The ultimate consumer tech— CHATGPT has taken the internet by storm.
Launched by OpenAI, a leading American artificial intelligence research laboratory valued at $29B, ChatGPT uses deep learning techniques to generate human-like responses to users when given prompts and/or posed questions. The AI is designed to understand and engage in natural language conversations; ChatGPT's main strength lies in its ability to generate highly coherent and fluent text, which is often indistinguishable from text written by humans. Its revolutionary ability to simplify and integrate online resources has attracted corporate giants like Microsoft, who will invest $10 billion into OpenAI.
Trained on a wide variety of texts, ChatGPT understands the context in which words and phrases are used, thus adapting to different styles and formats. Notable areas where the platform can excel include language translation, question answering, and summarization. Additionally, ChatGPT’s pre-trained model can be fine-tuned for specific use cases, such as customer service chatbots or language tutoring applications. CHATGPT is multilingual and can generate different sets of text with particular attributes such as sentiment or tone.
Due to ChatGPT's steep curve in success, the parent company has recently launched a trial subscription service to users in the United States. At the cost of 20 USD per month, subscribers will be assured of accessing the platform during high-traffic periods when logging in can be challenging. Early adopters will be placed on a waiting list as OpenAI broadens the trial’s accessibility more widely to gather more subscribers.
However, fear not – the free version of ChatGPT will remain available regardless of the implementation of this loyalty scheme. The program is consumer galore: accessible through a simple process of account creation, which only takes seconds. Subsequently, any user will have access to the AI’s ability to efficiently summarize readings, write code, and/or generate creative fiction, poetry, and anecdotes when fed a prompt. The chatbot has been programmed with the ability to gather all sorts of information across the web. It can produce human-like responses and grammatically sound text regarding any topic, no matter how complex – into structured, concise answers. Every response it creates is also unique; therefore, these superior knowledge processing capabilities and natural language interaction with humans suggest that the AI has a high level of autonomy and capacity. However, outstanding technological tools will ignite a response from its contenders. As text-generating AI improves, so will AI detectors to distinguish AI-generated text from human-generated text. ChatZero, developed by a Princeton University student, has created criteria examining the complexity of text and the variations of sentences to determine whether text might be AI-written. Plagiarism detector Turnitin is also in the midst of developing its own AI-generated text detector to combat potential fraudsters.
ChatGPT is multifaceted; in addition to writing, it can also script programming code, thereby branding itself as a potential time-saver for software developers, programmers, and others in IT. However, this advantage creates a breeding ground for cyber attacks, as cybercriminals could utilize the bot's skills. Cybersecurity companies have identified scenarios wherein ChatGPT could implement malicious code that could potentially steal computer files, run malware, phish for credentials or encrypt an entire system in a ransomware scheme. This was even achievable by those with limited technical skills, who had exposed their use of ChatGPT and its hacking code on underground hacking forums. This is a concern given the increase in frequency of cybersecurity hacks in the past year.
Like every great invention, ChatGPT embodies both disruptive and revolutionary qualities. Its results are contingent on its user, therefore its power and control ultimately lie among the individuals that engage with it.
The duality of ChatGPT has sparked a debate between embracing or boycotting the technology. Advocates of ChatGPT suggest that it is simply an advanced version of a search engine, therefore instead of banning its use, educators should use ChatGPT to teach critical thinking and help students learn how to use the tool with ethics in mind. As the system is still under development, ChatGPT is unable to attribute information or offer insight about its accuracy, and experts have verified that the system has presented misinformation as fact. Furthermore, it is entirely restricted to contents found on the internet. The active version is the third generation, and OpenAI has stipulated that the next generation is in the works.
Given its limitations, ChatGPT should be used in complement to other methods rather than acting as the primary decision-making tool. Furthermore, Silicon Valley start-ups and EdTech companies see themselves as instigators, educating more students on utilizing teaching machines, which is essentially promoting human–machine cooperation and collaboration, steering away from assistantship and towards synergy. Many champions of AI believe this harmonious nature is the solution to maximize the compliments between AI and people.
What began as emerging technology is now disruptive. Generative AI transforms workflow processes within society and its users. The capability and advantages that ChatGPT has proven will likely entice users to advocate for its presence. The text-generation system’s ability to present coherent text from minimal prompts is mind-boggling and further insinuates that the notion of a “cyborg”- coined to challenge the line between human and machine - is moving closer to our reality. ChatGPT forces humanity to consider a dilemma: should our global civilizations allow ‘the line’ to completely fade and accept such technology to merge with us, or will we simply have to utilize the technology to our advantage to make our work and ourselves more efficient and productive?