Having
passed the US medical licensing exam and the bar exam, and getting a B grade in
a working MBA paper, Chat GPT, now a 20-billion-dollar company, took only five
days in introducing it to the world what Facebook had taken five years in reaching such a level of popularity.
Chat
GPT is so world-shattering and ahead of its time that one former professor of
evolutionary biology, Bret Samuel Weinstein, raised the alarm: “I don’t think
we are remotely ready for what’s coming [about Chat GPT].” Most savants have
figured out that Chat GPT’s emergence is a cut above the rest: the invention of
the internet, the light bulb, and the telephone.
A THREAT?
Chat GPT appears to be a threat in the opinion of Jordan
Peterson, the Canadian clinical psychologist, and author of the book, 12
Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.
“Things
are coming down the pipeline on the artificial intelligence front that is just
going to make your hair stand on end within the next year because there is so
much transformation going on in that domain. That’s been the case for the last
six months, and it’s almost unimaginable. I figure a third of the universities
will go broke in the next five years…
“[Chat
GPT] is smarter than you. This is a big deal…
“This
is what I asked it to do. I said write me an essay, that’s a 13th
rule for beyond order, written in a style that combines the King James Bible
with the Tao Tai Ching. That’s pretty difficult to pull off… [Chat GPT] wrote
it in about 3 seconds, four pages long… grammatically perfect, and quite
impressive philosophically.
“I
also had it write an essay on the intersection between the Taoist version of
ethical morality and the ethics that are outlined in the Sermon on the Mount,
which [Chat GPT] nailed. Got that dead right. Brilliant.
“So,
hang on to your hats, ladies, and gentlemen. What did my friend Jonathan Pajo
say? Giants are going to walk the earth once more, and we’re going to live
through that.”
AN OPPORTUNITY?
By
contrast, Sinan Aral, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor,
Director of MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and author of the book The
Hype Machine sees a refreshing handwriting on the wall.
“I
think [Chat GPT] is extremely disruptive, but potentially in a good way. We
have to learn to teach differently, we have to learn to race with machines
instead of against them to use the words of Andrew McAfee, MIT Principal Research
Scientist.
“The
New York City Public Schools were trying to ban the use of [Chat GPT]. I don’t
think that’s the right approach. I think what we have to do is we have to
change the way we educate. We have to reskill. And based on our education,
focus on things that complement Artificial Intelligence rather than try to
compete with it or ban it or slow it down. It’s a way to enhance and augment
and scale creativity. But it has to be used in a way that’s complementary to
human skills and that’s going to be the next challenge for labor as well."
Amid
this revolutionary technology development that seems to be changing the face of
everything that we’re doing on this planet, what should we do as average Joes,
laypersons of the huddled masses on the street?
Sinan
has a constructive and promising piece of advice.
“As a father of a nine-year-old, I do not want to scare him away from this type of technology… I want him to play with it. I want him to experiment with it. I want him to understand how to use it. I want him to think about how he might work with it.”
Well,
I have a soft spot for Chat GPT and Sinan Aral’s upbeat overtures have all the
hallmarks of my sentiments on this matter. Case in point: my daughter Dionne
celebrated her birthday last week. And talking of hallmarks and birthdays, my
go-to source of cool ideas on birthday cards, more often than not, perhaps like
everyone else – the Hallmark cards. But that was then.
SHAKESPEARE
As
Sinan tipped off: play and experiment with Chat GPT. So, I played and experimented
with it last week. I asked it to write a poem for my daughter Dionne whose
marked traits I typed in with my instruction. Likewise, I experimented by
asking it to write in the style of William Shakespeare. And tadah… here’s the
poem made in seconds:
Upon
the morn of twenty-third year,
Dionne,
born in Dragon’s cheer,
Hath
come to age in grace and might,
With
talents bright and passions right.
In art
of digital, she doth excel,
Volleyball,
her body doth compel,
Cats,
plants, and food, her heart doth please,
A well-rounded
soul, with nary a tease.
A
student of accountancy, her mind is sharp,
But
her heart is pure, a comforting harp,
A
listener kind, a counselor true,
For her friends in need, she will see them
through.
Though
passionate, she doth strive,
To
balance her passion and stay alive,
With
love and light, she doth shine,
A true
gem in the sands of time.
Happy Birthday,
Dionne, on this thy day
May
all thy dreams and wishes sway,
May
fortune smile and love abide,
In all
the paths on which thou glide.
RAP
Hmm.
Let me think about that for a bit. Dionne is a member of Generation Z. I had
doubts then about her getting a thrill out of Shakespeare. So, I asked Chat GPT to write the poem instead in the style
of today’s rap, and in seconds carved out this jaw-dropping poem.
Listen
up, it’s Dionne’s birthday
Born in
the year of the Dragon, she’s flyin’ high, no delay
Digital
art, her canvas, she paints with skill
Volleyball,
she plays, never standing still
Cats,
plants, and food, her heart’s desire
A management
student, her future’s on fire
Passionate,
driven, and always true
A
listening ear and a helping hand, for her friends, she’ll come through
Struggles,
she may have, but she never backs down
With
her heart of gold, she wears her crown
Happy
Birthday, Dionne, it’s your day
Live
it up, make it count, in every single way
So,
let’s raise a glass, and make some noise
For
Dionne, the birthday girl, let’s give her some joys
Keep
shining, keep climbing, never stop
Cause
you’re the real deal, the top of the crop.
Putting
to good use Adobe Photoshop for its image editing, graphic design and digital
art, and putting it together with Chat GPT’s poem, I came up with a self-made birthday
card for Dionne and posted it on FB on her birthday. Not bad at all.
THE ANSWER
Let me
conclude this article with a story I dredged up from my memory which I’m
sure has been passed over the years in many variations. A smart kid decided in
taking on the wise old man in the village with a question he’s cocksure the old
man would be unable to answer correctly. Holding a little bird cupped in his
hands behind his back, he asked the old man, ”Is the bird in my hands, alive or
dead?” If the old man said the bird was alive, the boy would crush the bird
with his hands. If the old man said it was dead, the boy would open his hands
and let the bird fly.
The wise old man said, “The answer is in your hands.”
Is Chat GPT, a threat or an opportunity? The answer is in our hands.
Head still collage photos courtesy of pixabaydotcom, pexeldotcom, & freepikdotcom
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