On September 15, OpenAI published a report on How People Use ChatGPT; my use cases barely made the cut.
“While users can seek information and advice from traditional web search engines as well as from
ChatGPT, the ability to produce writing, software code, spreadsheets, and other digital products
distinguishes generative AI from existing technologies.”
I was introduced to ChatGPT about three years ago when I found a piece of paper left behind in our office printer listing a dozen interview questions for an executive-level position. The only person who would have been invited to interview an executive-level candidate was my boss at the time—an executive herself. If she was using ChatGPT to prepare for an interview, where she was one of the interviewers, did that mean she wasn’t familiar with the duties of the role? Or did she just not have time to draft her own questions?
It turns out these same judgments were not only what held me back from using AI but also what eventually led me to it. I started using ChatGPT to manage my time more efficiently. For example, I had no idea what to plant in our front garden to improve curb appeal. The soil was stubborn, several shrubs were severely overgrown, and my husband and I disagreed on how much time we could realistically commit to gardening. In a fit of rage, I went to Home Depot, bought five random shrubs under the dirty banner labeled “evergreen,” and came home to face the mess I’d made—a half-baked plan for a would-be asymmetrical landscape centered around a dying rhododendron and two scorched hostas.
So I turned to ChatGPT to help me untangle it. I uploaded a picture of our front yard and asked it to create a mockup that incorporated the plants I’d already purchased.
Suddenly, it didn’t feel so overwhelming. It felt—almost—like walking into an interview with prepared questions: having enough information to improvise the rest.
The rhododendron has since been replaced by a Japanese maple, a tree that grows quickly and more vibrant with each passing year. The front-yard redesign feels like a kind of coda for the chapter of life I’m currently living in —full of gregarious children, travel plans missing details, and daily quests to learn just enough, just in time. A constant arranging of wild flowers.
Growing Like Weeds 
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