3 Ways to Use ChatGPT to Spark Your Creativity Brainstorming product ideas or new ways to pitch your company — AI can be a great help to decent into the state of creative flow.
By Natasha Zo •
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Let's skip the "AI can write your blog posts" and get straight to the fun part. As a founder of a PR agency, one of my most important tasks is constantly generating new ideas and angles for media features. Some of our clients have been with us for many years. And after years of talking about the same products, I sometimes get the impression that there are only that many ways to cook an egg.
The same happens with founders: steaming in your own juices and sharing about your product repeatedly, you lose the ability to look outside and look at your creation with fresh eyes.
Founders and early employees tend to become so deeply immersed in their own products that they lose objectivity and perspective. In my case, because of the nature of PR work, I've always been missing a creative buddy, someone to have a couple of beers with and toss some ideas around. Brainstorming alone in front of the screen just doesn't feel the same.
I never could pinpoint why it was so difficult to reach this state where ideas are just flowing until I found an explanation in "Stealing Fire" by Steven Kotler. As the author points out, creativity isn't a skill but a state of mind. It can spontaneously happen during a walk in a park or when joking around with friends. How do you deliberately reach that state of mind to complete a task that requires creativity?
I decided to play with some prompts to turn the ChatGPT into my best brainstorming buddy. It feels like a conversation, so I thought it might be helpful to get into that creative state where ideas flow. Here are some ways to use AI as a brainstorming buddy.
Related: 4 Ways to Spark Your Creativity
1. Ask ChatGPT to pretend to be your favorite comedian
We love products and companies that pinpoint something everyone has been feeling but not one has said out loud. How do you spot a trend before everyone else? I feel like standup comedians are often the first ones to call us out on ridiculous things that we, as a society, accept as normal. So, I've decided to ask ChatGPT to act as Ricky Gervais — a comedian known for his controversial and borderline offensive standups.
In my case, I'm brainstorming for a PR campaign, but the same concept could be used if you are looking for inspiration for a new product or service. I would pick a topic I want to explore, for example, romantic relationships. And then I'd ask ChatGPT to act as a comedian and tell me about some of the ridiculous trends in that particular topic.
It tends to give generic answers at first, but for PR, facts matter the most. I start by asking it to list the top 5 trends/interesting things and then pick one and drill down on it. I'd prompt something like:
"Give me five popular cases and specific examples that were shared in the media on this topic."
That's when things start to get interesting because the examples I've probably never heard of really spark some ideas.
Related: What Does ChatGPT Mean for the Future of Business?
2. Ask ChatGPT to act as the influencer in your niche
If you can use ChatGPT to talk to an imaginary comedian, why can't you ask it to pretend to be any public person to have a more serious brainstorm? For example, a book author you admire. Or a podcast host. If they've written a book and you've always wanted to pick their brain about your specific case, well, now you've got the chance!
Ask ChatGPT if it's familiar with a particular book or podcast. If it is, ask if it can act as an author. It would usually give a disclaimer letting you know it's just an AI and can't speak on behalf of a real person. Think of it like that — by asking ChatGPT to pretend to be your favorite author, you are just suggesting a conversational lens. You don't want to know all there is to be found online on the topic of starting a service-based business. You want to look at it from the perspective of Eric Rise, the author of "The Lean Startup." It's a way to ignore those generic answers and use ChatGPT to help you brainstorm.
Related: 4 Ways To Use ChatGPT
3. Use those ChatGPT hallucinations
You know that sometimes ChatGPT would come up with facts you can't trace back to the source. If you are using AI for creating content, those facts need to be double and tripled checked; however, when using AI to spark creative ideas, I've found those hallucinations to be a great source of inspiration.
I've mentioned before that almost every conversation with ChatGPT requires drilling down and asking for specific examples. In my case, I often ask something like:
"Give me five examples of XYZ that was covered in media."
I meticulously Google the results and verify everything. However, the facts I couldn't prove turned out to be the best finds! Those are free ideas that haven't been executed yet… which means I can try them in one of my campaigns.
The same can be applied to brainstorming for a brand or product. What are some of the most well-known solutions to a problem you're working on? Has anything been written about them? What are some of the most creative solutions to that same problem? Maybe some start by asking ChatGPT to pretend to be someone who does not share your views. Brainstorm, drill deeper, and ask for specific examples for every generic answer. Then Google the examples and treat hallucinations as ideas you could try!
