A chatbot called ChatGPT has been causing a sensation on the internet for days. Open AI, a company once founded by Elon Musk, has now publicly released ChatGPT for testing purposes. Opinions on the World Wide Web range from enthusiasm to dismay at the chatbot’s capabilities.
Work on ChatGPT started in 2018. Open AI uses the public test phase to get feedback from users. The feedback is then used to further refine the chatbot. ChatGPT relies on artificial intelligence (AI) and is already delivering amazingly complex and differentiated results. The AI chatbot is said to be able to answer exam questions in such a way as to get full marks from university professors. In the end, can AI-supported chatbots even replace journalists?
ChatGPT Tried: How Good Is It Really?
Let’s just ask ChatGPT itself. This dialog came out of it:
Question: “Can AI replace journalists? What is your opinion on this subject?”
ChatGPT Response: “It is difficult to assess the ability of AI to replace journalists, as it depends on how well developed the AI is and how good it is at performing journalistic tasks. In general, however, AI can help support journalistic tasks by being able to quickly sift through and analyze large amounts of data to identify patterns and connections. She can also help author articles, drawing on previous articles and dates and stitching them together to create new stories.
However, it is important to note that AI is not capable of replacing the creative and intuitive skills of journalists required to research, write and publish a story. Nor can AI bring the human perspective and empathy that is so important to journalism. For these reasons, I think that AI cannot completely replace journalists, but rather serve as a tool to support them in their work.”
The answer is surprisingly reflected. The AI chatbot certainly recognizes the risks that arise when texts are created based on AI.
Open AI has obviously fed its chatbot with the right information. The company, which specializes in researching AI, uses the GPT-3 language model, which it developed in-house. ChatGPT receives tons of texts and information about it. The AI chatbot processes these using deep learning technology. From this, the system develops its answers.
However, ChatGPT’s “knowledge” ends in 2021 because no more information was imported after that. The chatbot cannot answer what happened in 2022.
What does ChatGPT help with?
As the chatbot has already answered itself, it may serve as a helpful tool when writing texts in the future. ChatGPT can also write poetry, for example.
Even more interesting: In the future, the AI chatbot may help to create complex program codes. Programmers are already reporting that they faced ChatGPT with coding tasks in different programming languages. The chatbot delivered acceptable solutions in a matter of seconds.
The question of all questions is: Is ChatGPT smarter than Google in the end? Expert opinions differ widely on this. In some areas, the AI chatbot is already working better. However, Google has repeatedly adapted to competitors in the past.
When ChatGPT grows out of the prototype phase one day, Google will probably adjust its services accordingly. Google search may also increasingly rely on AI in the future.
Why should ChatGPT be viewed critically?
The AI chatbot currently lacks all the skills that distinguish humans:
- Empathy,
- critical thinking,
- ethical principles.
ChatGPT can only create knowledge-based texts. The AI system behind it knows no right or wrong, nor does it care about moral issues. The chatbot only spits out the content that has been fed to it. The AI doesn’t question anything.
This is precisely the greatest danger of AI-supported chatbots like ChatGPT. In reality, when humans accept the responses of an AI chatbot without thinking about it, the line between truth and complete nonsense eventually blurs.
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Test the chatbot yourself
If you feel like trying out ChatGPT’s capabilities yourself. Since this is a prototype in a test phase, it is free to use. Registration via the official website only requires a few details.
Test it yourself and form your own opinion of what ChatGPT is capable of and what it isn’t yet. Of course, the AI chatbot is a language talent, understands inquiries in German and also answers in German.