ChatGPT is an AI chatbot that uses natural language processing to create humanlike conversational dialogue. The language model can respond to questions and compose various written content, including articles, social media posts, essays, code and emails.
ChatGPT is a form of generative AI – a tool that lets users enter prompts or requests to receive humanlike images, text or videos that are created by AI.
ChatGPT is similar to the automated chat services found on customer service websites, as people can ask it questions or request clarification to ChatGPT’s replies. You can test it out here, as Expressiveinfo has incorporated ChatGPT into its news website.
The GPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer,” which refers to how ChatGPT processes requests and formulates responses.
ChatGPT is trained with reinforcement learning through human feedback and reward models that rank the best responses. This feedback helps augment ChatGPT with machine learning to improve future responses.
Who created ChatGPT?
OpenAI – an AI research company – created and launched ChatGPT in November 2022. It was founded by a group of entrepreneurs and researchers including Elon Musk and Sam Altman in 2015. OpenAI is backed by several investors, with Microsoft being the most notable. OpenAI also created Dall-E, an AI text-to-art generator.
How does ChatGPT work?
ChatGPT works through its Generative Pre-trained Transformer, which uses specialized algorithms to find patterns within data sequences. It uses the GPT-3 language model, a neural network machine learning model and the third generation of Generative Pre-trained Transformer. The transformer pulls from a significant amount of data to formulate a response.
ChatGPT uses deep learning – a subset of machine learning – to produce humanlike text through transformer neural networks. The transformer predicts text, including the next word, sentence or paragraph, based on its training data’s typical sequence.
Training begins with generic data, then moves to more tailored data for a specific task. ChatGPT was trained with online text to learn the human language, and then it used transcripts to learn the basics of conversations.
Human trainers provide conversations and rank the responses. These reward models help determine the best answers. To keep training the chatbot, users can upvote or downvote its response by clicking on “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” icons beside the answer. Users can also provide additional written feedback to improve and fine-tune future dialogue.
How are people using ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is versatile and can be used for more than human conversations. People have used ChatGPT to do the following:
Code computer programs.
Compose music.
Draft emails.
Summarize articles, podcasts or presentations.
Script social media posts.
Create a title for an article.
Solve math problems.
Discover keywords for search engine optimization.
Create articles, blog posts and quizzes for websites.
Reword existing content for a different medium, such as a presentation transcript for a blog post.
Formulate product descriptions.
Play games.
Assist with job searches, including writing resumes and cover letters.
Ask trivia questions.
Describe complex topics more simply.
Unlike other chatbots, ChatGPT can remember various questions to continue the conversation in a more fluid manner.
What are the limitations of ChatGPT? How accurate is it?
Some limitations of ChatGPT include the following:
It does not fully understand the complexity of human language. ChatGPT is trained to generate words based on input. Because of this, responses may seem shallow and lack true insight.
Lack of knowledge for data and events after 2021. The training data ends with 2021 content. ChatGPT can provide incorrect information based on the data from which it pulls. If ChatGPT does not fully understand the query, it may also provide an inaccurate response. It is still being trained, so feedback is recommended when an answer is incorrect.
Responses can sound like a machine and unnatural. Since ChatGPT predicts the next word, it may overuse words such as the or and. Because of this, people still need to review and edit content to make it flow more naturally, like human writing.
It summarizes but does not cite sources. ChatGPT does not provide analysis or insight into any data or statistics. ChatGPT may provide several statistics but no real commentary on what these statistics mean or how they relate to the topic.
It cannot understand sarcasm and irony. ChatGPT is based on a data set of text.
It may focus on the wrong part of a question and not be able to shift. For example, if you ask ChatGPT, “Does a horse make a good pet based on its size?” and then ask it, “What about a cat?” ChatGPT may focus solely on the size of the animal versus giving information about having the animal as a pet. ChatGPT is not divergent and cannot shift its answer to cover multiple questions in a single response.
What are the ethical concerns associated with ChatGPT?
While ChatGPT may be helpful for some tasks, there are some ethical concerns that depend on how it is used, including bias, lack of privacy and security, and cheating in education and work.
Plagiarism and deceitful use
ChatGPT may be used unethically in ways such as cheating, impersonation or spreading misinformation due to its humanlike capabilities. Several educators brought up concerns about students using ChatGPT to cheat, plagiarize and write papers. CNET made the news when it used ChatGPT to create articles that were filled with several errors.
To help prevent cheating and plagiarizing, OpenAI has an AI text classifier to distinguish between human and AI text. There are additional online tools, such as Copyleaks or Writing.com, to classify how likely text was written by a person versus AI-generated. OpenAI plans to add a watermark to longer text pieces to identify AI-generated content.
Because ChatGPT can write code, it also presents a problem for cybersecurity. Threat actors can use the bot to help create malware. An update addressed creating malware by stopping the request, but threat actors may find ways around OpenAI’s safety protocol.
ChatGPT can also impersonate a person by training to copy someone’s writing and language style. The chatbot can then impersonate a trusted person to collect sensitive information or spread disinformation.
Bias in training data
One of the biggest ethical concerns with ChatGPT is its bias in training data. If the data the model pulls from has any bias, it is reflected in its output. ChatGPT also does not understand language that may be offensive or discriminatory. The data needs to be reviewed to avoid perpetuating bias, but including diverse and representative material can help control bias for accurate results.
Replacing jobs and human interaction
As technology advances, ChatGPT may automate certain tasks that are completed by humans, such as data entry and processing, customer service and translation support. People are worried that it could replace their jobs, so it’s important to consider ChatGPT and AI’s effect on workers, using ChatGPT as support for job functions and creating new job opportunities to avoid loss of employment.
For example, lawyers could use ChatGPT to create summaries of case notes and draft contracts or agreements. And copywriters could use ChatGPT for article outlines and headline ideas.
Privacy issues
ChatGPT uses text based on input, so it could potentially reveal sensitive information. The model’s output can also track and profile individuals by collecting information from a prompt and associating this information with the user’s phone number and email. The information is then stored indefinitely.
Is ChatGPT free?
ChatGPT is available for free through OpenAI’s website. Users need to register for a free OpenAI account. There is also an option to upgrade to ChatGPT Plus for unlimited access, faster responses and no blackout windows. ChatGPT Plus also gives priority access to new features for a subscription rate of $20 per month.
Without the subscription, there are limitations. The most notable limitation of the free version is access to ChatGPT when the program is at capacity. The “Plus” membership gives unlimited access to avoid capacity blackouts.
What are the alternatives to ChatGPT?
Because of ChatGPT’s popularity, it is often unavailable due to capacity issues. Google announced Bard in response to ChatGPT, and Bard will draw information directly from the internet through a Google search to provide the latest information.
Microsoft added ChatGPT functionality to Bing, giving the internet search engine a chat mode for the user. The ChatGPT functionality in Bing isn’t as limited because the training is up to date and doesn’t end with 2021 data and events.
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