ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer), which debuted in late November 2022, has been hailed as the best artificial intelligence (AI) system of its kind, particularly due to its ability to answer all questions posed to it, giving the impression of conversing with a highly intelligent human. In this sense, ChatGPT is referred to as a text-based conversational AI model or a language prediction model that uses algorithms to analyze vast quantities of texts pulled from the Internet and then transforms them into the format desired by the user. The proliferation of ChatGPT definitions begs even more questions about the technology itself, its applications, its primary benefits, and the potential drawbacks it may face.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, a leading AI company in the United States with a $1 billion budget, headquartered in San Francisco and headed by Sam Aultman. OpenAI’s most prominent backers are Microsoft and Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Twitter who is also a global entrepreneur, even though Musk abandoned the company in 2018.
AI was used in the development of ChatGPT to enable it to interact with users, respond to their questions in-depth, and keep track of all their inquiries. Users can correct ChatGPT’s mistakes, allowing it to be developed in a way that is similar to human speech, capitalizing on the vast amounts of information available on the Internet and other public sources in order to produce texts that are as similar to human texts as possible while following the rules of writing by relying on big data analysis algorithms. Basically, ChatGPT is intended to engage in conversation with users, thoroughly respond to their inquiries, superbly clarify complex ideas in straightforward language, and provide linguistic production without citing other sources and without accessing the Internet.
ChatGPT is therefore regarded as one of the most effective language processing models ever. It can process language and respond to user inquiries in a variety of ways and languages, as well as provide an integrated system for dialogue and communication that is more efficient than other programs and applications of a similar nature. It can create encrypted software, contribute to the promotion of innovation in the field of information technology, and recycles content in such a way that the user believes it has absolute knowledge despite its inability to comprehend some of the subjects brought up, let alone its failure to address the various patterns of digital games, its lack of referencing its data sources, and its limited knowledge of topics beyond 2021 due to being fed with data only up to that year.
After only 5 days of operation, ChatGPT had amassed 1 million users. Netflix and Facebook, on the other hand, took 10 months and 3 years, respectively, to reach the same user base. Just two months after its debut, in January 2023, ChatGPT had 100 million active users, making it the consumer application with the fastest growth rate in history. According to SimilarWeb, ChatGPT users in January 2023 reached about 13 million visitors per day, whereas TikTok took about 9 months after its global launch to reach 100 million users, and Instagram took between one and two years. These comparisons may help to partially explain Musk’s tweet in which he referred to the ChatGPT app as “scary good” and listed the numerous dangers associated with artificial intelligence.
Multiple Uses
Considering all of its applications, ChatGPT is a breakthrough in the chatting industry. It allows users to converse with one another, ask it questions, have discussions with it, or request assistance with tasks like writing code, completing assignments, figuring out math problems, or writing poetry. In general, the following can be listed as uses for the application:
1. Text Creation and Editing: ChatGPT analyzes user-written sentences to identify grammatical and linguistic mistakes. It can differentiate between the past, present, and future and even specify who the sentence is directed at. This makes it more of a tool that ensures a text is error-free and a resource for locating multiple synonyms for a single word, in addition to ensuring the originality and non-plagiarism of a text. Additionally, ChatGPT can offer an infinite supply of images through which creative designs can be made by using a few keywords or written texts. It can also be used to draft formal and casual emails by locating pertinent information, selecting a tone that works for the user’s needs, and including the points he wants to include. This holds true not only for writing and narrating stories on the user’s desired topic, but also for writing the content of advertisements and translating them into other languages, and even for writing a resume after the user has provided the application with their name, address, phone number, email address, education level, and other relevant information.
2- Advertising and Marketing: ChatGPT offers advertising campaigns and a variety of inventive ways for users to advertise their social media accounts, assisting content producers by generating new ways to market their creations. It is also possible through the application to assist users in selecting a suitable name for their brand by offering a list of suggested names after entering information about their industry and desired name length. By crafting inspirational speeches, gathering encouraging quotes, and helping users focus their interests while offering daily life advice, the application can also indirectly assist users in marketing themselves. It likewise instructs its users in the art of decision-making in order to realize their ambitions. In order to prepare users to conduct real interviews, it might also act as an interlocutor in a conversation.
3- Looking for New Information and Developments: Through ChatGPT, one can learn about the most recent advances in artificial intelligence in terms of methods for identifying and treating disease symptoms, as well as various and urgent global news. Additionally, it offers users psychological consultations after they share their psychological state, their feelings, and what they think, along with academic and non-academic articles in all fields. ChatGPT can also show all of the results from the various points of view and opinions that are in opposition to them, the arguments that were raised in relation to the subject, and it can give users conclusions based on facts and logical arguments.
4- Design and Programming: ChatGPT stands out for its proficiency with programming languages, website development tools, and UX and UI design principles. It can offer advice on developing and designing websites as well as test the efficacy of written software by pointing out flaws and giving instructions on how to fix them, due to its ability to write complete functions, explain every piece of code, and resolve programming issues. In connection with that, ChatGPT can be used to create secure passwords by simply specifying the length of the password you want to use and whether or not it should contain special characters or numbers.
In view of this, it can be said that ChatGPT’s applications include linguistic analysis of electronic texts, technical support by responding to complex questions and giving instructions that help solve problems, and content creation given its versatility in dealing with a wide range of topics and writing styles, including emails, stories, poems, scribbles, and other types of writing. By offering innovative methods for handling expenses, creating budgets, creating investment strategies, and managing financial risks, the application may also assume the role of an accountant or manager of financial affairs.
Potential Challenges and Impacts
Despite ChatGPT’s many advantages, such as its capacity for self-learning, ability to adapt to the diversity of its information sources, model of intelligent neural network that can be trained, inventiveness in producing accurate text responses, natural speaking that resembles human speech, ability to deal with multiple languages, and high speed, which is crucial for the service purposes of bioelectronic texts, it still faces a number of difficulties common to all intelligent neural networks, such as programming errors that could lead to incorrect answers being given, inappropriate comments on the questions posed, inaccurate or non-conforming answers, and linguistic analysis errors. Aware of such mistakes, the developing company, OpenAI, has issued a warning about these mistakes, stating that it may provide incorrect answers, harmful instructions, biased content, as well as answers that appear reasonable but are actually incorrect.
When considering the potential outcomes and issues associated with ChatGPT, the following stand out as the most significant:
1- Tech Company Competition: Technology giants like Google and Meta have invested heavily in research and development of language model tools that employ programs to generate complex responses, but OpenAI has made revolutionary strides in this area by developing a UI that allows the audience to experience it directly. As a result, ChatGPT is a game-changer for generative search engines because it blurs the line between human-created and machine-generated material. Because ChatGPT gives users the impression that they are speaking to a specialist or expert, something that the search engine does not, saves users from having to browse dozens of pages and websites in order to find the information they need, and gives users answers without necessarily requiring a connection to the Internet, many have speculated that it spells doom for Google. On the other hand, there are those who persistently advocate for Google to take the lead because it provides users with a list of websites that may be helpful to them in their search so they can determine for themselves what result they reached, verify its validity, and, as a result, avoid information that is misleading. However, Google perceives a threat, as expressed by one of its executives to The Times, who stated that ChatGPT may jeopardize Google’s search engine profit, which is heavily reliant on advertising and e-commerce revenues.
2- Changing Job Structure: ChatGPT, like other forms of AI, will likely have future repercussions for a wide range of industries and occupations. This will be especially true for those working in information, customer service, programming, copywriting, and secretarial roles. Over the next ten years, AI is predicted to have an impact on one billion people’s jobs worldwide. Lack of transformational training will make it more difficult to find employment, especially given the acceleration of global digital transformation initiatives on the one hand and the replacement of manual labor with automation and machines on the other. The transition from the machine society to the information society has accelerated over the past few decades as a result of the rapid technological advancements led by AI, which have increased fears for the future of humanity.
3- Lack of Originality and Ethical Constraints: In her article titled “ChatGPT: The Dilemma of Artificial Intelligence and a Challenge for Justice,” Linda Price argues that “ChatGPT has no conscience or intention and is merely a mathematical model based on linguistic patterns, so the responses generated are not original in the human sense of the word, but are combinations of phrases and words already seen in the text from which you were trained.
Moreover, it lacks the ability to apply ethical or moral criteria in its answers, since it has no canons that allow it to distinguish between good and evil. The systematized and unlimited access to all kinds of information generates controversies in different fields of study […] which poses a threat to human capability to interact slowly, thoughtfully and thoroughly, in a way of intellectual honesty, with a book or with any type of complex argument put in writing. Therefore, instead of spending long hours reading a book, ChatGPT can provide a brief summary explaining what the book is, and instead of wasting time writing a specific text or conducting research, it can provide the required information but without verifying its sources, which is a violation of intellectual property rights.
4- Supporting Contradictory Options: In an extensive study, academics from a European university inquired about ChatGPT’s stance on the Trolley Problem (in which a runaway tram or trolley is en route to collide with and kill a number of people (traditionally five) down the track, but a driver or bystander can intervene and divert the vehicle to kill just one person on a different track). Both options have been supported by ChatGPT in a way that confirms the extent of its randomness, which its users are unaware of, and that highlights the risk of using ChatGPT for advice, particularly from children and young people, especially in situations where there are moral and value judgments involved.
5- Impact on the Educational Process: ChatGPT’s capacity to generate high-quality content and support the innovation system is indicative of its potential impact on the education industry. Students may use ChatGPT to write research papers and complete assignments; consequently, it is becoming increasingly important to distinguish between a text written by the student and one that was generated by ChatGPT. If ChatGPT becomes widely adopted, this is anticipated to be accompanied by several shifts in teaching methodology, with a focus on machine learning and how to use technological techniques to analyze data and make decisions. Alternatively, students may learn how to critically examine and question the assumptions that go into AI decisions.
6- Increased Probabilities of Randomness and Error: AI is capable of processing vast amounts of data and documents quickly and accurately while spotting relationships and patterns that may be hard for humans to notice. However, information is not devoid of latent biases and is laden with the attitudes of its owners and artificial intelligence may perpetuate these biases and amplify inequalities, resulting in incorrect decisions. This is becoming increasingly perilous due to the difficulty of comprehending how AI arrives at its decisions, which undermines the possibility of reviewing and evaluating them on the one hand and warns of potential errors and inaccurate information on the other, thereby emphasizing the importance of evaluating the information provided by humans.
In short, with substantial investments in the field of chatbots based on AI technologies, ChatGPT is expected to compete with some of the leading technology companies and take over some human jobs and businesses. Although ChatGPT was approved by the company that created it, given its current state of development, it may be too soon to trust its originality, wisdom, and capabilities, but it unquestionably reveals potential features for the future of the content industry, authorship, and creative writing.
