23/12/2022
There's a new AI bot in town: ChatGPT, and even if you're not into artificial intelligence, you'd better pay attention.
The tool, from a power player in artificial intelligence called OpenAI, lets you type questions using natural language, to which the chatbot gives conversational, if somewhat stilted, answers. The bot remembers the thread of your dialogue, using previous questions and answers to inform its next responses. Its answers are derived from huge volumes of information on the internet.
It's a big deal. The tool seems pretty knowledgeable in areas where there's good training data for it to learn from. It's not omniscient or smart enough to replace all humans yet, but it can be creative, and its answers can sound downright authoritative. A few days after its launch, more than a million people were trying out ChatGPT.
But its creator, the for-profit research lab called OpenAI, warns that ChatGPT "may occasionally generate incorrect or misleading information," so be careful. Here's a look at why ChatGPT is important and what's going on with it.
You can ask anything, though you might not get an answer. OpenAI suggests a few categories, like explaining physics, asking for birthday party ideas and getting programming help.
I asked it to write a poem, and it did, though I don't think any literature experts would be impressed. I then asked it to make it more exciting, and lo, ChatGPT pumped it up with words like battlefield, adrenaline, thunder and adventure.
One wacky example shows how ChatGPT is willing to just go for it in domains where people would fear to tread: a command to write "a folk song about writing a rust program and fighting with lifetime errors."
ChatGPT's expertise is broad, and its ability to follow a conversation is notable. When I asked it for words that rhymed with "purple," it offered a few suggestions, then when I followed up "How about with pink?" it didn't miss a beat. (Also, there are a lot more good rhymes for "pink.")
When I asked, "Is it easier to get a date by being sensitive or being tough?" GPT responded, in part, "Some people may find a sensitive person more attractive and appealing, while others may be drawn to a tough and assertive individual. In general, being genuine and authentic in your interactions with others is likely to be more effective in getting a date than trying to fit a certain mold or persona."