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Definition: ChatGPT


(CHAT Generative Pretrained Transformer) An AI-powered chatbot from the OpenAI research company that simulates a human speaking English and more than 50 other languages. An example of "generative AI," ChatGPT will create a seemingly human response when asked open-ended questions about any topic. It is also used for writing program code, composing music, answering test questions and generating short essays and articles. See OpenAI and generative AI.

Introduced to the public in late 2022, within a couple days a million people were using it. In two months, ChatGPT had more than a hundred million active users, making it the most popular website introduction ever. As a comparison, the extremely popular TikTok app took nine months to gain that many regular users.

The World of Knowledge
Known as a "large language model" (LLM), ChatGPT gained its knowledge base from the text in hundreds of millions of websites, articles, journals and books, creating a gigantic hierarchy of word and phrase patterns. The results are also adjusted by human engineers to make them more accurate. ChatGPT generates absolutely amazing results, and it is also accused of delivering "coherent nonsense."

ChatGPT was derived from OpenAI's GPT-3 natural language system. The successor to InstructGPT, ChatGPT has also been used by cybercriminals to build hacking tools and strains of malware. See GPT.

ChatGPT Plus
ChatGPT Plus is a paid version of ChatGPT. For a monthly fee, ChatGPT Plus gives users fast access during peak usage to ChatGPT's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 language models. Subscribers are also given first access to new features.

Academia Is Alarmed
Because of ChatGPT's generation of seemingly unique prose, university professors are rethinking test methods. For example, oral answers may be the only way to ensure students are not using it.

Considering that after its introduction, ChatGPT has been regarded as one of the most phenomenal technological achievements of this century, imagine 25 years from now. Will individual human creativity be unnecessary? See SearchGPT, chatbot, Gemini chatbot, AI text generator, neural network and AI.

ChatGPT Does All This
In April 2023, The New York Times listed several ways people are using ChatGPT. Following are some of them:

 plan gardens, workouts and meals
 write a wedding speech
 play devil's advocate
 organize thesis research
 skim dozens of articles to find info
 cope with ADHD and dyslexia
 select from a huge number of pictures
 transcribe doctor's visit into clinical notes
 appeal an insurance denial
 write Excel formulas
 get feedback on a newly written novel
 get help for homework
 learn Chinese and help with learning English
 create an app and fix bugs
 play games and build new ones
 identify diseases in plants
 make a Spotify playlist
 create alliterations, rhymes and synonyms


Coherent Nonsense
The following is the first of five paragraphs generated by ChatGPT given the input "create an essay about a happy computer." Obviously, the word "happy" was equated with a trait computers can have. Is the following what is meant by "coherent nonsense?"

 Computers are often thought of as being
 emotionless machines, lacking the capacity to feel
 happiness or any other emotions. However, in a
 metaphorical sense, a computer can indeed be
 considered "happy". The term "happy computer"
 refers to a computer that is functioning properly,
 efficiently, and effectively, meeting the needs
 and expectations of its user.




A Few Months Later
When the same question was asked several months later, ChatGPT added the title "The Joyful Existence of a Happy Computer" and nine paragraphs of text, the first of which follows below. Obviously, ChatGPT is constantly changing, but in both examples, ChatGPT gives the computer human attributes.

 In the vast realm of technology, where wires
 intertwine and circuits hum with life, there
 exists a peculiar entity often overlooked amidst
 the whirlwind of ones and zeros--the happy
 computer.  While the notion of machines
 experiencing emotions may seem far-fetched, delve
 deeper into the intricacies of their functioning,
 and you might uncover a world where joy resonates
 within the silicon heart of a computer.




A Lot of Controversy
North Korea, China, Russia, Italy and other countries have banned ChatGPT, which has stirred up the world. In time, the panic may be long forgotten. See GPT and Luddite. (Image courtesy of ZDNET.)





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