“To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.”
Thomas Edison
What is ChatGPT?
According to OpenAI ChatGPT General FAQ webpage, ChatGPT is “a language model trained to produce text. These models were trained on vast amounts of data from the internet written by humans, including conversations, so the responses it provides may sound human-like.” OpenAI evaluates those predictions and makes adjustments. That process is repeated over and over again many times. Millions and Millions of times over to produce human like responses.
ChatGPT was released as a “research preview” on November 30, 2022 by OpenAI which is an American artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory consisting of the non-profit OpenAI Incorporated (OpenAI Inc.) and its for-profit subsidiary corporation OpenAI Limited Partnership (OpenAI LP).
After OpenAI’s launching of the ChatGPT platform in early December 2022, there were over 1 million users in less than a week. All of these people experimenting and using the features of the chatbot.
What Are the Uses for ChatGPT?
There are many uses for both individuals and businesses using ChatGPT and other AI platforms. Some of the uses are –
- As a Brainstorming Tool
- To generate a Writing Prompt …
- As a Personal Assistant …to plan a party, or a trip
- As a Research Tool
- A tool to Learn to write code
- Make conversations about things you want to learn or are passionate about
- Create email templates
- Write a resume
- Write jokes, or papers for school
- Customer service responses
- Learn a new language
- Translate songs
What are Concerns About ChatGPT
As with any new technology, questions arise about the ethics and legality of some features. ChatGPT and other AI platforms are no different.
One concern is that unlike the responses from Google when a question is asked which are all sources to be evaluated, ChatGPT will give answers but no sources. The results of this can be misleading, and sometimes inaccurate. ChatGPT scours the internet for answers to the questions posed and doesn’t have the ability to fact check before giving an answer.
ChatGPT shares the limitations of the answers on the page before you make a query. The limitations listed are:
- May occasionally generate incorrect information
- May occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content
- Limited knowledge of world and events after 2021
When using ChatGPT as a source in writing a paper or blog post, the question of potential plagiarism or copyright infringement is always an issue.
While there are concerns and even unknowns, ChatGPT is a tool that can be very useful and powerful.
Like most tools, there are good and bad uses, and it is up to the end user to determine how it will be used.
Be Safe Out There!