Here’s the download on ChatGPT

Imagine not having draft pages and pages of analytical reports or wracking your mind to write those college essays. Seems like a fairy tale doesn’t it? Well, not so much anymore. In what has been dominating social media and other conversations, ChatGPT is considered to be revolutionary, yet threatening to the very foundations of academics. First of all, what is ChatGPT? Well, just like it sounds, it has lots to do with everything tech, software, coding and AI (Artificial Intelligence). Technically speaking, it is a large language chatbot (you can download the application) launched by Open AI, an artificial intelligence research laboratory that was co-founded by Elon Musk. It is also the next iteration of the text-generator GPT-3. Here, we give you the download on the what, when, why, positives, negatives and everything in between. 

Launched in November 2022, this AI-powered chatbot can interact with users most convincingly and conversationally. The bot has been trained with a host of information from the wide, wide web with the ability to provide lengthy, thoughtful and thorough responses (although often inaccurate and biased—a common criticism of AI). The bot’s ability to respond to a regular, run-of-the-mill question about scientific facts or history is not as fascinating as its ability to answer open-ended, even philosophical questions like, what is life. Once registered, the user can ask as many and any kind of questions as they like. 

A recent report suggested that users often get creative with their questions and requests including rewriting the lyrics to the 90’s hit song ‘Baby got Back,’ in the style of the ‘Canterbury Tales,’ or asking for fairy-tale-inspired home décor tips. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, even asked it about the best South Indian dish to exist. But beyond the marvels of it all, it reached a point where a student gave it questions from an AP English exam and it responded—with a five-paragraph essay on Wuthering Heights. It can write your essays, give you opinions and solve your math problems. 

So, while we may be taken by the technological marvel that ChatGPT has to offer (it is quite amazing), we may need to take a step back to reassess the implications it may have on social structures and education systems around the world, who seem to be at the forefront of these raising concerns surrounded this AI bot. Elon Musk even predicts that it would end all forms of homework (Yay or nay?). Using automated systems for writing exam papers and solving questions is cheating—in any and every way that it is looked at. And apart from giving incorrect facts, it brings with it, its own biases in essays and analytical answers. Schools across New York City are now banning the use of all such applications for academic work. In what is a relief to such chaos is that a student of Princeton University has built an app that will help detect work done by ChatGPT, to call out those students who are well… trying to scam the system. 

Criticised for its inaccuracy and errors, a recent blog post by Open AI stated that they were working towards rectifying the inaccuracies and rejecting inappropriate requests. It’s not all bad (though the bad may just outweigh the good). If used constructively and ethically, ChatGPT does provide a glimpse into how large corporates and organisations can capitalise on this technology for more robust and efficient virtual assistance systems and customer care solutions. While some say that it will change the way we use tech, others think that the hype is likely to die down and won’t be as impactful as we deem. All we can do is wait and watch.