Ep 89 - Murder Jury & ChatGPT

Summary

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The ChatGPT Experiment – Ep 89: Murder Jury & ChatGPT

Host: Cary Weston
Date: October 7, 2025

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Overview

In this episode, Cary Weston dives into how his experience as a juror on a murder trial over 20 years ago unexpectedly shaped his understanding of uncertainty and decision-making—parallels he finds strikingly resonant with using ChatGPT. Through this personal story, Cary frames three key benefits of ChatGPT: breaking the "curse of knowledge," appreciating varied points of view, and the value of practicing conversations. He guides listeners—whether they're new to AI or seeking practical application—on how ChatGPT can make challenging conversations, decisions, and learning opportunities more approachable for everyone.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Jury Duty Story as a Metaphor for Uncertainty in Communication

• Personal Backstory: Cary receives a jury summons and recalls his first and only jury experience—a murder trial in 2003. He highlights how daunting decision-making is for people with no prior context.
  • Quote: “[I] was supposed to listen, analyze, process, weigh, filter all of the things that are important and should be used in an objective and honest evaluation of the facts. …It’s a really uncomfortable position when you don’t understand everything you’re supposed to, yet you have to make a decision.” (05:58)
• No Dramatic Guidance: In real trials, unlike on TV, there’s no dramatic music or guidance—just plain facts, leaving laypeople feeling lost.
• Core Lesson: It’s easy to feel isolated and overwhelmed when tasked with decisions or conversations without experience or clear instruction.

2. Three Practical Ways ChatGPT Helps

A. The Curse of Knowledge

• Definition: The tendency to assume others know what you know; jumping to explanations that miss basic context.
• ChatGPT as Translator: By supplying ChatGPT with business or customer profiles, Cary uses it to help simplify and clarify messaging that is accessible to true novices.
  • Example Prompt: “If I were to be this business…and sell, educate, inspire, what is it that I need to make sure I’m providing for information?” (09:33)
• Quote: “We get into trouble, especially in business, where we jump to a solution or talk about industry speak … we don’t take the time to understand that perhaps the customer … understands less than you.” (07:25)

B. Point of View

• Challenge: Communication breakdowns often arise when people fail to recognize each other’s perspective.
• Four-Part ChatGPT Framework:
  1. What are we doing?
  2. Why are we doing it?
  3. What does success look like?
  4. Give ChatGPT permission to ask clarifying questions.
• ChatGPT’s Role: Assists users in viewing situations through another’s lens, improving empathy and effectiveness in conversations.
• Quote: “ChatGPT has been an excellent advocate for that type of work … especially when you allow it to ask you questions.” (12:36)

C. Practicing Conversations

• Importance: Prepping for important or uncomfortable discussions, whether interviews or personal relationships, boosts confidence and outcomes.
• Simulated Scenarios: Requesting ChatGPT to role-play as a conversation partner (e.g., as a customer or an interviewer), tailored to the user's context.
• Quote: “Having ChatGPT be your conversation practice buddy is an amazing asset here… it’s amazing to me how accurate and realistic the conversation ends up being if you give it the right context.” (13:15)

3. Broader Reflections

• Feeling Lost Is Universal: Whether in jury duty or professional life, many find themselves forced to make decisions with incomplete information.
• Empathy from Experience: Cary’s past uncertainty as a juror gives him empathy for anyone feeling out of place or overwhelmed—something he believes AI tools can effectively alleviate.
  • Quote: “It doesn’t have to be the decision that weighs somebody’s life ... for the position that we are in or others are in to be uncomfortable because we don’t know. …ChatGPT can be a very effective partner.” (14:57)
• Judge’s De-brief: Even when “thinking we were the only ones that didn’t know,” the trial judge later confirmed it was a straightforward case—an eye-opener about expertise vs. novice perspective.
  • Quote: “The judge came in and said that was one of the most clear-cut, obvious cases he’s had in a long time… yet they couldn’t communicate, share, or lead us.” (14:42)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Speaker | Quote | |-----------|---------|-------| | 05:58 | Cary | “It’s a really uncomfortable position when you don’t understand everything you’re supposed to, yet you have to make a decision.” | | 07:25 | Cary | “We get into trouble, especially in business, where we jump to a solution or talk about industry speak … we don’t take the time to understand that perhaps the customer … understands less than you.” | | 09:33 | Cary | “If I were to be this business…and sell, educate, inspire, what is it that I need to make sure I’m providing for information?” | | 12:36 | Cary | “ChatGPT has been an excellent advocate for that type of work … especially when you allow it to ask you questions.” | | 13:15 | Cary | “Having ChatGPT be your conversation practice buddy is an amazing asset here… it’s amazing to me how accurate and realistic the conversation ends up being if you give it the right context.” | | 14:42 | Cary | “The judge came in and said that was one of the most clear-cut, obvious cases he’s had in a long time… yet they couldn’t communicate, share, or lead us.” | | 14:57 | Cary | “It doesn’t have to be the decision that weighs somebody’s life ... for the position that we are in or others are in to be uncomfortable because we don’t know. …ChatGPT can be a very effective partner.” |

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Jury Duty Anecdote & Theme Setup – 01:30–05:50
• Lessons from Being an Uncertain Juror – 05:50–07:00
• The Curse of Knowledge Explained & ChatGPT Solution – 07:00–09:45
• Point of View & Cary’s Four-Part ChatGPT Framework – 10:00–12:45
• Practicing Conversations with ChatGPT – 13:00–14:10
• Final Reflections on Empathy and Using ChatGPT in Unfamiliar Roles – 14:10–15:50

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Episode Tone & Language

Cary’s style is relatable, conversational, and encouraging. He emphasizes practical application and empathy, readily sharing personal anecdotes and actionable frameworks. He directly addresses listeners’ possible feelings of intimidation or confusion, urging them to approach ChatGPT with curiosity and without fear.

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Closing Advice

“Your curiosity is the most important element in you getting the most out of ChatGPT. Go play with it. You can’t break it. Talk to it, converse with it, give it permission to ask you questions, and get the most out of this, regardless of what point of view, task or purpose.” (15:33)

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Resources: For past episodes, prompts, and guides, visit chatgptexperiment.com.

Takeaway:
ChatGPT isn’t just a technical tool—it’s a partner that can bridge knowledge gaps, help you see from another’s perspective, and equip you for both everyday and extraordinary conversations. “Stay curious”—and let AI help transform uncertainty into understanding.

Transcript

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[C]

Hey, it's Carrie. Hey. 22 years ago, I was selected for a murder trial jury and I learned a lot. And I'm bringing those lessons to Today's conversation with ChatGPT. We're going to talk about practicing conversations, point of view, making people more comfortable in situations where they might not have all the information to make a decision and how ChatGPT can help. Okay. Murder and ChatGPT. If that sounds interesting, stick with me. I'll see you on the other side of the music. Hey there. Welcome to the ChatGPT experiment. This is a podcast designed to help you better understand what ChatGPT is and maybe get a nugget or two that you can use for your personal or professional life. My name is Kerry Weston. I'm your host. Welcome. Glad you're here. I do have a website, chatgpt experiment.com all of the past episodes of the podcast are there, along with guides and tips and prompts that you can find to make your journey through learning ChatGPT a little easier. You can also reach out if you want some training, either individual business or if you've got a workshop, seminar, summit kind of thing, and you want to have a ChatGPT component to it, reach out and do that as well. ChatGPT experiment.com okay, so this week's episode is born from getting a letter last week in the mail. Got a white letter. I live in Bangor, Maine, as I've shared a few times. And the letter came from the Maine Superior Court. And I saw that come in and I quickly ran through my head, you know, what could this possibly be? I don't think I've done anybody wrong or owe anybody money. And so I opened it up and lo and behold, it's a jury duty survey, right? Have you served on jury duty? Have you been through this? I've asked a few people since I received that, and it's amazing how many people have been brought in for the jury duty process and then not actually served on a jury. So they have to go in for those four or five days and they sit, they wait, and they're never selected to participate. That would be horrible. I think that would be an experience that would be rather just pleasant. I served once, 2003, right. So what's that? 22 plus years ago, I got picked for the first time. It's the only time I've ever served, and lo and behold, I get picked for a murder trial, right? And so I think that's probably the jackpot. If you are going to be selected to serve, you might as well be involved in something interesting. And certainly a murder trial was interesting. And why does that have anything to do or how does that have anything to do with ChatGPT, you ask? Yeah, it's a good question. Here's the experience that I had. You're probably like me. You've watched plenty of courtroom shows, dramas, movies, right? Legal mysteries. And there's always a few components to most of them. Number one, there's always music, right? There's always like music to tell you that something important is happening or pay attention to this or the dun dun dun, the organ, you know, that kind of stuff. Well, you know, it's pretty common sense, right? But there's no music in jura duty. There's no, there's no organist in the back telling you this is important. Or wait, do you hear this kind of thing? The second thing is there's A lot of dramatic back and forth in the movies and the TV shows where people raise their voice and they get emotional and they're doing this and doing that. And that didn't happen once from the attorney point of view. Now it may happen in others, it didn't happen in mine. And so the cadence and the consistency in the delivery of information was the same regardless of whether they were asking people to state their names or where they were in a particular night, or in this case, you know, if they had put scissors through the back of somebody's head, which is exactly, exactly what had happened here. So I was confused because all of this information dialogue was coming at me and I was supposed to, with no experience, by the way, never been through this before, no point of reference. I was supposed to listen, analyze, process, weigh, filter all of the things that are important and should be used in an objective and honest evaluation of the facts. And so, you know, it's a really uncomfortable position when you don't understand everything you're supposed to, yet you have to make a decision. You are in charge of weighing, you are in charge of filtering, sorting, trying to understand. And that stuck with me all these years later. And it's one of the ways that ChatGPT has been incredibly effective in communication, in understanding. And so I thought I'd give you that background to share with you this. I think there are three specific ways that I use ChatGPT in my experiments that has been born from that empathy, the, I guess, understanding that there are people that don't have the background, the tool set, the context, yet they're being asked to make a decision, they're being asked to consider something, they're being asked to weigh something, they're being asked to evaluate something. And three ways that I think ChatGPT helps in these everyday situations is the curse of knowledge, point of view and practicing. And I'm going to go through these three areas to tell you a little bit more about what they are and how I'm using them. And hopefully there's something here that you can use. Right, so the curse of knowledge. The curse of knowledge, number one, is basically assuming it's the assumption that what you know, everybody knows, or that the most basic information that, well, the information that you consider to be the most basic and mundane is not important to tell. Share, teach, educate, promote, give, right? And we get into trouble, especially in business, we get into trouble with that a lot, where we jump to a solution or we talk about industry speak, or we talk over somebody's head. We don't take the time to understand that perhaps the customer or the person or the vendor or whatever it might be understands less than you. Okay, and so we start from a place of experience rather than a place of, you know, lowercase I. Ignorance and misunderstanding and lack of knowledge. And lack of experience. Right. Assuming the curse of knowledge, assuming. And so how have I used ChatGPT in that way with my own work and with my clients work? I share with ChatGPT what it is that the businesses do and we build a profile of the best fit customers. And all of these have been available in previous episodes and in prompts. I've talked about this. If you haven't, you can go back and take a look at some. I do explain some of the stuff in more detail in other episodes, but in getting a profile of the business and getting a profile of the customer, you know, you can work with ChatGPT and say, hey, if I were to be this business, if I were to try to communicate and sell, educate, inspire, what is it that I need to make sure that I'm providing for information? What is it that I should be answering, telling, giving, showing, you know, delivering to help somebody that's never been in the situation, never been in the market to buy, never been in the market to be, you know, in need of my company, my service, my product, how is it that I can educate, inform and inspire them from a beginner's point of view? Okay. And so ChatGPT is very effective in that way. The second way is, you know, continuing on that the point of view. How many times have we tried to have a personal conversation or a professional conversation and it's not going well? There are some roadblocks, there's some friction because either we don't or they don't or both understand how the other one is seeing things. The point of view that they have, right? What lens are they receiving the information through? What lens are they delivering their information through? What's their story? Right. What's their point of view? If you've ever done personality profiles like Myers Briggs or Disc Disk, then you know that there are real ways in which people differ in how they receive, process and communicate information. Right? So understanding that point of view and what the other person's point of view is, I've used ChatGPT a number of times and ChatGPT has been an excellent partner in there. And I use my four part framework and a couple episodes back, I share that with you. But the four part framework in communicating with ChatGPT is number one. What are we doing? Number two, why are we doing it? Number three, what does success look like? And number four, telling ChatGPT you're giving ChatGPT permission to ask you questions so it can best understand. Right. So in this case, you might say, I'm trying to the what we're doing. I'm trying to have this conversation, I'm trying to convey this point. Why am I doing it? Because I'm trying to make a deal. I'm trying to get through an issue. I'm trying to solve a problem, whatever it might be. Right. What does success look like? Could be the resolution of the problem or the conclusion of the conversation or something, something beneficial. And then, you know, help you ask me questions so you can best understand what's going on, so I can understand how to communicate my point. How do I get through this roadblock? How do I convey information to this person? Because it's not working, or they don't think process, communicate like I do. Right. ChatGPT has been an excellent advocate for that type of work. It's been an excellent tool, especially when you allow it to ask you questions. That point of view processing has been. It's been great. It's been highly beneficial. You know, and the third one is practice. And so you take these two together. You may have a conversation coming up, be it business, or maybe you maybe going to interview for a new job, or maybe you're going to hire somebody, or maybe you're being hired, or maybe it's a personal relationship, the ability for you to use ChatGPT to practice for that conversation, you know, taking these other things into consideration, the curse of knowledge and the point of view. Having ChatGPT be your conversation practice buddy is an amazing asset here. And I've used it many times. And so if you tell ChatGPT to take on the side of the conversation, to take on the role of something, and then again, what are we doing it and why are we doing it? And, you know, ask it to, you know, prompt you for questions to be most successful. You can set up these conversations, these scenarios and practice them in real time. And I've done that a number of ways, and it's been highly beneficial. It's highly beneficial. It's amazing to me how accurate and realistic the conversation ends up being if you give it the right context. Right. If you set it up properly. Okay? So I wanted to get that out of my head because that jury duty envelope got to me today or this week, and I thought today would be a good time to get this out of my Head being In that courtroom 20 plus years ago, I remember what it was like not knowing, not understanding, thinking that I was the only one that didn't know what we were doing, how to process it. I felt like on an island. I was scared because the consequences of what I was about to do were very, very high. Right. It was the future of a person's life. Okay. Now it did become very obvious that the, you know, the decision of the jury was guilty. And then afterwards, you know, what was very interesting is the judge did come in after we. We render our decision. And for most of us, we felt that it was difficult, right, because you start doubting yourself. And again, not knowing, having been through this before, not knowing what's important, what the. What to. What to remember and what to forget. The judge came in and said that was one of the most clear cut, obvious cases he's had in a long time. Right? So here is somebody who, who does this day in and day out, say this is pretty straightforward. Yet they couldn't communicate, share, or lead us. They couldn't help us. We were left on our own, which is how the system is set up. And so it doesn't have to be jury duty. It doesn't have to be the decision that weighs somebody's life. Right? Somebody's life doesn't have to be in the balance for the position that we are in or others are in to be uncomfortable because we don't know. We haven't been there before. We don't have the experience. And ChatGPT, if this is, either you're on either side of this conversation, either you're the one that deals with people who need to understand, or you're the one that needs to understand for the first time. ChatGPT can be a very effective partner in helping you get through the curse of knowledge to help you understand people's point of view, to help you practice conversations to be better. Okay, I'll keep you posted. What happens? I did send the, I did send the survey back and, you know, who knows what's gonna happen? Maybe I'll be back there. If I am, maybe it's another murder trial, you know, might as well be interesting if you're gonna be there, right? All right, so until next time, your curiosity is the most important element in you getting the most out of chat GPT. Go play with it. You can't break it. Talk to it, converse with it, give it permission to ask you questions, and get the most out of this, regardless of what point of view, task or purpose. Okay. All right. Thanks for joining me. And until we talk again, stay curious. Okay. Talk soon.

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