Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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10 UCW FEBRUARY 22 - 28, 2023 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Progress has no patience. I recall my dad with his slide ruler. One day, he came home talking about a new invention called a calcu- lator. Despite its limited functions of only be- ing able to add, subtract, multiply and divide, he saw it as a passing trend, worrying that it would make people at school less intelligent and more reliant. Little did he know, this "fad" would be- come a revolution of the 1970s. e 1980s brought us the personal computer, while the 1990s introduced the World Wide Web, and the iPod. e 2000s saw the rise of the iPhone, You- Tube, Facebook and the cell phone camera. By the 2010s, this thing called "privacy," was dead. Jumping to 2023, I want to explain two terms. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Ma- chine Learning (ML). AI is the demonstra- tion of intelligence by machines, as opposed to humans and animals. (ML) is the study of building methods that can improve per- formance on tasks by using data. To further explain this, ask your phone or Alexa. In November, a company by the name of OpenAI launched "ChatGPT" and it quickly gained popularity, with over a million sub- scribers in just five days. It is seen as a major disruptor in the information revolution. For reference, it took Facebook about a year to reach that. Last week, I set up a free account for Chat- GPT to help me write this article: Me: "Write a 300 word article for a newspa- per about how communication forms have changed since the beginning of cave men and how ChatGPT and AI is a new change but we as humans have always evolved in different ways to communicate for clarity and speed." Within 30 seconds, ChatGPT's response: "Communication has come a long way since the days of cavemen. From simple grunts and gestures to written language and advanced technologies like ChatGPT and AI the way we communicate has continuously evolved to meet our needs for clarity and speed. In the beginning, cavemen communicated through simple grunts and gestures, which were limited in their ability to convey complex ideas. As human civilization developed, so did the forms of communication. e invention of writ- ten language, such as hieroglyphics and cunei- form, allowed for more detailed and accurate communication. is was followed by the inven- tion of the printing press, which revolutionized the way information was disseminated, making it more accessible to the masses. With the advent of the digital age, commu- nication forms have undergone yet another transformation. e internet and social media have made it easier than ever to connect with people from all over the world, and new technol- ogies like ChatGPT and AI have introduced new possibilities for communication. ChatGPT, for example, is a powerful language model that can understand and respond to natural language inputs, providing more natural and human-like interactions. But as technology has changed, so too have the ways in which we communicate. e rise of text messaging, instant messaging, and social media has made it easier for people to commu- nicate quickly and easily, but it has also led to a decrease in face-to-face communication and an increase in misunderstandings due to the lack of nonverbal cues. Despite these changes, one thing remains constant : the human desire for clarity and speed in communication. From cavemen to the present day, we have always sought ways to commu- nicate more effectively and efficiently. And as technology continues to evolve, we can expect to see even more advancements in the way we com- municate in the future." Me: "How will chat GPT change the job mar- ket in the next five years?" ChatGPT: "ChatGPT and other AI language models are likely to have a significant impact on the job market in the next five years by automat- ing many tasks that previously required human labor, especially in industries such as customer service, journalism, and data entry. At the same time, there will likely be new job opportunities created in areas such as AI development, man- agement, and ethics. However, it is important to note that the exact effects of AI on the job market are difficult to predict and will depend on factors such as the pace of technological advancement, government policies, and the willingness of workers to adapt to new tech- nologies." e U.S. has been in an information revolu- tion since the invention of Morse Code. To- day, our smartphones provide us with voice, data and video communications. It also provides music, navigation, Hollywood film quality, a mobile newsroom, entertainment, financing and a platform for the mobile of- fice. e use of language models such as Chat- GPT raises concerns of potential cheating in the education system. As the model can gen- erate text based on prompts, students may use it to generate answers to questions they do not know. Educators need to consider changing their teaching methods to encour- age critical thinking and correct question- asking. Currently, AI is not advanced enough to provide reliable answers, but this may change in the future. e CEO of Microsoft said they have al- ready invested $1 billion into ChatGPT, with plans to integrate it into their applications. He also said they plan on investing up to $10 billion. e CEO believes the job market will shift, but it's unclear who will adapt and who won't. How do educators stop students from us- ing AI? I don't think they will. It is probably hopeless because it answers questions based on how you ask the question and how the user refines its responses with each iteration, mak- ing it difficult to stop its use in education. AI platforms like ChatGPT have the poten- tial to enhance learning for anyone with basic knowledge by providing answers to questions. ese platforms, along with Google, YouTube, and social media sites, can be used as a source of information and knowledge sharing. Henry Ford had an eighth grade education. Me: "What did Henry Ford say about a 6 grade education?" ChatGPT: "'Why is it every time I ask for a pair of hands, they come with a brain attached?' He went on to say that he preferred workers with a sixth-grade education because they were trained enough to read and write, but not so much that they thought they knew everything and were difficult to train. In other words, Ford valued practical skills and a willingness to learn and adapt more than a high level of formal education." Author's Footnote: For this article, I used a Macbook Pro, Microsoft Word, Google, You- Tube, the internet, ChatGPT, Grammarly, Alexa, a master's degree, and 20 years of experience in IT. At no time did I use the Dewey Decimal System. ChatGPT: AI chatbot offers opportunities, raises concerns by JIM JONES (and ChatGPT) FEATURE JIM JONES, Contributing Writer. Comments? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com. 910- 484-6200. ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer) is a chatbot launched in November 2022. (Photo by Jim Jones)