Like it or not, AI is everywhere. If ChatGPT isn’t the topic of conversation around you at work or at home, you’re hearing about it in the news and through other companies. Though it’s ubiquitous, however, it’s important to remember that it isn’t an all-knowing digital deity. It is, in fact, prone to offering misinformation and making mistakes. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t skip using it at all. 

You should play around with AI to see its possibilities and limits. Be curious, experimental and have fun with it. There are some things you definitely shouldn’t use ChatGPT for, such as health diagnoses and legal decisions, but there are plenty of tasks and to-dos it’s great for.

ChatGPT isn’t alone out there. You can also use other chatbots for these tasks, like Google’s Gemini, Anthropic’s Claude and Perplexity. And because AI has the propensity to hallucinate answers, draw the wrong conclusions or make things up entirely, be sure to always double-check and use common sense whenever it gives you information.

Here’s a look at nine of the best things to use AI chatbots for. 

(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET’s parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)

1. A beefed-up search engine 

I heard somewhere that millennials use ChatGPT as a search engine, while Gen Z uses it more as a «life advisor.» I’m showing my age here, but I love using it as a search engine on steroids. 

It’s really handy to be able to learn about a specific topic from one information interface. I use it for both quick answers to questions and in-depth topical research. 

ChatGPT’s Agent Mode can also run specific searches for you while you’re doing something else. 

2. Beauty and style advice 

This one’s fun. If you’re stuck on what lipstick suits your skin tone, what haircut is best for your face shape or how to accessorize an outfit, ask ChatGPT. 

You can upload a selfie and ask it for beauty advice or even how you’ll age (and what you can do about it). Ask who your doppelganger is.

3. Menu planning 

You can tell ChatGPT what’s in your fridge and pantry, and it’ll make a menu. This is a good little hack in this economy, especially with the holiday season coming up, and when your fridge is full of leftovers. 

You can also do other fun things, like take a photo of a menu at a restaurant and ask for the best wine pairing, if your server doesn’t beat you to it. 

4. Redesigning a room 

Whenever I try to create a cool art design in AI, it always falls short. But uploading a photo and asking it to redesign a room? Nails it. 

I prompted ChatGPT with the problems I was having with the space and what I envisioned for it, then it «redesigned» it within seconds. 

Try it with a room, an area or a nook that you want to jazz up in your home. It might not be perfect, but it will give you ideas on placement, paint colors, furniture and vibe. 

5. In your job search 

We all know how horrid the job market is right now, so you should absolutely leverage AI if you’re on the hunt. 

You can use it as a career coach, to find current openings, feed it job links and ask it to tell you why you’re a good candidate, create cover letters and refine your resume. Always edit your cover letter and resume and pepper it with your personality. Avoid sounding like everyone else using AI. 

6. To research people 

If you’re preparing for a job interview, talking to a potential client, meeting someone at a networking event, going on a date or wanting to look up an actor while watching TV, ChatGPT is a great way to find them. If I have a call coming up, I usually ask ChatGPT to «tell me everything I need to know about this person and their background.»

It can also help to find contact details, but always fact-check and be respectful. For example, I asked ChatGPT who someone was, and it gave me a name and email within seconds.

7. Tech troubles 

We’re all surrounded by so much tech, but not all of us have a handy spouse or tech support on call. I’ve turned to ChatGPT for issues like missing meeting recordings, storage issues on my MacBook, setting up YouTube on my TV, and whether my constantly humming fridge needs to be fixed. 

I wouldn’t try my hand at plumbing or anything electrical-related, but it’s helpful to troubleshoot tech.

8. Travel research 

I’m one of those people who thinks travel planning is part of the trip. I love researching destinations, looking at accommodations, comparing flights and planning things to do. 

ChatGPT can come in handy, especially in destination research. I haven’t had much luck using it to find cheap flights, but it’s awesome to ask about certain neighborhoods to stay in, the best times to visit, planning itineraries and getting travel tips. 

9. (Some) personal advice 

ChatGPT is an awesome thought partner, but just be wary about its people-pleasing tendencies. It’ll agree with you, unless you prompt it not to. Also, chatbots have nothing on your BFF or partner, who actually know what’s good for you. 

But if you can keep this in mind, it’s a handy «life advisor.» You can talk through a problem you’re having, role-play with it, ask it for advice, plan a career move, ask it to unpack the tone of a message and use it as a guide while going through something. In my case, I leaned on it while I was going through my first round of IVF.

A word of warning: ChatGPT uses a predictive model, so its «advice» is based on what you’ve told it before. It’s not going to «think» outside the box, so confirmation bias is a concern. 

Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.

ZTE has a trio of new phones that will make gamers happy, which it revealed at MWC 2026. The Nubia Neo 5 series takes some of the coolest features from the premium RedMagic 11 Pro (launched back in November) and packs them into budget phones — though they won’t be coming to the US any time soon.

Gaming phones are aimed at people who want the best performance, graphics and battery life from their handheld. These phones, aimed at mobile gamers, have always been niche devices, but many, like the RedMagic series and ASUS’ ROG devices, have been pricey, high-end handsets with elite features. ZTE’s Neo 5 phones are an attempt to introduce some of those cool perks at low enough costs to undercut or rival devices like the iPhone 17E or Google Pixel 10A. And as the RAM shortage could cause phone prices to rise this year (as we’ve already seen with the Galaxy S26 phones), consumers might look for cheaper options like the Neo 5 series.

The cream of ZTE’s budget crop is the Neo 5 GT. Priced at 450 euros (roughly $430), it inherits most of the RedMagic 11 Pro’s features. The most prominent is an internal cooling fan that, combined with the Neo 5 series’ heat-absorbing layer, cools the phone’s internals by 4 degrees Celsius, ZTE estimates. Fan ports are visible on either side of the phone near the volume and lock buttons, so it’s safe to say the phone should be kept away from dust and water (ZTE hasn’t released IP ratings for the Neo 5 GT).

The GT has a «gamer chic» look with LED lights. It has a 6,120-mAh battery and 80-watt charging and a 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 144Hz refresh rate; features more common in handsets twice the price. The phone also packs capacitive touch shoulder buttons with latency below 5.5 milliseconds. 

The Nubia Neo 5 is the baseline model, which will retail for about 300 euros (roughly $350), with capacitive shoulder buttons and a cooling layer that ZTE estimates reduces internal temperatures by 2 degrees Celsius. 

The step-up Neo 5 Max lives up to its name. For about 350 euros (roughly $415), it has a 7.5-inch display — nearly as big as the 8-inch inner screen on the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 — and a battery with over 7,000 mAh.

With features that make them competitive with pricier phones, such as the Google Pixel 10A, the Neo 5 phones will appeal to anyone, especially mobile gamers. The Neo 5 and Neo 5 GT are expected to start selling in Europe in April, then later in parts of Latin America. The Neo 5 Max will reach the same regions around July, ZTE said. It’s unclear if or when they’ll be sold in the US.

Wherever crowds converge at Mobile World Congress, there’s likely to be a thin or foldable phone — or both — on display. That was certainly the case at Tecno’s booth, where the phone-maker showed off several concept devices with astoundingly slim designs. 

The Tecno Slim 2 is a follow-up to last year’s Spark Slim, which I first saw as a concept at MWC 2025 before its eventual release. The upgraded model pares down the Spark Slim’s 5.93mm frame even more, to 5.49mm. It’s frankly a barely noticeable difference, given the minuscule unit of measurement. But it’s a testament to how phone companies keep pushing the boundaries of mobile hardware to develop jaw-droppingly thin and light phones. The Slim 2 also has super-narrow 0.7mm bezels for more immersive viewing.   

Another concept repurposes that thin design into a trifold. The Tecno Phantom Ultimate G Fold is just 3.49mm thick when unfolded and 11.49mm when folded. It unfurls to a spacious 9.94-inch main display, making it resemble a thin and light tablet that happens to unfold like a pamphlet. Like most existing foldables, the crease was still noticeable, but not glaringly so.  

While both the Slim 2 and the Phantom Ultimate G Fold are still only concepts, they reflect an existing mobile trend that’s picking up steam. Several phone companies, from Apple to Samsung to Motorola, have debuted thinner handsets in the last year. These are designed to appeal to shoppers who care less about having the biggest batteries or most advanced cameras and more about reducing bulk. 

Foldable phones are also slimming down, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Honor Magic V6 and Oppo Find N5 (and, soon, N6). And two thin trifolds have dominated the conversation for flexing design innovation: the Huawei Mate XTs and the Galaxy Z Trifold.  

If or when Tecno’s latest concoctions will join the thin phone party remains to be seen.