Discovering the fitting tech reward is sophisticated. There are the wants of the reward recipient, the provision of choices, comparisons of options and specs, and your price range. As a tech skilled, you’d suppose I would have a neater time, however my mind is usually overwhelmed with tech trivia, and I battle to boil all of it down right into a helpful and well timed resolution. It is in these moments the place synthetic intelligence and a rising legion of generative, giant language mannequin chatbots can do probably the most good.
Put one other manner, I have been having a week-long dialog with ChatGPT 4o about what to get my mother-in-law, and whereas the AI has not fully solved my drawback, it will get big factors for persistence, persistence, and reminiscence.
My sharp-as-a-tack mother-in-law lives alone, and whereas she’s regular on her toes, we do fear about her in an emergency scenario like a fall, which led my spouse and me to marvel if a wearable with fall detection could be a superb reward.
As we talked, my spouse eyed me as if she had been ready for one thing, and I noticed it was a concrete reply: “Which wearable ought to we get her?” Since Mother is an Android telephone consumer (her growing old handset is from LG, an organization that not makes telephones), my first alternative, an Apple Watch SE, was out of the query.
I’ve examined a couple of Android wearables, just like the Samsung Galaxy Watch Extremely and the perfect Google Pixel Watches, however I could not recall which of them had built-in fall detection. I used to be making ready to do the analysis however, daunted by the duty (learn “lazy”), determined to offer ChatGPT 4o an opportunity.
The good thing about utilizing an AI chatbot is that you would be able to ask sophisticated questions conversationally, and it will nearly all the time be sensible sufficient to know and reply.
Right here was my preliminary immediate:
“I wish to discover a smartwatch or a health watch that has easy notifications, fall detection, and may ship an emergency alert. It is for my mother-in-law who doesn’t personal an Apple Watch. It needs to be Android-compatible. I would like it to be extremely simple to make use of and below $300.”
I put it in as soon as as a straight immediate to ChatGPT after which utilizing ChatGPT search. Since I do know that the latter makes use of the stay net to tell its outcomes, I assumed the reply can be extra well timed and correct. It turned out that each responses had been correct and extra useful than I anticipated.
ChatGPT replied, “To your mother-in-law, an Android-compatible smartwatch that gives easy notifications, fall detection, and emergency alert capabilities below $300 can be ultimate. Listed here are some suggestions:”
It then listed the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, Google Pixel Watch 2, and the Amazfit GTR 4. The 2 last-gen smartwatches had been canny selections as a result of new fashions just like the Pixel Watch 3 and Galaxy Watch 7 can be costlier and possibly break my $300 restrict.
Then, like a conspiratorial good friend, ChatGPT whispered, “Given the continuing Black Friday offers, you may discover these watches at even decrease costs. For example, the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 is at the moment obtainable at a reduced worth.” It then cited The Verge as a supply for that tidbit. Miffed that it did not use TechRadar however nonetheless impressed, I made a decision to vary tacts.
Narrowing our selections
As a lot as I really like smartwatch expertise, I fearful that these wearables may nonetheless be a bit of too sophisticated – at the very least relating to setup – for my mother-in-law. In these conversations with ChatGPT, I prefer to deal with it as I might a good friend who all the time is aware of what I am speaking about and may choose up the context even when I did not restate the entire premise. I entered this new immediate:
“Are there any health wearables that additionally present fall detection? I do not essentially want an entire smartwatch.”
ChatGPT appropriately famous that health trackers are fixated on exercise and will not all embrace fall detection. Nonetheless, it did discover a couple of Garmin gadgets, together with the Garmin Forerunner 45 (sourced from Wikipedia[!]), the Garmin Venu Sq 2 (Verge), and the Garmin Forerunner 245 (Wikipedia once more).
ChatGPT identified the steadiness of health monitoring and security options like “incident detection” which it famous “might be helpful to my mother-in-law”. However ChatGPT wasn’t achieved. Not like my buddies who may maintain off giving a advice, ChatGPT boldly declared, “Contemplating your mother-in-law’s wants, the Garmin Venu Sq 2 stands out for its user-friendly interface and complete options inside your price range.”
However the factor is, ChatGPT missed a key degree of element that made its suggestion untenable. “Incident detection” on these Garmin watches focuses on mishaps throughout exercise, not the sort of random fall that may occur to the aged at any time.
Undaunted, I requested ChatGPT to concentrate on a extra female design (some health wearables could be fairly cumbersome and masculine) and the only UI. ChatGPT had now fixated on the Garmin Venu Sq 2 and listed all of the methods it was good, despite the fact that it acknowledged that incident detection and help options “are sometimes lively throughout particular actions and require the watch to be linked to a smartphone.”
We went backwards and forwards like this with out fairly touchdown on the fitting gadget. Individually, my spouse and I checked out LifeAlert, a 24/7 service and wearable with a subscription charge. It has no smartwatch capabilities and as a substitute focuses on detecting falls and different emergencies and getting assist. It additionally by no means must be charged.
I hadn’t given up on ChatGPT. A couple of days later, we picked up the dialog. I provided no context however continued within the immediate thread, “So, I would like actual, 24/7 fall detection, lengthy battery life, ease of use, Android compatibility, and one thing a lady would put on. All of that for below $300.”
ChatGPT admitted that discovering what I used to be searching for may “be difficult,” however it additionally beneficial the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6. It was one among its preliminary favorites, claiming it had higher ease of use due to the rotating bezel (I can sort of agree {that a} {hardware} management works properly for somebody unfamiliar with wearable expertise), and pointed to Bixby and Google Assistant as enhancing usability. I believe the existence of two digital assistants on one gadget could be complicated, however possibly that is simply me. It additionally highlighted the $250 price ticket and a excessive diploma of Android compatibility (I nonetheless don’t know if my mother-in-law’s growing old LG has an OS up-to-date sufficient to assist these newer smartwatches).
Then I lastly requested the large query: is LifeAlert a greater possibility right here? Once more, no context apart from that immediate. Oh, and did I point out that I by accident known as it “LifeLock”? ChatGPT, like the great good friend it’s, forgave my foibles and translated my nonsense into an in depth comparability of emergency alert methods like LifeAlert versus smartwatches.
It then summarized with this:
“In case your mother-in-law values a tool with a number of functionalities and is snug with expertise, a smartwatch just like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 might be helpful. Nevertheless, if she prefers a devoted, easy-to-use emergency system with skilled monitoring, a medical alert system reminiscent of Life Alert could also be extra applicable.”
You see? I really feel like ChatGPT will get me. It is analytical but additionally nearly caring. Granted, I am no nearer to a decision on this buy than I used to be every week in the past, however at the very least I really feel higher knowledgeable. I am now contemplating asking ChatGPT to go searching for me…as if.