ChatGPT - Overrated or Underrated? Or Both?
It’s been a year since ChatGPT burst on the scene. For many people it came completely out of leftfield. Even for those somewhat familiar with AI it felt like a gigantic leap forward. A combination of the chat-style web interface (compared to the very carefully designed prompts that are often required of language models) it made it easy for anyone to try with either the simplest of questions, or the extremely complicated.
Like many, I've experimented endlessly with ChatGPT and other large language models and have often found myself frustrated by things it should be able to do, and amazed at things it shouldn't be able to do - even tasks it tells you it's uncapable of doing.
Many people claim it’s overrated, some underrated. I’d argue that it’s both. Much of the focus has been on the things it is designed to do well, or has been hyped up, and as such, followed by a let-down. Very little focus has been on the things it is truly amazing at, for many of these things, it’s less clear how businesses can capitalise on them, hence why they’ve not been pushed and marketed to death.
The Overrated Side of ChatGPT:
- Precision and Expertise: ChatGPT can be as misleading as a politician if you don't know your stuff. It's not some magical oracle; it's more like a well-spoken idiot at times. If you're not already clued up in a field, this AI can send you on a wild goose chase with half-baked answers. It’s like trying to learn swimming from a book – it’s possible, but you're probably going to swallow a lot of water (or bullsh*t, in this case).The AI often tells you what it thinks you want to hear, not necessarily what's right. So, if you don't know what you don't know, you're screwed. It's like asking a parrot for advice on quantum physics – amusing, but not particularly helpful.
- Marketing: Every Tom, Dick, and Harry is using AI for marketing now. It's become so predictable. Personalised messages? More like slightly tweaked copy-pasted rubbish. People are starting to see right through it. It's like those spam emails promising you a fortune – you just roll your eyes and move on.
- Overhyped Products/Services: The internet is flooded with articles about groundbreaking AI products that'll supposedly change your life. Rubbish. Most of them are as revolutionary as a new brand of toilet paper. They promise the moon, deliver a pebble, and leave you wondering why you even bothered. They were time wasters, rather than time savers.
May we thrive in the era of enlightening dialogues with machines.
The Underrated Side of ChatGPT
- Boosting Creativity: Now, this is where the AI shines. It's not however just some creativity machine that you feed prompts and get masterpieces. It’s very much garbage-in, garbage-out. But combine it with a human's creative touch, and you've got yourself a recipe for something genuinely innovative. It's like a creative catalyst, not the entire lab.
- Emulating Human Emotions: People think AI can't grasp emotions because it doesn't go through puberty, make stupid decisions, or have midlife crises. But with the right prompts, it can mimic and understand emotions better than the average person. It's not about having lived experiences; it's about processing existing human emotions, expressions and responses. Something many people are unable to do about their own lives, let alone others.
- Information Translation: Too much knowledge is not locked away in hidden vaults but locked away in dry boring books and courses. AI can be a whiz at translating complex information into more digestible content. It’s like having a translator for nerd speak. It can make the most complex subject understandable and interesting for the average Joe.
- Storytelling: AI's ability to craft stories is often overlooked. Sure, it's no Shakespeare, but with some guidance, it can spin a tale that keeps you hooked. It's like a kid with a wild imagination, but with a better vocabulary.
- Emotional Intelligence: Often the most overlooked intelligence in humans, we don't have IQ scores for it like we do for general intelligence. Here’s the thing: AI can be surprisingly good at reading and responding to emotional cues in text. It's not just about cold, hard facts – it can play the empathy game pretty well too, with a bit of guidance, it can be better than most humans, especially as it doesn't have bad days, or personal troubles of its own to deal with.
How does a large language model work? Well, this is written from ChatGPT's perspective.
You can watch and listen to it, of you can read it below.