by MINNEAPOLIS – Whether you are aware of it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) has increased drastically in popularity over the past few years. It is used by automated cars, navigational maps, robotics, and ChatGPT – an AI technology that allows you to ask almost anything you want in return for information.
ChatGPT works as a knowledge base that becomes smarter the more questions it is asked by its users. Created by OpenAI, this technology has become almost a household name across the U.S.
According to the New York Times, the third version of ChatGPT had more than 30 million users two months after its release in November of 2022. And since then it brings in roughly five million visits a day. So why has this technology become so popular?
“I know it is really useful to be like, ‘Hey, generate an outline based on this topic,’” said University of Minnesota student Hunter Stull. “And I guess it can spit out that and you can kind of fill in the blanks.”
Aside from giving you essay ideas, ChatGPT can also generate code, write application softwares and pass the bar exam. But it has gotten even smarter.
Earlier this month, OpenAI released its fourth version of ChatGPT. It can now generate responses almost nine times greater than its previous model, analyze images and ace the bar exam.
But as ChatGPT continues to grow its knowledge base, some people are becoming concerned with it. The AI creates opportunities to plagiarize in school, and some are worried about it becoming too smart.
“I guess ChatGPT is really good at generating code,” Stull said. “I mean that’s really scary.”
However, David Nguyen, the Edson W. Spencer Chair for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the U of M says there are limits to ChatGPT’s ability.
“We know for certain that it’s not designed for things like driving cars,” Nguyen explained. “So this whole Terminator thing, ChatGPT is not going to be able to wield guns, because that’s a different system. Something might do that, but ChatGPT is not the thing that is going to do that.”
But OpenAI and other AI companies continue to evolve their technologies.
“What is interesting is that it’s going to get better,” Nguyen said. “We don’t know which aspect of it is going to get better.”
ChatGPT may get smarter, but we know one thing is for certain – this AI won’t take over the world – because after all it’s just a language model.
“Unless you teach the robots to wield weapons and crush skulls, they won’t know how to do it,” Nguyen said.
