photo credit: sodahead
So OpenAI has released a tool called Chat GPT and everywhere you look, it seems everyone is talking about it. I think this is going to have a dramatic impact on the world around us. Things could look very different in the near future due to the implementation of this new technology. It could be as impactful as the internet itself or even more so.
The Age of AI
This makes me wonder about the age we are now entering. We have seen in the last couple of hundred years the industrial revolution, followed by the information age and now, the age of AI. Over the past several decades we have seen the outsourcing of the production of things and stuff, mainly to China. Post-pandemic we have seen a shift to purchasing more goods online and mostly from the leading online mall, Amazon. The pandemic also led to outsourcing services as well. We are all now so comfortable meeting virtually that things like telehealth and remote learning are becoming increasingly popular. I spoke with a veterinarian recently who mentioned a patient not coming to see him anymore. She is using telehealth to diagnose her cat and get meds prescribed!
Outsourcing Ideas to AI
I wonder what is next. Chat GPT is able to provide endless amounts of content and solve incredibly complex problems in seconds through cloud computing. There are even programs that are producing art! This makes me wonder. What is content? What is art? Aren’t they expressions of ideas designed to provoke thoughts and feelings? So are we now outsourcing our thoughts? Art no longer reflects or dictates culture but is now a reflection of gazillions ones and zeros stored on services across the world wide web!
I think this will lead to some major discussions and legal battles over the months and years ahead. At the heights of production of Chinese products, in the United States there were movements to “Buy American” and stickers and tags would proudly show “Made in America”. What now with content, art, code? Will we be able to differentiate what is what? Human or AI. Will we need to tag things we humans produce, “Made by Humans”? I think about the mass production of food in more recent human history with many corporate farmers producing GMOs. We now have labels to let us know what food we are consuming. Will there be warnings about the content we are consuming? WARNING: This content may be produced with the assistance of AI.
The Future With AI
So then, what is next? I think we will soon be having audible conversations with these interfaces and work together to solve problems. I think this can lead to dramatic leaps in efficiency. Better production of tools. New tools to solve old problems. Perhaps even robots diagnosing and prescribing meds for the cat mentioned earlier. So, what will happen to content producers, copywriters, data analysts, programmers and… veterinarians? I’m wondering if we will all be promoted (?)/ relegated (?) to quality assurance. Human eyeballs will still have to monitor the AI, right? What are the possible downfalls here? Have we stopped to consider this? What will happen to our own education, thoughts and culture?
I will admit that my company uses AI and I do believe it is a useful tool. However, I also think we need to make sure to step back and think about the implications of mass adoption and reliance on this emerging advancement in technology. We humans should be cautious and definitely stick together. I will say that this blog has not been written by AI at all. (Does spell check count as AI?)
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