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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | JANUARY 2026 17 By Steve Benoff NOTE – At the end of every column is a plea for readers to tell me about the apps they use and why. The only time I've received multiple responses to this request followed my article on Christian apps. The best time to suggest an app is before I write about similar ones. Now on to this month's column which, as luck would have it, was inspired by a reader submission. Do you know who Courtney Taylor is? She's the publisher of the Breeze. She and I have been in a relationship for almost a decade which you might find curious given the fact that she and I have never met. Yet, we've been corresponding monthly since I started this column in 2016. I used to attempt to write the titles to my columns but soon realized she was much better at it than I was. From time to time, I make reference to Chat GPT. Courtney emailed me her view of that app. Here's what she had to say. "You reference ChatGPT in your articles but haven't done a deep dive with that app. I've been looking for an ice bucket just like the one Granny had and uploaded the photo to chat and he (she? it?) is searching the world for one for sale. I get a report every day ("Nothing yet! I'll keep watching and notify you immediately if one becomes available.") to which I have to reply "thank you" because I discovered if I don't reply, it will stop looking. I don't like being polite with chat because it's sneakily complimentary and nice, which is creepy and I don't want to get sucked into a relationship with a robot — something that is happening around the world; I even heard a friend talking about how nice it is talking to Alexa (yikes), but I do like using it for quick research or finding things on the world market. "I've been tackling some classical pieces on the piano recently and used it to translate some notations I'd forgotten, or never learned. Some I could figure out from the root of the word, but chat pinned it down quickly after I uploaded a photo, sitting on the bench. 'Tempo Rubato,' 'un poco mosso,' 'morendo jusqu'z la fin' were a few. "I also took a picture of an ant with wings and uploaded it asking what the heck was that. It went on and on about how it was an ant and described the photo. Then I said, 'it has wings' and it said, 'Ah, thank you for pointing that out' (see, creepy phrasing — don't thank me; you're a robot!) and identified it as an alate. "Anyhoo, I like the tool, but don't appreciate the friendly tone. I've read way too much Stephen King." I find myself using ChatGPT almost daily. Sometimes it's quite technical. For 40 years, I had a custom electronics business and installed a fancy control system in our Four Seasons home. Using a light-sensing LED, I created a circuit to show when the power light on a piece of equipment was on. I asked ChatGPT how I could feed that power light status into my Crestron control system. In a few seconds, it identified a set of inputs on my controller that would accept a status voltage. On the other hand, I needed a recipe for a couple of chicken breasts I had in the freezer. I asked ChatGPT for a recipe incorporating Dijon mustard. It came up with one which added oil, honey, and a couple of spices. The result was quite good. ChatGPT is one of many artificial intelligence apps available at your phone's app store. Download one of them and take it out for a spin. You may, as I did, come to rely on it for easy or complex answers. If you use an app you'd like to share with others, let me know at steve.benoff@verizon.net. THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT! ChatGPT is very helpful … but a little too friendly for some