I understand writer’s block, right?

Sometimes you sit down to write and you don’t have anything, whether it’s fiction, non-fiction, whatever it is.

Sometimes you sit down to write and there’s nothing there.

Sometimes you sit down to do your daily podcast and there’s nothing there, even though you know that like a week or two ago you were overflowing, overloaded, I tried to say both at once, overflow loaded with topics for your daily podcast.

And then you sit down at the microphone, you’re like, oh my God, what am I going to do?

What am I going to talk about today?

Here’s the good news.

I always come up with something, but first your daily Lex.

Regular listeners of this podcast and people who know me know that I’m a fan of chat GPT despite understanding its weaknesses, its limitations.

And despite the fact that people in my life, including people I’m married to, fear chat GPT, they fear that we’re training it to take over the world somehow.

I do not share that fear.

Here’s one reason I don’t, because it scripted the following episode for me, which I think is terrible.

The episode that chat GPT has written after I fed it seven transcripts of episodes of this show is the lunchtime conundrum.

Hey there listeners, welcome back to another bite-sized episode of your daily Lex.

Today we’re diving deep into one of life’s most perplexing questions.

What on earth should I order for lunch?

You know, there’s a saying that the hardest decisions are often made on an empty stomach.

And if you’ve ever found yourself scrolling endlessly through a food delivery app, you’ll know this to be painfully true.

The other day I was caught in this exact predicament.

My stomach was grumbling, demanding sustenance, but my brain, it was paralyzed by choice.

Italian, Chinese, sushi, a salad, or maybe just a good old sandwich.

Now I can always revert to the age old method, the coin flip, but let’s be honest, that’s only useful when you’ve narrowed it down to two options.

And me, I had about 20.

So here’s what I did.

I decided to make the decision.

A game.

Every cuisine.

Every dish.

I assigned a number.

And then I rolled a dice.

I would say, this is Lex talking, not chat to me, I would say die, I rolled a die.

A digital one, mind you, because who keeps a 20-sided die on hand?

All of my nerd friends, by the way.

Which is what it’s about to say.

Unless, of course, you’re in the middle of a Dungeons and Dragons game, and then, well, priorities.

So I rolled, and the number seven, which translated to, drum roll please, Thai food.

A spicy basil fried rice, to be exact.

Now was it the most scientific method?

No.

But was it fun?

Absolutely.

And it eliminated that analysis paralysis we so often find ourselves in.

So next time you’re stuck in the lunchtime conundrum, maybe take a moment to play a little game.

It could be rolling a die, drawing straws, or even playing a quick round of eeny, meeny, miny, moe.

Remember, sometimes the silliest methods lead to the tastiest outcomes.

That’s it for today’s episode.

If you’ve got your own quirky ways of deciding what to eat, or if you just want to share your favorite lunchtime dish, drop me a message.

I’d love to hear from you.

And as always, stay hungry, stay curious, and I’ll chat with you tomorrow.

I mean, I won’t chat with you tomorrow, because tomorrow’s Saturday.

Every time I said die, it said dice in the script that it had written, which is bad.

But listen, I guess when you feed a neural network thing bad grammar, it learns it.

I don’t know.

I’ve now asked ChatGPT to write a second episode for me.

This one it’s calling The ChatGPT Script Writing Saga.

It recommends that this time I play the intro music slightly off-key for comedic effect.

That’s not going to happen.

Hey folks, it’s me again, and today we’re diving into the world of artificial intelligence.

Ever heard of ChatGPT?

Oh, you’re in for a treat.

So there I was, thinking, I’ve been at this podcasting game for a while, maybe I could use a little help.

And in comes ChatGPT, hailed as one of the most advanced language models out there.

I mean, how hard can scripting a podcast episode be, right?

I don’t think I told you what my prompt was.

I told it.

This time, write another episode in my style of voice slash don’t, but make the episode about ChatGPT and how crappy it is at writing podcast scripts.

I’ll continue.

Oh boy, where do I even begin?

First off, if you want an episode about the intricacies of 18th century French literature written in Shakespearean English, ChatGPT’s got your back.

But ask for a simple, fun podcast script?

You might just get an overanalyzed dissertation on the philosophical implications of lunch.

And let’s talk about humor.

You know that awkward joke your Uncle Bob cracks at family dinners?

The one that everyone kinda nods and chuckles out of obligation?

Yeah, that’s ChatGPT on a good day.

But you know what, let’s give credit where it’s due.

It’s trying, it really is.

And every once in a while, it’ll surprise you with a gem, a line so perfect, you’d think Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde had a digital baby.

Then there are the times it takes things a little bit too literally.

Ask it to spice things up, and you might just get a recipe for chili con carne.

To be fair, technology is incredible.

The fact that we have machines trying to replicate human thought and creativity?

Mind-blowing.

But as with all tools, they’re not perfect, and sometimes the imperfections make for the best stories.

So, would I recommend ChatGPT for all your script-writing needs?

This is me, I stand with the WGA, and I’m proud that they reach… Anyway.

If you’re in for a wild, unpredictable ride, sure.

If you want consistency?

Well, you might be better off with a good old-fashioned human brain.

Or even Uncle Bob’s jokes.

That’s it for today’s episode.

If you’ve had your own encounters with AI gone hilariously wrong, or if you just want to share a dad joke that’s better than ChatGPT’s, hit me up.

Always a pleasure sharing these moments with you all.

Catch you tomorrow.

And remember, when in doubt, just laugh it off.

Outro music perhaps returning to its normal, catchy tune.