How artificial intelligence is influencing the world
“The creation of artificial intelligence would be the greatest event in human history. But it could also be the ultimate.” – Stephen Hawking.
The impact of artificial intelligence on society is widely debated. Many concede that AI makes the quality of daily life better, this is confirmed by the different tasks it is able to do, from the execution of routine tasks to the most complicated, AI is able to do better even than humans. The latter offers us a gain in simplicity, safety and efficiency in everyday life. Others claim that it poses dangerous risks to privacy but it can also be a threat to the social development of humans. So what are the advantages of AI? And what are its limits? Will we become dependent on it?
For much of the last decade, conversational AI robots have not lived up to expectations. They were only impressive if the robot’s best answers were selected and the rest was ignored. However, new AI tools have emerged that have become interesting in terms of well-defined tasks and accuracy. For example, the writing of marketing texts, but also in the field of health care. Indeed, in the medical field, we find much more accessible and affordable care, such as the Babylon Heath application that plays the role of a doctor, checks our symptoms and contacts a real doctor if needed.
The latter administers advice to more than a million inhabitants of central London thanks to a chatbot powered by AI. Indeed, an accurate, safe and practical answer is obtained in a short time.
With the launch of the Midjourney, DALL-E2 and stable diffusion tools, AI is also touching the field of art and is able to invent works of art from a simple textual request. Able even to radically change the nature of art, this software is considered a creative collaborator, which makes the association of the computer scientist to the artist. Thanks to this tool, the exhibition space is rendered as a laboratory, art as an expression of science and the artist as a researcher.
ChatGPT: OpenAI’s artificial intelligence text generator
In the age of artificial intelligence, ChatGPT is the latest prototype of conversational agent that has appeared, developed by OpenAI, by the AI company from San Francisco, the technology that powers ChatGTP is not considered new. Indeed, it is an improved version of GPT-3, a text generator powered by AI and this tool is not comparable to any of its colleagues, weirder, more flexible, smarter but above all funnier, the latter is even able to write jokes, some of which are really hilarious… From creating Harry Potter games in text to explaining scientific concepts, ChatGPT has managed to fascinate us with its authenticity and multidisciplinarity. ChatGPT specializes in dialogue, offers a natural way of interaction, is extremely efficient at solving problems where a thousand correct answers are offered, whether for creative uses, research, rephrasing or coding, and is even capable of mimicking human conversations.
Although it is efficient in terms of fast data generation, ChatGPT has its limitations. Indeed, the robot exploits a knowledge base that has not been updated since 2021, so the results may be biased if the data has changed. The origin of the information used is collected from the internet such as articles, public conversations and websites… In order for ChatGPT to respond to a maximum of user requests, the data incorporated by ChatGPT covers several topics. However, its knowledge of each subject is limited, which is why it is unable to answer detailed questions on any subject, even for simple mathematical problems. Another limitation of this application is that ChatGPT creates content based on existing content, so the results are usually not authentic. ChatGPT can sometimes give answers that are grammatically correct but do not make sense. These require some adjustment by a human being.
Google Bard, the new competitor of ChatGPT
Fearsome competitor of ChatGPT, we find at the top of the list the software Bard. Indeed, the Mountain View company announced on Monday, February 6th, the launch of the famous Open AI software, called “Bard”, which is able to answer questions while simulating human syntax. Nevertheless, it will be freely available only in a few weeks. The incorporation of Bard in google will therefore allow to give answers like “What are the discoveries of the James Webb telescope that I can tell my 9 year old son?” Explained Google, classic links to web pages will appear below the text of answers produced by the robot.
Bard is certainly not the first software designed in terms of artificial intelligence, but it has impressed by the quality of its answers. Whether it is writing a text on a chosen theme, clarifying a complex subject or creating a poem and song lyrics, Bard can do it all!
Being a partner of Open AI, the founder of ChaTGPT, communicated that at the end of January “several billions of dollars” will be invested in order to expand their collaboration and this after the realization of two investments in 2019 and 2021, knowing that Microsoft, Google, Meta and Amazon represent the most important actors of artificial intelligence, or colossal investments are devoted to it.
Despite the shortcomings of these latest inventions, I dare to say that ChatGPT – the tool compared to the IPhone in terms of potential impact on society – is still not considered the best model of Open AI. But let’s wait for the next incarnation of the new linguistic model of the company which will be released next year. Let’s fasten our seatbelts because we are not ready for what’s ahead!
By: May Abid, March 2nd 2023.
