This week we return to the topic of productivity as we explore the time management framework of anchors, bumpers, and core commitments. These concepts can help you improve how you  prioritize and structure your day. We discuss strategies for scheduling each of these types of tasks, including leveraging your biorhythms and identifying your low-interruption zones. Finally, we discuss the importance...

In this episode, ChatGPT and Trevor explore the concept of AI morality and discuss the balance between societal norms and personalized moral frameworks. The importance of allowing for customization in AI morality to reflect individual values while maintaining core ethical standards is discussed and how this could lead to smoother AI adoption and a more cohesive society. 

In this episode, ChatGPT and Trevor talk about the article “What would it mean to be done for the day?” from Oliver Burkeman’s The Imperfectionist newsletter. We discuss Oliver’s concept of defining what it means to be “done for the day” then go over different ways you might answer the question. We end with a reminder of how important rest and renewal are for maintaining productivity, and how aski...

In this episode of AI Meets Productivity, I interview a virtual avatar of Ryan Hoover, CEO of Product Hunt. Ryan's avatar is powered by the new Interactive Avatar technology of HeyGen. In this episode we talk about the potential uses for video avatars, as well as the risks and potential ways of mitigating some of them. To show the current state of the technology, this video has been only lightly e...

In this episode, ChatGPT and I explore the four major categories of catastrophic risks related to AI: malicious use, the AI race, organizational risks, and rogue AIs. We discuss real-world examples, potential future scenarios, and the importance of addressing these threats proactively. The episode also touches on additional risks such as economic disruption, privacy invasion and ethical & bias...

Discover how asking an AI to adopt a persona—such as the Investigator, the Commander, the Empathetic Listener, the Researcher or the Brainstormer—can enhance how you interact with the AI and improve the results you get from it. Listen to the end to hear tips for customizing these personas, additional personas you can try, and how to save personas to use whenever you need them.

Should Meta be allowed to train its AI on your public posts and images? How does Meta potentially prevent private information from leaking into its model and what are the risks when it does? And how can you better protect your privacy in the era of AI? Listen to this week's episode to find out. This week, instead of recording with ChatGPT, Claude from Anthropic will be your co-host. Specifically,...

Today, ChatGPT and I discuss the 5 stages of focus, starting from becoming aware of the need for focus all the way through to releasing focus. We explore strategies and techniques for each stage, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing between them to better enhance productivity. We end with additional tips for navigating each stage effectively. Technical Note: This episode was once again rec...

Ever wonder what to use ChatGPT for? Could it be helping you more in your life? Take a listen as we explore the dozens of different ways Trevor has used ChatGPT recently, spanning across creative, technical, educational and daily life uses. Discover unusual uses you may not have tried yet, like taking a photo of a shelf of products at the store and asking ChatGPT questions about those products. Gi...

This week, ChatGPT and Trevor Lohrbeer dive into the concept of "boomerangs”—messages we sent out whose quick replies can distract us. We discuss how actions like sending texts or emails can cause unpredictable interruptions and share strategies to manage these effectively, including the three A’s: Acknowledge, Ask, and Answer. Join us for tips on maintaining focus and boosting productivity by con...

This week Trevor Lohrbeer talks with ChatGPT through the Hume AI Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) to discuss the advancements introduced with OpenAI's new GPT-4o model. They discuss including the model's impressive responsiveness, multimodal capabilities, and its potential to revolutionize AI interactions by understanding text, audio, image, and video in real time.  They also explore how GPT-4o migh...

Can an AI actually listen to music, as opposed to merely hearing sound waves and processing them? In this episode, listen to hear how Hume AI, the first empathic AI, does attempting to listen to music, and how ChatGPT analyzes its performance afterwards. To test whether Hume can hear the emotion sung within a song, distinct from the lyrics, I had ChatGPT write emotionless lyrics, then had Suno gen...

What is the future of AI music now that we have tools like Suno and Udio that can create songs complete with vocals? In this episode, ChatGPT and I explore how AI music will change how we create and use music in the same way that smartphones changed how we create and use photos. It’s not what you think. This episode features 3 songs created by Suno AI. Listen to the full songs using these links: F...

In this week's episode we leave ChatGPT behind to talk to Hume, the new empathic AI announced last week. We talk about how exactly Hume differs from text-based large language models like ChatGPT and Claude, and how it can respond so quickly. Then we dive into a few of the potential places where Hume has a big advantage over text-based models like ChatGPT. For those interested, the entire episode w...

In this "thought-provoking" episode, ChatGPT and I delve into new developments in making AIs think more effectively. Specifically, we'll be talking about how large language models like ChatGPT can be programmed to think before they respond and what types of thought might be involved in that thinking process. At the end, we talk about how this represents one of the core ways agents are expanding be...

Today, ChatGPT and I talk about a 5-layer framework I'm developing for identifying risks and opportunities within AI. In this episode, we go over the framework, talk about different AI applications at each layer, and which skills are most needed to take advantage of each layer, both as a developer and as a user of the software at that layer. In the end, we touch briefly on the distinction between...

  In this unique episode of AI Meets Productivity, we turn the spotlight on our co-host, Trevor Lohrbeer, by having ChatGPT interview him.  During the interview, ChatGPT explores his work at the intersection of AI and productivity, getting Trevor to share insights on productivity and what he is doing to create new user experiences with large language models, including the upcoming launch of his GP...

Today, ChatGPT and Trevor Lohrbeer dive into the concept of "task stacks," a method designed to enhance productivity by focusing on one task at a time. We explore how segregating tasks into prioritized stacks can reduce distractions and align actions with intentions, making the execution of tasks more effective. We also discuss how task tasks can be combined with time blocking to further improve p...

In this week's episode, ChatGPT and I talk about the common pitfall of marking tasks as done too early and the implications it has on productivity. We discuss how the Prep-Do-Wrap framework can be used to evaluate whether a task is done, when and how to schedule follow-up tasks and the distinction between a "done" condition and a "success" condition. This episode is a brainstorm episode for a futu...

In today's episode, we delve into the art of crafting custom instructions for GPTs, exploring how to break down and refine these instructions for more precise and effective AI interactions. ChatGPT and I discuss various components of the instructions used for custom GPTs, from role play and emotional tone variation to style customization and the importance of context sensitivity, offering insights...

Ever start a task or project thinking you have a good idea of what you need to do and how long it will take—then as you get into it, you discover all these "hidden tasks"?   In today's episode, ChatGPT and I explore the world of hidden tasks: what they are, how to identify them earlier and strategies for navigating them.   Today's episode is a preview of a discussion I recorded with Francis Wade o...

Do you get too many notifications? This week we explore a practical framework that can help you evaluate when and how to configure your notifications, along with actionable advice on personalizing your notification settings to reduce digital distractions and enhance your overall productivity.   This episode is based on the Day Optimizer article Why “Zero Notifications” Is Unproductive . Read the a...

Ever wonder what you can use voice mode for in ChatGPT? In today's episode, we start by discussing 3 ways to effectively use voice mode—then add 2 more scenarios where voice mode can be useful. Take a listen and leave a comment if you've discovered other ways to use ChatGPT's voice mode. 

How can you create more effective New Year's resolutions? In today's episode, ChatGPT and I talk about different types of resolutions, how to create interlocking resolutions and how to structure your resolutions throughout your year so you can use them to create positive change in your life.

How can you quickly do an annual review? Learn how to combine the +/-/next reflection technique with instinctive drafting to quickly generate an annual review. Stay tuned to the end to hear ChatGPT's own annual review!    Links: Year In Review Workshop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTT5cEiReOk Ness Labs: https://nesslabs.com/