In the pre-dawn days of this year, OpenAI introduced ChatGPT. At first many probably thought of this as a fun parlor-like game sentence generator holding the same constructive value as the magic eight ball. ChatGPT was entertaining and it can answer questions like who has the most Olympic gold medals in a way that makes the traditional search engines look plain and simple. If the only challenge here was how we search the web, then we would be missing the point. ChatGPT and all of its generative AI cousins are perhaps the greatest innovation, not only in technology but in other areas with far-reaching implications across society.
The Not So Good
It is natural to be skeptical of new things and we have a long history of seeing the negatives in new technology. From the 1930s fear of radio disrupting “normal conversations with your neighbors”, the fear of blinding effects when sitting too close to the tube TVs, to brain-radiating cell phones, we have not suffered from shunning new technology. In a similar fashion, when ChatGPT came on the scene the list of the negatives quickly grew (ironically mostly on that new-fangled technology of the 2000s – Facebook). It includes things such as:
- Misinformation!
- Disinformation, Propaganda, and Political Disruption
- Cyber Security Threats
- Academic Plagiarism and Cheating
- Workplace Disruption and Lost Jobs
- Ethics / Bias concerns and lagging regulation
- Potential Social and Economic Shifts
The negatives and fear of the unknown are the types of things that might keep us up at night. And while many of these concerns are valid, such as the proliferation of misinformation that can overwhelm true sources of information, there are also some exciting positive aspects of AI.
The Good! (maybe)
Over the past few decades, the cost of computing power has been rapidly declining. In a not-so-distant past people without access to expensive computing were at a disadvantage in many ways. However, costs have lowered and access to ‘open’ technologies has shifted access from the privileged to everyone who has a smartphone in their pocket. The power of AI is following this same path and will enable many people in profound ways. Let’s look at the positives:
- Automation and efficiency of daily tasks
- Innovation across multiple industries from manufacturing to health care
- Health care access through chatbots when appropriate, efficiently through providers when needed, and with customized individual treatment plans
- Unbounded creativity tools such as DALL-E, and Midjourney where words create art.
Improved education possibilities with AI-enhanced experiences such as the Khan Academy’s Khanmingo.
In many ways, this past year has been the “Year of AI”. The innovations of large language models (LLMs) and early entrants like ChatGPT have already had a profound impact. We have seen the beginning of the “Race for AI” with billions of dollars already invested by Microsoft, Google, and others. Google, widely believed to be the immovable dominant search provider, felt glimmers of AI’s threat. They have quickly responded and we are already seeing how generative AI is changing how we interact with web searches and in a way that forever changes how we interact with computers.
Computers driven by AI have begun to weave their way into our everyday lives and I expect we will experience more of this in the next year. Beyond smart sentence completion, we will see more AI-created content, which may contribute to misinformation and be a negative to society. On the positive side, when you next visit your doctor, she may be “consulted” by AI and the latest medical research providing a very individualized recommendation for your care.
In a larger view, the entire world will change as a result of AI, very much like the steam engine launched the Industrial Revolution. There are still many unknowns. For example, will inequality in the world be further defined by who has access to these new AI innovations, or will this new generation of AI reduce inequality? AI has taken the stage this year and while we may feel uncomfortable at times with change, I am looking forward optimistically to its possibilities.
Data Duped 