Sometimes I look up at the sky and think, ‘Why couldn’t you let me be born in the United States or something?’ It can be frustrating and boring living in Zimbabwe. I still wouldn’t want to move, but I can’t help but be angry at the way the international community treats us sometimes.
We are failing as a nation on our own, we don’t need help with that. Yet, at every turn, we find ourselves forced to overcome obstacles that those in developed countries do not have to overcome. It’s the equivalent of tying a big rock to a runner who drags his competitors a mile. What chance does he have of catching up?
The AI revolution
The AI revolution is upon us. We have written extensively about this:
What most of these AIs offer is:
- Answer questions and provide information on a wide range of topics, from general knowledge to specific niche topics
- Text generation – articles, essays and creative writing. They can write letters of recommendation, write emails, tweets and whatever you want
- Summarize text and extract key information from large documents
- Translate text from one language to another
- Generating code from natural language instructions. You can tell them what you want to do and they will write the code for you
- Analyze the opinions expressed in the text, therefore, a research assistant
You may remember when smartphones first rose to prominence and there was that famous catchphrase, “there’s an app for that.” Well now, whatever you need, there’s an AI for it.
Zimbabwe excluded?
ChatGPT is what propelled generative AI into the mainstream and remains the most popular.
Despite this, ChatGPT still doesn’t say why people like Zimbabwe still don’t have official access. You can work around this, but it’s quite complicated. I was just trying all the options available and I have to tell you that you will need to use a VPN and have a friend who can receive an SMS on your behalf in a supported country.
Thought you could use a temporary/virtual phone number? ChatGPT does not play this game.
Most numbers from most free virtual number sites will not work for you. You will have to pay to get one that works. If it works for you, go for it. I don’t think many will be able to use this method. I won’t even talk about the proxy method here.
So, the easiest, laziest, and hassle-free way to jump on the generative AI bandwagon is to use ChatGPT-powered Bing or a decent alternative AI.
So sit back, relax and get ready to discover how you can unleash the potential of ChatGPT, even here in Zimbabwe. Some of these AIs have their own niches and you will find one that suits your needs.
Bing Chat
There used to be a waiting list, but now you can just install Bing and be on your happy AI journey. I know most of us use our phones for most of our browsing needs and so you will be happy to know that you can have Bing on Android and iOS.
Just go to play store or the App store and download. Note that the app is 99MB in size on Android and 250MB on iOS (sheesh). iOS app sizes are something else entirely.
You’ll need a Microsoft account to use ChatGPT-powered Bing, but if you don’t have one, fear not, it’ll ask you to create one and it’s as easy as ABC.
Note, however, that you may encounter the following error when eventually trying to use the service:
Sorry, but we’re having trouble adding you to the waiting list.
To resolve this issue, try using a different browser to sign in to your Microsoft account. Visit bing.com/new then sign up to use Bing Chat from there. It will say “Join Waitlist” but you will have access to it immediately.
AI bewilderment
If you’re using an iOS device, just check out Perplexity AI. You get pretty much the same experience you get using Bing powered by ChatGPT.
There are no ads, no premium plans, and it’s completely free to use, even for Zimbabweans.
I’ve used this over any other generative AI and in some ways, especially when it comes to citing sources, it’s better than ChatGPT.
Other alternatives include:
There are so many ChatGPT alternatives that we can’t test them all. So, let’s go through a list we got from browsing the web and seeing what people are using. Most of them are free with some sort of premium plan available and unlike ChatGPT you won’t have to jump through any hoops to use them.
For writers
These AIs can generate different types of content; press releases, marketing copy, emails, blog posts, landing pages, short stories, screenplays, novels, and anything else you want to write.
- AI Jasper – a jack-of-all-trades AI, can generate almost anything, including long content (over 1000 words)
- writingsonic – helps produce blog posts, product descriptions, etc.
- Sudowrite – you’ve had this movie idea for way too long. This AI will help make that storyline or novel a reality. They say they’re “the non-judgmental AI writing partner, always there to read one more draft, never running out of ideas, even at 3am.”
- any word – Tell your marketing friend to check this one out. It creates copy for emails, press releases, and even generates Facebook, Google, Twitter, and LinkedIn ads.
For CV writing
It’s unfortunate that you might miss the job you would excel in just because your resume is bland. Well, you don’t have to visit your cousin anymore to help cheer him up, these AI and AI-powered services will help you write a good one.
- Rezi – everyone seems to agree that it’s the best out there. It will help you write, edit and format a resume or cover letter and even a resignation letter.
- Improve – you will get CV templates, he will proofread your writings and write a professional quality CV for you. It can even help you prepare for interviews.
- Resume Worded – you get the usual CV elements and it can analyze the job description and use their keywords in your CV, among other things.
- kick resume – yet another solid option. Can give you feedback on your current CV and help you improve it or write a completely different one.
Presentations
You will need to impress potential investors or your board of directors at some point. These AIs will help you create beautiful decks or presentations. Tell your entrepreneur friend.
- AI presentations – you can type text and get nice decks in seconds. You can start with a simple idea in text form, or you can fill out a form or you can allow the AI to scan your mail, chats or notes and it will produce presentations for you.
- Beautiful AI – you can start with templates and customize until you get something you like.
- Slidesaccess – more of the same
For research
Working on a thesis, research paper, or academic piece? These AIs will help you do it faster.
- paperpal – is designed for researchers and academic writing and can check your manuscript. A Microsoft Word plug-in is even available.
- Consensus – it’s a search engine that helps you understand what research on a particular topic actually says. The search bar says “What does the research say about…” That says it all.
- Scite – One of the criticisms of ChatGPT is that it sometimes lies or omits quotes. This will not work when working on an academic paper. As the name suggests, Scite focuses on that, helping you find highly supported researchers, whether the research was supported or contrasted, and so on.
Again, we can’t review them all. Whatever support you want help with, just search for the AI that will provide it and you’ll be good to go. You will find an AI that specializes in;
- Musical generation
- Write code
- Video creation
- Create and manipulate images
- Productivity
- Or whatever you might want
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