CSA Online by James Dolan We need to have a chat… Everything you need to know about ChatGPT (but were afraid to ask) So, what exactly is ChatGPT? ChatGPT is the best-known example of a “language processor”– a computer program that simulates human dialogue, from formal writing to conversational speech to a corporate press release to a pasta recipe to rap lyrics to everything in between. ChatGPT isn’t the only program that does this. Since the application’s launch by San Francisco-based OpenAI in November of 2022, other high-tech companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft and others have all launched their own versions. They all share this core ability to simulate human writing. How does it do that? Well, the programming behind these apps is quite complex. But the basic idea is that a gigantic library of text “pre-trains” a computer algorithm to recognize word sequences and language patterns in your questions (called “prompts”) and then offers answers based on word patterns that it already knows. It’s sort of similar to the way in which AutoCorrect on your phone recognizes patterns of misspelled words and then offers alternatives based on a library of correct word patterns that it already knows. Of course, as anyone who’s tried to pass high school English will tell you, writing isn’t easy. Even the most powerful computers find it immensely difficult to define, classify and utilize grammar and syntax rules in a way that seems natural to human readers. That’s why ChatGPT went through an extensive testing period in which its output was filtered, refined and re-refined by humans to smooth out any awkwardness. Those refinements were then fed back into the algorithm, resulting in an app that can answer your questions, elaborate on those answers, remember what it said earlier in a conversation and even apologize when it gets something wrong – all in a way that seems pretty darn close to the way in which we humans would do it. Ahhh, so that’s what all the hype is about... Exactly. Many businesspeople have predicted that ChatGPT and similar apps have the potential to completely transform the working world. Whether it’s by writing computer programs, creating presentations and reports, generating a video script or website content, or answering a broad range of customer questions, ChatGPT can write it faster and at a lower cost than people can. The implications for productivity and efficiency are pretty profound: computers can do the boring, routine writing tasks, leaving humans free to pursue strategic work and fresh ideas for which they didn’t have time before. That’s an enticing – and potentially very profitable possibility. But what’s the downside? Yeah, there are a few. Perhaps the biggest is inaccuracy: the latest version of ChatGPT is known for sometimes producing answers that sound authoritative and factual, but are actually false (these inaccuracies are called “hallucinations”). If you’re an avid reader or writer, you’ll also notice that ChatGPT might be good at composing grammatically correct prose, but that its style can often lack the personality and “zing” that distinguishes good writing. Perhaps most worrisome is the Maybe it was that sports recap you read in the local paper. Or that travel article. Perhaps it was the website which you visited yesterday. Or the investment report that you skimmed this afternoon. Whatever you’ve read recently, there’s a good chance that it was, at least in part, written by ChatGPT. Over the past year or so, ChatGPT has captured headlines for how eerily similar its output is to the stuff which we humans can write. But what is ChatGPT? How does it work? And how can you use it? Let’s take a closer look. 42 | www.snowbirds.org
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