ChatGPT is the latest foray into artificial intelligence.

It may not have a name as cool as Alexa, Siri, or Hal, but ChatGPT is the latest and most advanced foray into the technology known as artificial intelligence, or AI. What exactly is ChatGPT, what is it useful for, and why are some people afraid of it?

ChatGPT (chat.openai.com) is a language model developed by OpenAI. It uses deep learning technology to generate human-like text. It can be fine-tuned for specific tasks, such as conversation and language translation, and has been trained on massive internet text datasets. It is considered a state-of-the-art model for natural language processing tasks.

The paragraph above is the response to the ChatGPT query. “Describe chatgpt in 75 words or less.” (After all, the paper is available online, but space is still limited due to its print-centric origins.) This response was generated in seconds.

That answer by itself answers all three of our questions. ChatGPT is a seemingly endless repository of information and answers to just about anything. Ask factual questions and the answers will come. ChatGPT itself is rather modest when it comes to features. “After the 2021 training data deadline, we may not be aware of the most recent events or latest developments.” A reasonable and fair answer.

What’s in your training data? “ChatGPT has been trained on vast internet text datasets that contain a wide range of information such as books, articles, websites and forums. Training data includes a variety of topics such as news, science, history, literature, and more. The model was also trained on a different set of text styles, including formal and informal language, technical writing, and creative writing. The dataset also includes text from various sources such as Wikipedia, Common Crawl, and other sources. The exact details of the dataset are proprietary to OpenAI, but it is known to contain vast amounts of text pulled from the internet to ensure that the model has extensive information and knowledge.”

The response provided above is sufficient to give most pauses. What does it mean? Will jobs be replaced? As of this writing, ChatGPT isn’t very good at programming even the simplest tasks in the simplest language, including scripting, device configuration, and other programming-like endeavors. So most IT staff are safe for now.

Still, it’s easy to see how technology can affect jobs like content creation, translator, or customer service. When asked in different ways what kinds of jobs ChatGPT can replace, ChatGPT consistently replies, “AI isn’t meant to replace jobs, it’s to make jobs easier for real people.” . Of course that’s what you’d expect to say.

Currently, ChatGPT itself is resource limited. “I’m too busy right now. Please try again later,” he responded more than once. This usually occurs during mainland peak hours, from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM Pacific Time. So, if you want to spend some time exploring, the best time to try is usually Hawaii Pauhana time.

---

John Agsalud is an IT professional with over 25 years of information technology experience in Hawaii and around the world. He can be reached at jagsalud@live.com.

---