A new chat system built on OpenAI technology has sparked a wave of conversation about the future of AI and the potential effects of this kind of tool on daily life and work.
Launched on November 30, ChatGPT rapidly became a viral sensation and, according to its developers, has already surpassed one million users by the following Monday.
The application is currently in testing and enables many people to chat with an artificial intelligence system that can carry on conversations across a wide range of topics in a natural way, answer endless questions, and generate content with a high degree of customization.
ChatGPT demonstrates consistency, remembers prior parts of a conversation, and can identify topics that should not be discussed, as confirmed by independent observers.
Its artificial intelligence is trained on a large corpus of text from the internet, but the model is not connected to the live web and its knowledge base theoretically ends in 2021, which means it cannot comment on events that occurred after that time.
OpenAI, the company behind the system, concentrates on the dialog format and the possibilities it creates for interactive communication.
“The dialog format allows ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions. The company, with investors including major tech players and some involvement from notable figures in the tech industry, acknowledges mistakes, questions false premises, and declines inappropriate requests.”
A window to the future
According to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, ChatGPT is currently an early demonstration of what AI-powered language interfaces can do, and it still faces many limitations.
“Soon you will have helpful assistants talking to you, answering questions, and offering advice. You will be able to complete tasks and chores, and you may see tools that discover new information for you,” Altman explained in a public statement around the product launch.
During the testing phase, ChatGPT is freely available, while Altman notes that monetization will be necessary at some point due to high operational costs. The creators hope the project will drive meaningful improvements, with the initial version not being paid for.
Possible uses
Right now, ChatGPT serves as a quick alternative to search, though results can sometimes be inaccurate or contradictory. If a user questions a wrong answer, the system often admits the error and offers a corrective approach.
In recent days, many users have highlighted its capability to tackle more specific problems. Some programmers have used it to draft complex code quickly in unfamiliar languages, and one university professor noted that the chat responded suitably to certain exam questions.
The system’s ability to produce well-written and coherent text opens up a range of editorial and journalistic applications. For example, when asked to draft a story about the launch of ChatGPT, the tool can generate a five-paragraph piece in seconds that begins with a sentence such as: “ChatGPT, a chat platform that uses natural language technology to deliver a unique user experience, went public today. Developed by a team of natural language and tech experts, ChatGPT allows users to chat naturally with an intelligently responsive system, and the platform is real. It uses language models trained on large amounts of data to create consistent and natural responses in real time.”
These capabilities sit alongside broader insights about the platform and the statements made by its leadership. The ease of typing and rapid content generation suggest that similar tools could reshape many aspects of content creation and even some journalistic workflows in the near future.