San Francisco-based company OpenAI released its latest creation, dubbed ChatGPT, to the public a little over a week ago, and people can barely contain their amazement.
For years we’ve been promised the rise of artificial intelligence will revolutionize everything from our work life to our personal relationships and we’re finally starting to get a real glimpse at what that might look like.
A “mind-blowing” new chatbot technology is taking over the internet with users gushing over its apparent ability to write and respond to anything asked of it.
The software application is designed to mimic human-like conversation based on user prompts while harnessing the depths of online knowledge and unfathomable computing power to perform written tasks.
Within a week of ChatGPT being unveiled, over a million users had tried it, according to the company’s CEO Sam Altman. And the internet is abuzz about it.
What is ChatGPT And How Does It Work?
OpenAI states their ChatGPT model, trained using a machine learning technique called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF), can simulate dialogue, answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests.
Initial development involved human AI trainers providing the model with conversations in which they played both sides the user and an AI assistant.
The version of the bot available for public testing attempts to understand questions posed by users and responds with in-depth answers resembling human-written text in a conversational format.
Or, as Princeton computer science professor Arvind Narayanan put it: “A tool optimised for bulls**tting”.
It’s already been through a bunch of iterations, but it’s still in its early days. The AI chatbot has touted real-world applications include digital marketing, online content creation, answering customer service queries.
Some users have even found it to helpful when writing and debugging code.
Giving ChatGPT A Try
I decided to give the new AI chatbot a try to see what response I’d get. This is the text I gave it, “What do you know of Safaricom?”
Here’s what ChatGPT responded with.
Safaricom is a leading telecommunications company in Kenya. It was founded in 1997 and offers a range of mobile and fixed-line communication services, including voice, data, and financial services. It is the largest mobile network operator in Kenya, with a customer base of over 30 million. In addition to its telecommunications services, Safaricom also has a number of subsidiaries that operate in various sectors, including media, technology, and manufacturing. Some of its most well-known subsidiaries include M-PESA, a mobile money transfer service, and M-KOPA, a provider of solar energy solutions. Overall, Safaricom has played a significant role in the development of Kenya’s telecommunications industry and has helped to improve the lives of many people in the country through its services and products.
ChatGPT
If you’d like to try out ChatGPT, you can do so here.
Any Problems With The AI Chatbot?
ChatGPT, like many AI-driven innovations, is not without flaws.
OpenAI has acknowledged the tool’s tendency to respond with “plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers,” a problem it believes will be difficult to resolve.
AI technology has the potential to perpetuate societal biases such as those based on race, gender, and culture.
Google and Amazon have previously admitted that some of their AI experiments were “ethically dubious” and had limitations.
But despite these reservations, AI research remains appealing. Last year, venture capital investment in AI development and operations companies reached nearly $20 billion.
Does Elon Musk Have Anything To Do With ChatGPT?
Silicon Valley investor Sam Altman and billionaire Elon Musk founded OpenAI as a nonprofit back in 2015.
OpenAI has since received funding from a number of other investors, including venture capitalist Peter Thiel. In 2019, the group established a for-profit subsidiary to attract outside investment.
Musk, who is still preoccupied with his overhaul of Twitter, left OpenAI’s board in 2018, but chimed in with his thoughts on the viral phenomenon, calling it “scary good.”
