Just how big is this new generative AI? Think internet

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There's this odd feeling that starts at the back of the neck. It feels like the hairs are raising up slightly.

The first time I felt it was in the mid-70s. I was in high school. I was sitting in front of an ASR-33 teletype machine and I hit something, probably the RE-TURN key. That's how it was spelled. The keys were all very small and round, and RE- was on the top and TURN on the bottom of the key. I hit the key, and it said "READY."

Another example is the CNC. This is a device that cuts and carves wood based on digital plans. I am very, very good at making digital designs. I am very, very bad at cutting wood in a straight line. Recently, I wanted to make a cabinet to store materials. It needed 25 shelves, each an inch and a half from the next. That, in turn, required me to cut 50 exactly matching slots in two slabs of wood.

To say that was beyond my woodworking skill set is an understatement. But with the help of the CNC, I designed the slots. The CNC cut them perfectly.

Tools like Adobe Express and the CNC do enable experienced users to do more, more quickly. But they also open the doors to people who otherwise couldn't produce "good enough" results.

Review: 3018 Pro CNC: This tiny, under-$150 CNC is surprisingly fun and useful

ChatGPT is going to do the same thing. Perhaps it will help a mechanic who isn't particularly good at writing, but who needs some ad copy for their shop. Perhaps it can aid someone for whom English is a second language in generating a blog post or article. Maybe the AI can assist someone with a disability produce an otherwise unobtainable work product.

An AI like ChatGPT could be transformative to a lot of people's work output, the way the CNC was to my ability to create shelf slots that actually worked.

And yet, I worry

Disruption is not gentle. As much as the internet opened doors to new industries, it killed (or at least severely diminished) others. Power and money became more concentrated. While resources and information availability increased by an unprecedented degree, so too did misinformation, scams, and criminal activity.

One of the biggest problems with ChatGPT is that it presents completely wrong information as eloquently and confidently as it presents accurate information. Unless requested, it doesn't provide sources or cite where that information came from. Because it aggregates a tremendous amount of free-form information, it's often impossible to trace how it comes by its knowledge and assertions.

Artificial Intelligence

• AI in 2023: A year of breakthroughs that left no human thing unchanged
• These are the jobs most likely to be taken over by AI
• AI at the edge: 5G and the Internet of Things see fast times ahead
• Almost half of tech executives say their organizations aren't ready for AI or other advanced initiatives

This makes it ripe for corruption and gaming. At some point, AI designers will need to open their systems to the broader internet. When they do, oh boy, it's going to be rough.

Today, there are entire industries dedicated to manipulating Google search results. I'm often required by clients to put my articles through software applications that weigh each word and phrase against how much Google oomph it produces, and then I'm asked to change what I write to appeal more to the Google algorithms.

Can you imagine what will happen when SEO geniuses, political operatives, and criminals start feeding information into the internet-as-corpus to manipulate what generative AI produces?

Remember, most readers do not discern or qualify the information they consume. They merely compare it to their own closely-held beliefs and worldview, and wolf down that confirmation bias like it was a plate of homemade cookies.

My concern is that generative AI can feed, nurture, and amplify two worrisome aspects of human nature: the desire for confirmation bias and social "truth," and the lazy willingness to accept "good enough" as good enough.

Mediocre quality, mixed with fake facts, and presented authoritatively and confidently has already produced chilling results on the world stage. It worries me that, with the power and convenience of generative AI, that level of corrupted and warped discourse will be amplified beyond all reason.

But hey, it's worth it. After all, I did manage to get ChatGPT to talk like a pirate and rewrite the preamble to the US Constitution. So, there's that.

Are you worried about generative AI? Have you tried it? Do you see chilling potential or empowering benefits? Let us know in the comments below.

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See also

How to use ChatGPT to write Excel formulas How to use ChatGPT to write code ChatGPT vs. Bing Chat: Which AI chatbot should you use? How to use ChatGPT to build your resume How does ChatGPT work? How to get started using ChatGPT How to use ChatGPT to write Excel formulas

How to use ChatGPT to write code

ChatGPT vs. Bing Chat: Which AI chatbot should you use?

How to use ChatGPT to build your resume

How does ChatGPT work?

How to get started using ChatGPT

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