What Is ChatGPT?

Key takeaways

• ChatGPT was released just last year and is already transforming multiple industries. Its release has led to Google’s management team declaring a “code red” situation
• The chatbot was introduced by OpenAI, a San Francisco-based startup that has received another $10 billion in funding from Microsoft as the major tech giants get competitive in the field of AI
• While ChatGPT is popular with some, others are concerned about the impact this tool will have on education and other industries. We explore what could be next for this disruptive technology

You’ve likely heard about ChatGPT, a revolutionary new tool that has made headlines since it was released late last year. The AI-powered chatbot generates responses based on a prompt of user inputs. Users have utilized ChatGPT for everything from help with homework to writing poems. Some see ChatGPT as a direct threat to Google’s $149 billion search engine business, an area Google has been the leading player in for years. Microsoft recently confirmed an extension of its partnership with OpenAI, which comes with a $10 billion investment.

Let’s look at what ChatGPT is and how this new AI-based tool is transforming multiple industries.

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is the chatbot released late last year by OpenAI, a company that Elon Musk and Sam Altman helped initially co-found. The bot uses OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 language technology, an upgrade of the GPT-3 model released in 2020. ChatGPT had over a million users within its first week. The chatbot uses machine learning to generate human-sounding responses to text prompts. The bot was trained with a plethora of data, from books and articles to conversations. The chatbot can understand a variety of topics and contexts.

To get a complete answer, we asked ChatGPT, “What is ChatGPT?”

Here was the response from the chatbot

“ChatGPT is a large language model developed by OpenAI that has been trained on a diverse range of internet text to generate human-like responses to a given prompt. It is based on the GPT (Generative Pre-training Transformer) architecture and can be fine-tuned for various language tasks such as question answering, language translation, and text summarization.”

What can I do with ChatGPT?

As you might have seen through social media or the news, people have used the chatbot for fun and functional purposes. People have written poems with it, created opening messages for dating apps, and answered silly questions.

But others have thought of more useful applications. Some of these include:

• Answering questions as a replacement for a Google search
• Generating headlines
• Writing the abstract for a scientific article
• Writing product descriptions, blog posts, and other types of content
• Assisting with homework

The chatbot can create unique content for a blog or your social media.

In a shocking turn of events, the chatbot passed the Wharton MBA exam. Professor Christian Terwiesch, who organized the test, mentioned how the tool did an “amazing job at basic operations management and process analysis questions, including those that are based on case studies.”

What’s next for ChatGPT?

With everything moving so quickly since the product hit the market, many experts are wondering what will happen next.

Another iPhone situation

Some experts have compared ChatGPT’s emergence to that of the first iPhone back in 2007 since the tool is bringing the power of AI into the hands of non-technical users. With over 84% of Americans now owning a smartphone, some believe this AI-based tool will become a household staple for many folks.

Legal and ethical concerns

Other major tech companies have avoided introducing a similar product due to legal and ethical concerns. There are worries that the tool could harm some brands’ reputations. Can a company take credit for writing generated from a chatbot? How should we share the work that AI generates? One of the world’s largest academic publishers, Springer Nature, recently declared that ChatGPT could not be credited as an author for papers but that they’ll allow scientists to use AI to help with writing or generating ideas for research.

The paid version is coming

While ChatGPT is currently a free service since the product is in the research stage, OpenAI has already started surveying users on pricing preferences for future chatbot versions.

Some users have announced they gained access to a pro tier of the chatbot for $42 a month. This professional version would give users priority access even when demand surges, giving you quicker response times for your prompts.

Opposition to ChatGPT

Every new revolutionary tool can be met with pushback. The academic world has had mixed reactions to the software, with some feeling it can be an excellent teaching aid and others worrying students will use the program to plagiarize their work. In response, a student released GPTZero, a tool that can determine whether a piece of writing was generated by ChatGPT. This counter-tool saw over 30,000 users within its first week.

How is AI transforming industries?

Enjoying the detailed responses and helpful content from ChatGPT may seem relatively harmless, but it’s worth thinking about how AI is causing many industries to evolve. For a great example, look at our Q.ai, which uses AI’s power to simplify investing.

Here are some of the industries impacted by this new chatbot.

Search engines

Google’s management team declared a “code red” when ChatGPT was released. Google has had a stranglehold on the search engine business for as long as most of us can remember. There are fears that users will now turn to the chatbot for help rather than filter through websites provided by Google. Anyone who has used Google knows you have to sift through websites when looking for information. On the other hand, ChatGPT aims to offer quick and direct responses to specific problems, even if the questions are complex.

Google has plans to release 20 new AI products and share a version of its search engine with a chatbot feature. The biggest issue with a chatbot for Google is that roughly 80% of the company’s revenue still comes from delivering digital ads. Google is also worried about safety, misinformation, and the factual accuracy of the chatbot.

There are rumors that Microsoft plans on adding a component of the chatbot to the Bing search engine. Google has hesitated to release a competing product, likely due to concerns over damaging its established brand reputation.

The education system

There are concerns from teachers about plagiarism since the chatbot can write an essay or create work from a few simple prompts. Many teachers have expressed worries about what this could mean for the education system. Some schools have already banned the tool, while others are brainstorming how to incorporate it into the classroom.

Graphic design

Many are worried that users will use AI-powered art tools to create art and graphics from text prompts instead of hiring graphic designers. When we first wrote about DALL·E 2, we noted that it raises ethical and legal concerns over ownership. While the technology for creating graphics is still in its early stages, there’s no telling where it could be later this year.

Research

These AI-powered chatbots are going to become valuable aids when it comes to research. Instead of filtering through search engines, you can find relevant information with a simple text input. You can use the chatbot to automate and simplify specific tasks. People may not need manual assistance for research and filtering through articles in the near future.

How should you be investing?

With all the new releases we’ve seen recently of AI products, it can be confusing to hear about widespread layoffs in the tech industry simultaneously. On the one hand, this sector is seeing tens of billions of dollars of investment into new tools that will simplify our lives. On the other hand, many people are losing their jobs.

Q.ai takes the guesswork out of investing. Here’s a great example of AI being put to work, as Q.ai uses AI to offer investment options for those who don’t want to track the stock market regularly. You might enjoy checking out our Emerging Tech Kit if you’re a proponent of innovative technology.

The bottom line

While ChatGPT is an exciting new tool worth exploring, we’re still unsure of its long-term implications. If you’ve been investing in AI, you know it’s been a challenging year for major tech companies. We recently explored some of the top AI stocks and discovered that many publicly traded companies dropped significantly in 2022. That said, we will continue to monitor the impact of ChatGPT on the tech industry.

From Q.ai contributor Martin Dasko.

As seen in Forbes, 2/1/23