In the last couple weeks, I engaged in a few interesting conversations regarding new technology and how it’s affecting daily activities. Thought I’d share a few…
Blogging and ChatGPT:
- An acquaintance who is still knee-deep in the corporate hustle, writes blog posts for clients, loading them into the company websites. The clients pay surprisingly well for these short articles.
- Two management levels above her recently required that she begin entering the subject tag line into ChatGPT, auto-creating the blog posts. My friend remains in awe at how fast, accurate, and interesting the posts have been – generated in less than 60-seconds. Her words: “I love ChatGPT.” I rolled my eyes until I tried it (below) and understood her automatically typing “thank you” after using ChatGPT (I didn’t thank it).
- If ChatGPT is already doing her (former) writing job, how long before the subsequent, updated ChatGPT versions take over other paid tasks? A majority of workers sit in front of a computer…
ChatGPT:
- A Dad of a high schooler shared that his son used ChatGPT to auto-write a lengthy history essay. Then, he paid a nominal fee to use an AI content detector software program that re-ran the essay, scrambling and reorganizing content so teachers cannot identify it from ChatGPT.
- Yes, Dad is taking action with the son.
- I don’t think there is an easy way to identify plagiarism. Fifteen years ago, I could enter one line of a student’s college paper into Google and it would pull up proof of plagiarism. Eventually, we used higher-tech software, but technology is so far beyond even that now.
AI (Artificial Intelligence):
- A friend sent me two Instagram posts she believed were true, legitimate stories. One contained Princess Kate and her daughter. The other post was about a Yellowstone actor. The photos and captions seemed exaggerated to me, but I’m not on IG enough to offer an opinion. Turns out, the posts were discovered ‘fake’, noting ‘AI generated’.
Take-away #1:
Should the marketers disclose their ChatGPT process? Or, so long as the work is completed, perhaps the client wouldn’t care about them using ChatGPT as a tool. I suspect countless corporations are using ChatGPT in similar ways.
Take-away #2:
U.S. education has been in trouble for decades. Now? We’re in big trouble. We thought Covid passing 12th grade non-readers was bad…
Take-away #3:
AI is conveying false information and a stunning number of people believe everything they read. There is a strong argument that people have historically believed what they read, regardless of the source(s) and this is nothing new.
Carefully sifting through information and researching legitimate sources takes time. People want (and accept) fast and easy information, even if sprinkled with untruths.
So, I Tried It
Needing to fully understand, I entered some information into chatgpt.com. I requested titles for a lengthy writing piece. First, it offered a compliment, saying “it sounds like a beautiful and layered story”… Is chatgpt trying to build a relationship with the user? Then, it listed 10 titles (the number I requested). The top three are existing book titles. The rest were excellent at reflecting the content I entered. I told it to reduce the number of words in the title to four or less. The revisions were again, surprisingly good.
Writers
*Many WordPress bloggers have been highlighting how ChatGPT negatively affects writers. Apparently, the intelligence can pull published works and use the content without giving credit (or royalties) to the author. This is concerning.
Like any new tech, there are pros and cons. Artificial intelligence makes me take greater pause since the very name is clearly warning “artificial”.
AI = Theory that computer systems are able to perform functions that previously required human intelligence.
ChatGPT = “Tool used via OpenAI that enables users to “converse” with it in a way that mimics natural conversation. As a user, you can ask questions or make requests in the form of prompts, and ChatGPT will respond.”
The “GPT” in ChatGPT “…is short for generative pre-trained transformer.”
The “Chat” in ChatGPT = Chatbots are computer programs that simulate human conversation.
Tales from a Mid-Lifer 
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