ChatGPT has been hitting headlines recently as the world tries to adjust to the growing use of AI technologies. From education to science, advertising to tech companies, the debate of whether we should start to rely on AI to complete work for us is growing.
What is ChatGPT?
“ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with a chatbot.” It is currently free to use, with a paid premium version potentially on the way. It can answer questions and assist you with tasks such as writing emails, essays, social media ads and code.
How is ChatGPT being used?
Co-owner of Mint Mobile Ryan Reynolds has appeared in a new ad for the company where he reads a script created by ChatGPT. He asks the technology to write a script which will “Use a joke, a curse word, and let people know that Mint’s holiday promo is still going, even after the big wireless companies have ended theirs.”
Take a look at the results below:
“A group led by Catherine Gao at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois, has used ChatGPT to generate artificial research-paper abstracts to test whether scientists can spot them…They correctly identified only 68% of the generated abstracts and 86% of the genuine abstracts.”
This has raised ethical issues on how this affects society because science plays a huge role in our lives. If we cannot determine which results are real, it may lead scientists down a faulty investigation path which could have repercussions later.
Potential impact on schools and universities
The main concern for schools and universities is whether ChatGPT or other technologies might be used for plagiarism. The worry is that students will be able to use it to write essays and to complete assignments.
However, education professionals hope that teachers will know their students well enough to notice any discrepancies or changes in a student’s writing. And perhaps positively introduce the technology “in ways that enhance teaching practices, provide new learning opportunities and improve the accessibility of education for all”.
Whatever happens, it looks set to change the way schools and universities think about assessments, and education providers will be keeping a close eye on these developing technologies.
Companies in the coding and marketing sector are using ChatGPT to improve productivity and knowledge.
For example, Peter Nixey who is the founder of task management app Intentional, uses ChatGPT as a personal assistant for web development. He has found it has accelerated his working ability and he’s been able to learn more about the tools he is developing by asking it questions. “He says it normally would have taken him about two weeks to learn how to use the tool — with ChatGPT, it took two days.”
However, a concern is that some companies are freezing hiring new people as they are considering using AI technologies instead to double their work rate, with less people being needed. This means the possibility of less job opportunities if AI is allowed to take over a workplace. The hope is that AI can be used alongside knowledgeable people who will know how to get the best out of it, without it taking over their role altogether.
Summary
Overall advances in AI technologies, such as ChatGPT, are continuing to be explored and trialed as it looks to become a more permanent fixture in society. However, there is an argument that they lack the creative spark needed for industries, such as marketing, and rob people of creating original work. Hopefully we can blend the two, and humans and AI can exist in harmony.
To find out more about progressions in AI and future technologies, check out Escapade’s recent articles on Virtual Influencers and The Metaverse.
