Psychotactics Blog: Sean D'Souza: How To Run A Successful Business

Will AI And ChatGPT Replace You As A Writer?

What do you think or feel about AI tools in article writing and developing courses?

Will ChatGPT Replace Writers? What is the future of writers?

If you haven't already heard the news on the street, you soon will. AI is going to take away all our jobs as writers. Anyone can create a course in minutes, write an article like a pro, or generate thousands of outstanding headlines with ChatGPT.

Is this just a rumour or is this our dystopian future? Here's a slightly sane answer from New Zealand.
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The majority of courses and articles that are already out are written by humans.

And they're quite bad, just filled with endless information that is hard to use. Hence, AI isn't going to do anything dramatically different. The best courses don't depend on information. They depend on how we learn. Just putting information together is not a big advantage.

Yes, you will be spammed with gurus because they realise one thing. That AI is both new and represents fear as well as opportunities. I think people are only just learning about AI but that's because it's entered the text and graphic version.

It's already been in use for years with credit card companies (it's how your credit card get cancelled when someone uses it elsewhere). Or in planes, and in cars, and so many places. Programming isn't entirely AI, but it's close enough.

I don't think you're going to get better learning systems just because a book can be put together. A friend of mine was putting together books like this over 25 years ago just by “cutting and pasting”. He sold a lot of books, but they weren't very good.

Here's a query to Chat GPT.

I want to write articles on pricing. Can you give me some headlines?

ChatGPT answers:

Certainly! Here are some possible headlines for articles on pricing:

The Psychology of Pricing: How to Set Prices that Appeal to Your Customers
The Art of Value-Based Pricing: Maximizing Revenue by Aligning Prices with Customer Value
Dynamic Pricing: How to Adjust Your Prices in Real Time to Maximize Revenue
The Impact of Pricing on Customer Perception: How to Use Pricing to Enhance Your Brand
The Price-Quality Relationship: Understanding the Link Between Price and Customer Perceptions of Quality
The Pros and Cons of Discounting: When to Offer Discounts and When to Avoid Them
Pricing Strategies for New Products: How to Determine the Best Price Point for a New Offering
The Role of Pricing in Competitive Markets: How to Stay Ahead of the Competition with Smart Pricing Strategies
The Ethics of Pricing: How to Avoid Unfair Pricing Practices and Ensure Transparency with Your Customers
Using Data to Optimize Your Pricing: How to Use Analytics to Set Prices and Improve Your Bottom Line.

I hope these headlines inspire you to write some great articles on pricing!

My Question:

Can you write an article on Why Ethics in Pricing is Important for Building Trust with Your Customers and Long-Term Success

ChatGPT answers:

Pricing is a critical aspect of any business strategy. It can impact revenue, market share, and customer loyalty. However, pricing strategies that lack ethics can also damage a company's reputation, and ultimately, its long-term success. In this article, we will discuss why ethics in pricing is crucial for building trust with your customers and ensuring long-term success for your business.

Why Ethics in Pricing Matters

Pricing is an essential component of a company's marketing mix, alongside product, promotion, and place. However, unlike other components, pricing can be perceived as an unfair or deceptive practice if it is not executed ethically.

For instance, if a company overcharges its customers, it can lead to mistrust, negative reviews, and loss of customer loyalty. On the other hand, if a company engages in predatory pricing, it can drive competitors out of business and harm the market as a whole.

Therefore, ethics in pricing matters for several reasons, including:

Building Customer Trust: When customers perceive that a company is charging fair prices for its products or services, it can help build trust and a positive reputation. This trust can lead to increased customer loyalty, repeat business, and positive word-of-mouth recommendations.
Enhancing Brand Image: A company that prioritizes ethics in pricing can establish itself as a trustworthy and ethical brand, which can attract customers who value those qualities. This can also help differentiate the company from its competitors, and even lead to premium pricing.
Avoiding Legal Issues: Pricing practices that are unethical or illegal can lead to legal issues, such as fines, lawsuits, and regulatory action. These issues can harm a company's finances, reputation, and long-term success.
Fostering Positive Relationships with Stakeholders: Ethical pricing practices can also help build positive relationships with stakeholders, including suppliers, distributors, and shareholders. This can lead to better partnerships and collaborations, and even increased investment in the company.

How to Ensure Ethics in Pricing

To ensure ethics in pricing, companies can follow several practices, including:

Setting Fair Prices: Companies should set prices that are fair and reasonable, taking into account factors such as production costs, market demand, and competition.
Avoiding Predatory Pricing: Companies should avoid pricing practices that harm competitors or the market as a whole, such as undercutting prices to drive competitors out of business.
Providing Transparent Pricing Information: Companies should provide clear and transparent information about their pricing practices, including any discounts, promotions, or fees.
Avoiding Price Discrimination: Companies should avoid pricing practices that discriminate against certain customer segments, such as charging higher prices for customers based on their age, gender, or race.
Honoring Price Promises: Companies should honor any price promises or guarantees they make to customers, and avoid changing prices without prior notice or explanation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ethics in pricing is essential for building trust with customers, enhancing a company's brand image, and ensuring long-term success. Companies that prioritize ethics in pricing can establish themselves as trustworthy and ethical brands, attract loyal customers, and foster positive relationships with stakeholders.

By setting fair prices, avoiding predatory pricing practices, providing transparent pricing information, avoiding price discrimination, and honoring price promises, companies can ensure that their pricing practices are ethical and in line with customer expectations.

My Question:

Can you give me case studies on ethics in pricing?

ChatGPT answers:

Sure, here are three case studies that demonstrate the importance of ethics in pricing:

1.The Case of Martin Shkreli and Turing Pharmaceuticals

In 2015, Turing Pharmaceuticals, led by CEO Martin Shkreli, acquired the rights to Daraprim, a drug used to treat parasitic infections. The company raised the price of the drug from $13.50 to $750 per pill overnight, leading to public outrage and accusations of price gouging. The move attracted negative attention from the media, politicians, and the public, and damaged the reputation of both the company and its CEO.

2.The Case of Wells Fargo

In 2016, Wells Fargo faced allegations of unethical practices related to its pricing strategy. The bank was accused of opening millions of unauthorized accounts for its customers, charging fees for those accounts, and manipulating pricing to generate revenue. The scandal led to a $185 million fine, the resignation of several top executives, and a significant decline in the bank's reputation and customer trust.

3. The Case of Patagonia

Patagonia, a popular outdoor clothing brand, is known for its commitment to environmental sustainability and ethical practices. In 2019, the company made headlines when it announced that it would be implementing a new pricing strategy that reflected the true cost of producing its products, including the environmental impact of manufacturing.

This pricing strategy was designed to encourage customers to consider the true cost of their purchases, and to incentivize environmentally-friendly behavior. The move was praised by customers and environmental activists, and helped reinforce Patagonia's reputation as an ethical and socially responsible brand.

These case studies highlight the importance of ethical pricing practices, and demonstrate the potential consequences of unethical pricing decisions. In each case, the companies faced significant negative consequences, including damage to their reputations, loss of customer trust, and financial penalties.

By prioritizing ethics in pricing, companies can avoid these negative consequences, and instead build trust with their customers, enhance their brand image, and ensure long-term success.

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That's truly impressive for about four minutes of work. But is it anything you can't find on the Internet? I don't think so. Hence, AI is really a faster car, because it's able to collate things much better than wading through search engines.

However, I'm willing to bet that almost all the articles you read about ethics in pricing will be just as dry. The ones who write better, write better because they are coming from an angle that's interesting.

In every day life we meet people who are boring, and correct. And people who are interesting and correct. We tend to want the ones in the second category. I'm not sure how AI will become more interesting.

I think it's a much faster, cleaner system of getting things done. That's at least my opinion for now. I know that I can write better, more interesting articles. But if I'm stuck it gives me a starting point to agree, or even disagree with the premise. Hence, it's a useful tool to have.

My Question:

I need to write a speech for a wedding toast. I have no clue what to say.

Here's the answer:

Writing a wedding toast can be a bit daunting, but don't worry, I'm here to help! Here are some tips and ideas to get you started:

Start with a brief introduction: Begin your speech by introducing yourself and how you know the couple. It's also a good idea to acknowledge the parents of the bride and groom.
Share a personal story: Share a personal story about the couple, highlighting a moment that demonstrates their love for each other or something unique about their relationship. This can be a funny or sentimental story.
Offer your congratulations: Congratulate the couple on their wedding day and express your happiness for them.
Give advice: If you're close to the couple, you can give them some advice for their marriage. Share some insights that you have gained from your own experiences.
Raise a toast: Finally, raise a toast to the happy couple, wishing them a lifetime of love and happiness.

Here's an example speech outline:

Introduction: Good evening everyone, my name is [your name] and I am honored to be here to celebrate the wedding of [bride's name] and [groom's name]. I have known [bride/groom] for [X years/ever since we were in school/together at work], and it's been wonderful to see [him/her] grow as a person and find true love with [his/her] partner.

Personal Story: I remember the first time I met [bride/groom] and [his/her] partner. [Share a brief story about the couple here, focusing on something unique or special about their relationship].

Congratulations: Today is a special day for [bride/groom] and [his/her] partner, and I want to congratulate them on their wedding. You two make a wonderful couple, and it's clear that you were meant to be together.

Advice: As someone who has been married for [X years], I can offer some advice to the newlyweds. [Share some advice that you think would be helpful, such as “always communicate with each other,” “never go to bed angry,” etc.]

Raise a Toast: So let's raise our glasses to [bride/groom] and [his/her] partner. May your marriage be filled with love, laughter, and happiness, and may you continue to grow together and support each other throughout your lives. Congratulations to the happy couple!
___________________

Is that a memorable speech? I think it's pretty average, but it's given you and me a starting point.

My Question:

I'm going to have a meet-up.What do I say to the participants?

Here's the answer:

When addressing participants at a meet-up, it's important to make them feel welcome and comfortable. Here's an example of what you could say:

“Hello everyone, and welcome to [name of the meet-up]! I'm so glad you all could make it today. My name is [your name], and I'm the organizer of this event. Our goal today is to [insert the purpose of the meet-up, whether it's to network, learn new skills, or socialize].

Before we get started, I'd like to take a moment to introduce myself and get to know all of you. If you could, please take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about who you are and what you're hoping to get out of this meet-up. We want this to be a safe and welcoming space for everyone, so please be respectful and open-minded to others' opinions.

We have a great schedule planned for today, with [insert any planned activities or presentations]. If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask me or any of our team members.

Finally, I just want to say how grateful I am for all of you being here today. I believe that we can all learn something from each other, and I hope that today's meet-up will be both informative and enjoyable. So let's get started!”

I asked Chat GPT this question a few weeks ago. It gave me the same answer. So it's not really updating itself and that means that there's likely to be a lot of redundancy. That everyone could end up cutting and pasting.

Question:

I need some interesting, unique April fool jokes

Here's the answer:

Sure, here are a few unique April Fool's jokes that you might want to try:

“The Prankster's Oreo”: Remove the creamy filling of an Oreo cookie and replace it with toothpaste. Give the Oreo to someone to eat and watch their reaction.
“The Fake Remote”: Use a small piece of paper to cover the sensor on the bottom of someone's remote control, making it appear that the batteries are dead. Watch them frantically push buttons to try and make it work.
“The Fake Parking Ticket”: Create a fake parking ticket and place it on someone's car windshield. Watch as they panic and try to figure out what they did wrong.
“The Bug in the Ice Cube”: Freeze a plastic insect into an ice cube and add it to someone's drink. Watch as they freak out when they see the bug floating in their beverage.
“The Switcheroo”: Switch the contents of two different food containers, like swapping salt for sugar, or putting milk in the orange juice carton. Watch as someone takes a sip or a bite and is surprised by the taste.

Remember, when pulling pranks, it's important to make sure that everyone involved is comfortable and that no one is harmed or offended. Keep it light-hearted and fun, and enjoy the laughter and joy that comes with a good April Fool's joke.

Question:

I want to tell some really good jokes at a stand up comedy. Can you write a script for me?

Here's the answer:

Sure, here's a sample script for a stand-up comedy routine. Of course, feel free to personalize it to your own style and sense of humor:

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! It's great to be here tonight. I love performing stand-up comedy because it's the one job where you're allowed to be completely ridiculous and people will still laugh at you. And trust me, I've been pretty ridiculous in my life.

I'm a big fan of animals, especially dogs. I have a dog at home who's so lazy, he doesn't even lift his leg to pee. He just looks at me like, “Dude, can you move a little to the left?” I'm pretty sure if I gave him the TV remote, he'd never leave the couch.

I also love food, but I'm not the best cook. In fact, I once tried to make scrambled eggs and ended up with an omelet that looked like a Jackson Pollock painting. It was pretty abstract. My girlfriend walked in and said, “I thought you said you knew how to cook.” And I said, “I do. It's called ‘experimental cuisine.'”

Speaking of girlfriends, I'm pretty sure mine is a superhero. She has this ability to find things that I swear I've looked for a hundred times and can't find. I'll be like, “Honey, have you seen my keys?” And she'll say, “Did you check the pocket of the jacket you wore last Tuesday?” It's like she has X-ray vision or something.

I also love technology, but sometimes it can be frustrating. I don't know about you, but I've definitely had moments where I've yelled at my computer screen like it can hear me. And then I remember that it's not a person, it's just a machine, and I feel a little crazy.

But you know what's even crazier? The fact that we're all here together tonight, laughing and enjoying ourselves. It's amazing how comedy can bring people together, even if just for a little while. So thank you for being here, and thank you for laughing with me. Have a great night!”

Ok, I'll stop, but I think you'll notice three things about the writing style.

You will notice that there's not much:

1- Originality
2- Personality
3- Angle of idea

I think we're safe for now. 🙂

How to write non-boring metaphors in your articles

How do you use stories in your article?

How do you use metaphors in your article? How do you create an unending stream of metaphors?

Even if you have a workable metaphor, how do you use the metaphor in your article? The key is to go backwards and find the one word or one idea that you want to convey. Almost magically, the word seems to fit the metaphor. Not convinced?

Let's find out how to go about this relatively-easy task.
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A methapor needs a starting point.

That starting point is always exactly the same. It's a single idea. And this idea is often one word, or a couple of words, because sometimes a single word won't do. However, let's start with a single word.

Hence, let's look at a word like: “stuck”.

When we take a look at any of these ideas, we notice that we can almost always come up with a story.

Buying a pizza
Transferring data to a new computer.
Going for a walk
Going through security check
Meeting a friend from college.
Buying a totally useless app
Setting off the smoke alarm

What if the word were something else, instead? Let's take “confidence”.

Buying a pizza
Transferring data to a new computer.
Going for a walk
Going through security check
Meeting a friend from college.
Buying a totally useless app
Setting off the smoke alarm

Once again, you have a story that neatly fits the term “confidence.” Just for the heck of it, let's pick on a third word, like “random”.

Buying a pizza
Transferring data to a new computer.
Going for a walk
Going through security check
Meeting a friend from college.
Buying a totally useless app
Setting off the smoke alarm

You'll notice that you can find a story—or at least twist the story—so that you can fit any of the terms.

Which tells us that the word you choose isn't as important as you'd believe. Yes, you have to have that word in the first place, because the direction of the story depends on the word. Nonetheless, you can do this exercise with almost any word of your choosing and you'll find that you can create a story that fits that word.

And just as proof, let's take the term “confidence” and “transferring data to a new computer”.

Almost immediately we run into a problem, don't we? Buying a pizza, meeting a friend from college—those sound like things you're likely to have a high confidence about. Hence, if you have a story you could easily link “confidence” with “pizza”. With the transfer of information, that confidence level isn't quite the same, is it? In conditions like this, we go the opposite way.

It's time for that example. Let's first start with the story and then attach the word, “confidence” later.

Let's say the story runs like this:

Imagine you've bought a new computer.
You've been assured that it's relatively easy to transfer the data across.
However, as both the computers sit on your desk, you don't feel so confident.
What if something broke as you transferred the information?
Or worse still, what if only some of the data were copied and some left behind?
Then, almost magically, both screens light up and you get step by step prompts that enable you to simply press buttons.
In a matter of minutes, you've enabled the transfer and your data is being seamlessly transferred to the new computer.

It's at this point that we have to use the term “confidence”. We can use it both ways—as someone being “confident” or someone “lacking confidence”.

Let's try “confidence” and start with the last line.

In a matter of minutes, you've enabled the transfer and your data is being seamlessly transferred to the new computer.
Imagine everything in life were so seamless! You'd have an endless amount of confidence, wouldn't you?

Let's try the opposite scenario: “Lacking confidence”.

In a matter of minutes, you've enabled the transfer and your data is being seamlessly transferred to the new computer.
Imagine everything in life were so seamless! You'd have an endless amount of confidence, wouldn't you? However, things don't always fall in place so easily. This causes us to lack confidence.

Having the combination of the story + the but + the word, is what allows you to create an unending stream of metaphors. However, if you ask me, the story must come first.

Which is why you should have a story bank with not just five or ten, but possibly dozens, or even hundreds of stories. As you see something unfolding the way it shouldn't, you know there's a “but” involved. That's the starting point to your story.

Try it today. Go for a coffee. Did something happen? Where's the “but”. Once you start looking, you'll see the “but” everywhere. 🙂 That's when you make a note of it, and get started on writing metaphors.