Written by: Dr. Shahram Maralani, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
ChatGPT is the buzz on the Internet these days. People who know what this really is, are looking for use cases and all the benefits that this tool and its rivals like Brad of Google can bring. Those who do not know, are scared! But what is really ChatGPT, and How It Is Causing Headache for Different Sectors, and What Can They Do About It? This is what we cover in this article.
What is AI?
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is an interdisciplinary area of computer science that deals with the development of intelligent systems, which are capable of autonomously reacting to their environment and performing tasks traditionally requiring human intelligence. AI draws upon methods from mathematics, engineering, computer science, linguistics, psychology, neuroscience and other disciplines to build autonomous systems that can perceive their environment, reason and learn from experience in order to make decisions. Common examples of AI include virtual personal assistants such as Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Microsoft's Cortana; facial recognition technology; self-driving cars; and machine learning algorithms used by companies like Google and Facebook to analyse data. The term "AI" is also used to refer to intelligence exhibited by artificial entities (such as robotic systems) that resemble biological organisms.
There are various kinds of AI. Generative AI is a form of Artificial Intelligence that is focused on the automated production of new or novel content. It involves a set of algorithms and techniques which enable computers to generate unique outputs based on input data. Generative AI utilizes generative models, such as probabilistic models, which allow for the creation of novel objects within a defined data space. These models are trained using an ample collection of training data in order to create outputs that can be used for various applications. Generative AI differs from former forms of AI in that it enables the machine to build models based on data sets and learn from them. This form of Artificial Intelligence utilizes unsupervised learning techniques, such as Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Autoencoders, to produce new data. These models are capable of creating novel data points that are similar to the original datasets they were trained on, allowing them to generate new knowledge.
What is ChatGPT
In recent years, the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), and specifically Generative AI has been continuing to disrupt different sectors. One of the most talked-about examples of this disruption is ChatGPT ‒ or Generative Pre-training Transformer, a revolutionary AI technology developed by a research laboratory based in San Francisco named OpenAI that can generate human-like conversations and responses. ChatGPT is an advanced natural language processing (NLP) system designed to emulate conversation with humans. It utilizes a deep learning model based on the Transformer architecture to generate conversational responses in real-time. By leveraging the power of machine learning algorithms and sophisticated linguistic datasets, ChatGPT can accurately interpret user input and generate appropriate answers that mimic human interaction. The system also enables contextual awareness, allowing it to build a virtual context where users can converse naturally and intuitively.
ChatGPT can be used to generate natural language responses to questions. For example, when asked "What is the capital of The Netherlands?", ChatGPT can generate the response "The capital of The Netherlands is Amsterdam.", and continue asking it, "What is great about it?", it understands the context and will continue "Amsterdam is a city with a rich history, beautiful architecture, and a vibrant culture. It is known for its iconic canals, museums...". There are already many examples of what you may be able to achieve with ChatGPT out there. From doing complete research using the tool, to creating a trading bot enabling you make automatic investments, people have tried to test various automations using the amazing knowledge at their hand brought by ChatGPT. That is why it took only 5 days before the tool reached one million users, upon introduction of the public access to the user interface of ChatGPT in November 2022.
ChatGPT and Its Impact
While many people see ChatGPT as an amazing achievement for AI, it's also causing headaches for different sectors as its potential uses are vast and varied. The first group who started to suffer from ChatGPT were perhaps the schools and educational institutions. Students could write essays or solve mathematical problems without any efforts. Search YouTube for the videos showing examples of this. This is not the only challenge caused by AI. OpenAI has another AI solution called Dall-E that draws upon the principles of natural language processing, in order to generate images from textual descriptions. This capability is achieved through a deep learning model which leverages the power of transformer architectures, allowing the system to process both text and images concurrently. There are people selling "art pieces" generated by Dall-E or other similar solutions creating debate whether what they are creating is at all art or not. Meet the man behind some of such art here.
ChatGPT, Dall-E and other similar AI tools are going to have a fundamental impact on our lives and society. This is just the beginning. Imagine in few months, education needs to deel with access of students to these tools which are getting increasingly available. A school project may not need days and weeks of research at the library or behind the computer to read various articles. Or imagine a business looking for solutions to their problems in a particular domain. Before engaging any consultant, they can ask AI tools on what would be potential solutions to their business challenge. A consultant who has been helping industries by only knowing where to find information and solutions, may be facing diminished demand for their expertise, if not being out of business. The question is how the society should react to what is coming?
Future of ChatGPT
I believe neither ChatGPT, nor any other AI tools is not going to have negative impact on our society more than what we have been seeing from other technologies. Human brain has certain capacity to digest new concepts mainly based on its general capacity at birth and the expansion of it through life experiences. Every new technology creates both hype and horror. Positive people inflate the hype, and negative ones author the horror scripts. Our experience has shown that even a technology like nuclear has only been helping humanity, when used properly, and destroying it, when wrongly used. AI is not going to be any different.
Today ChatGPT is based on its version 3 engine called GPT-3 released in 2020 that uses deep learning to produce human-like text. GPT-3 has been used to create articles, poetry, stories, news reports and dialogues. GPT-4 is an unreleased neural network created by OpenAI, rumored to be coming out in 2023, according to the New York Times. GPT-4 will be able to handle language translation, text summarization, and other tasks in a more versatile and adaptable manner. Software trained through it will be able to infer users' intentions with higher accuracy, even when human error interferes with instructions. There are also rumours that GPT-4 will come also as a mobile app.
Microsoft has invested 1 billion dollars in OpenAI already. It has been announced that Microsoft is going to add another 10 billion dollars to their investment in OpenAI. Moreover, there are signs that Microsoft will open access to ChatGPT capabilities to everyone using their browser Edge or who knows anyone who uses Windows. At least we know that Microsoft plans to incorporate OpenAl's PT software into the Bing search engine. Incorporating this technology into Bing could enhance the search experience in a number of ways, including Providing more relevant and accurate search results, by allowing Bing to better understand the context and intent of a user's search query, and provide more relevant and accurate results. Google is dead scared and has announced they are going to open access to their AI solution LaMDA through regular homepage of Google search engine. The other AI tool from Google is already there able to generate a piece of music hearing a snippet of it. Other companies will follow soon.
Future of Knowledge
The Question comes, if everyone has access to these tools from the address bar of their browser, what is knowledge and know-how then? You will not be able to design a rocket and launch it to space with these tools. But you can find information about your health and disease for example, better than your GP, or defend your case in court. Then who says students should not use such a knowledge source in their work? For now, OpenAI has already created a tools to be able to distinguish between human generated and AI generated text. The use cases of these amazing tools are so many that the pessimists may soon need to get used to this new reality and live a life enabled by AI. One of the interesting use cases of ChatGPT is now its integration in Microsoft Teams which enables a rich meeting experience including AI Notes, Action points, and Summary. As the use cases and hence need to access ChatGPT services increase, its revenue model shows up. As a result, we expect tens of new use cases over coming months. Hence to those horror advocates, as the CEO of OpenAI said, "We adapted to calculators and changed what we tested in math class", get used to it, human knowledge is going to be enriches by instant access to it using AI.
Legal Implications: Regulations & Guidelines
In order to understand the legal implications of ChatGPT and other AI tools, it is important to look into their use cases and to find out the sectors affected, who is at risk. One way in doing so, is to look into what is not an advantage anymore. For example, in the knowledge-driven sectors, knowing the basics and fundamentals of many domains is not knowledge anymore. Even the practical applications of such domains are not knowledge in the era of AI. Instead, application of these science in solving real problems will stay an advantage owned by real domain experts being individuals or corporations. Hence, in my view, the definition of science may get closer to what is today used to define technology, and the definition of technology will shift to specific application of solutions to solving even more specific problems. As a result, the science, technology, industries, businesses, and societies will become more specialized in their capabilities. Legal implications of such a fundamental shift will be enormous. The keywords being further protection of intellectual property (IP), pay-per-use or subscription revenue models for using know-how, and more protection of novel science and technology preventing it to land on public Internet and hence be source of knowledge of AI Tools, which can be accessible to rivals of businesses and nations. There are already regulations and guidelines regarding AI. But most of these are focused on the ethics, fairness and so on in the application of AI solutions. I expect to see more regulations defining in what domains and processes is use of AI is allowed, followed by regulations addressing what information are eligible to be shared publicly.
Conclusion: Taking Action Now
Businesses can take immediate steps to take advantage of AI and begin to consider the implications of AI in order to remain competitive in a rapidly changing technological landscape. They should assess their current capabilities and ensure that their infrastructure is able to accommodate the increasingly sophisticated AI technology available. Additionally, businesses should prioritize research and development initiatives that focus on a proactive approach to understanding and implementing AI technologies such as automation, machine learning, natural language processing, and predictive analysis. They should also assess the costs and benefits of implementing AI solutions to determine how AI can be best integrated into their existing landscape.
Individuals can also take steps to familiarize themselves with the latest trends and applications of AI. This includes studying emerging AI technologies and the implications of their potential implementation. They can also join in discussions on the ethical implications of AI and participate in civic activities related to regulatory policies or frameworks shaping towards normalizing the integration of AI into their lives.
Reading through the above lines, you may be wondering if I did use an AI tool researching for this article. The answer is yes. And you have guessed it already, the photo is also not work of art, and is generated by Dall-E. Even politicians are starting to use AI in designing their speeches. AI is here and we should benefit from it, instead of being scared about it. Start using ChatGPT by using this link for Chat GPT login.
I do research and publish about the role of business and technology in today and future of the humanity. To read my future publications, visit my website. You can also find and contact me on my LinkedIn profile and Instagram.
Dr. Shahram Maralani, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Shahram Maralani is a Corporate Leader with more than twenty-five years of experience in a wide range of disciplines and across multiple industries and geographies. He is also an Author, a Business Mentor, and a Professional Speaker. Shahram is currently senior vice president and chief digital officer in Nemko Group A/S. In addition, he helps entrepreneurs to establish and develop Online Businesses. He is the author of the book “Build an online business in 24 hours”.
