Generating Ideas with ChatGPT: Using Analogies

Our second post about generating ideas with ChatGPT uses the Analogy method (Analogietechnik). The analogy technique is a powerful and flexible method for generating ideas, which forms a cornerstone of our idea workshops. It has the advantages of being applicable in a wide range of circumstances and of being easily understood and accepted by workshop participants.

The Analogy method

The Analogy method uses analogies of the ideation task as inspiration for ideas. The rationale for this approach is that by choosing inspirations that are related to the task at hand will improve the relevance of the ideas that are generated. For example, if we need costume ideas for a fancy dress party, a good source of ideas would be other events where costumes are worn, such as in the theatre or the movies.

Using Analogies with ChatGPT

It is easy to obtain analogies with ChatGPT (assuming we interested in a field that ChatGPT knows something about). We can then use these as inspiration for ideas like we did with the random inspirations.

We have the following ideation task:

How can we make our university more attractive?

Here are some sample conversations. I have reworded and adapted them for easier reading. My inputs are shown in blue, and ChatGPT’s responses are shown in red.

What are some typical and important attributes of a university?

Academic Excellence

Research and Innovation

Expertise

Library

Accreditation

Expertise

What organizations or institutions have leading experts?

NASA

What ideas would NASA suggest to improve the attractiveness of a university?

Create internships for students with space agencies such as NASA or ESA

Create opportunities for students to access space telescopes and observatories

Library

What organizations have a library?

Museums

What ideas would a museum suggest to improve the attractiveness of a university?

Showcases where students can exhibit their creations

Excellence

Who is excellent at what they do?

Yo Yo Ma

What ideas would Yo Yo Ma suggest for improving the attractiveness of a university?

Offer music therapy programs to reduce stress and facilitate relaxation

Accreditation

Who or what needs accreditation or a license to perform their task?

A pilot

What ideas would a pilot suggest for improving the attractiveness of a university?

Flight Training Camps for students

Innovation

What organizations are particularly well known for their innovation?

IBM Watson

What ideas would IBM Watson suggest for improving the attractiveness of a university?

Virtual Academic Advising powered by AI chatbots

Practical tips

In each case, ChatGPT produced 10 to 15 responses to each analogy question; I then selected just one each time for the idea generation.

The ideas vary considerably in their ease of implementation, cost and effectiveness. However, that is true of any idea generation method, and the large number of analogies that ChatGPT can instantaneously generate suggest that it has significant potential as a creativity support tool.

This is the second article in a series about using ChatGPT to generate ideas. The first article discussed the random input technique.

Links

Generating Ideas with ChatGPT: Random Input

Zuletzt aktualisiert am 24. April 2024 von Graham Horton