This last sentence by Matt on custom GPTs being valuable for oneself and less for the masses sparked a thought:

The interesting thing for me is that this is exactly how I feel about Apple’s Shortcuts as well. I have a dozen or so that I’ve created for myself and I wouldn’t want to live without, but I use precisely zero from the Shortcuts directory and only one that someone else has created. I guess the only automations I enjoy are the ones I make myself ????????‍♂️ (emphasis mine).

I am empowered through my tools because I am a subject matter expert of my personal computer and my needs. I have so many fun scripts I have written just for myself on my computer to get things done. Alfred’s workflow manager is just stellar at the job vs. Raycast’s byzantine shortcut system (I still prefer Raycast’s launcher interface, it feels more modern) allowing you to dream up any automation for your computer. I use it to make the same folders over and over again, optimize images with a keyboard shortcut, and access my local server. And I love Make.com for my web-based shortcuts. Plus, GPT-4 supersized the ability to create quick, customized solutions in Python or Bash to batch convert files, flip, twist, and bop them however I need!

The personalized solutions are what make using a Mac or PC so delightful, so agile, and so fun! I even love using Warp’s AI command (hit # and type what you want done, you’ll get the command prompt version of it right away) because it allows me to solve problems that work exactly the way my workflow demands it.

While AI tools allow us to create deeply personalized solutions, that custom nature makes them less accessible for the masses. The very thing that makes them magical also makes them difficult to share.

I do try to encourage friends to use GPT in a more conversational/assistant-based way, asking really clearly what they want as you would a human (99% of the time, it can deliver on it, to their shock!). Treating computers like humans is a scary construct. What happens when humans become too trusting of the computer’s human replication? Well, we have enough movies that play out that plot 🙂 Maybe we do need Silicon Valley to chill a bit on making those tech fantasies real.