Over the years, artificial intelligence has often been romanticized on the big screen as the next step in human evolution, with films such as The Matrix and I, Robot exploring the possible consequences of computers becoming too smart for society to handle. The emergence of ChatGPT, which is one of the latest “large language model tools” to hit the mainstream, has some convinced that today’s technology is quickly advancing to that prophesied stage — but what do experts think?
Matthew Sag, a law professor at Emory University, told Insider that despite the impressive ability of ChatGPT to communicate and interpret complex subject matter on command, there’s still a long way to go before a full takeover by the AI actually happens.
"There's a saying that an infinite number of monkeys will eventually give you Shakespeare…but there is intrinsically a difference between the way that humans produce language and the way that large language models do it,” he explained.
The chatbot created by Open AI has taken the world by storm, sparking many conversations and debates since its viral release in November of last year. ChatGPT, and other chatbots like it, are powered by a massive amount of data and computational systems that allow it to string words together in a more meaningful way. This allows it to form sentences that not only mimic human speech but are also factually accurate since it pulls from such a large database of information. The result is communication that is, on most occasions, thoughtful, sensical, and rather intelligent.
According to Insider, ChatGPT was used to explain quantum physics in detail or write poems on command; both of which are arguably already challenging tasks for the average human to take on. The fact that it was able to receive those commands and spit out thorough think pieces that actually offered useful insights to the user is a pretty remarkable feat.
Currently, ongoing experiments are testing the program to see if it could have the potential to fully replace humans. In fact, companies like Microsoft, Google, and Meta are already looking into implementing ChatGPT-like systems in their own programs. But some experts say a lot of work still needs to be done before we can get to a point where humans can actually be replaced.
"I think there's so much hype around ChatGPT, and tools like this have potential," said Northwestern University professor Daniel Linna Jr. "But it can't do everything — it's not magic."
Still, ChatGPT is a giant step in that direction. Are we finally entering a new era of tech? Only time will tell.
