Chat GPT has taken the world by storm in recent months. So I put together a comprehensive guide covering everything you need to know!
Let’s find out why this chat bot’s got people talking (excuse the pun 😅).
Overview:
- What is GPT-3 & Chat GPT
- Who owns chat GPT
- What can Chat GPT do
- How can I use Chat GTP & is it free
- What are the current limitations of Chat GPT
- Will Chat GPT replace humans
What is GPT-3 & Chat GPT
GPT-3 is a language model that is trained to generate human-like text in real-time.
It has a massive neural network that includes text, websites, videos, and articles, giving it a vast amount of pre-established knowledge.
Chat GPT is a chat bot that you can talk to through text. It uses GPT-3’s language model to provide answers & contextualise requests.
In simple terms, Chat GPT is the tool. GPT-3 is the underlying tech.
Example of Chat GPT at work:
Who owns Chat GPT
Chat GPT was created by Open AI.
Open AI is a research organisation that focuses on advancing artificial intelligence. It’s not owned by anyone one individual. However it’s most notable investor is notorious billionaire Elon Musk!
Other investors include:
- Sam Altman – Open AI – CEO
- Greg Brockman – Open AI – Chairman & President
- Ilya Sutskever – Open AI – Chief Scientist
- Wojciech Zaremba
- John Schulman
See the full list of Open AI Investors.
What can Chat GPT do
The scope of application for Chat GPT is massive. But so far I’ve seen it used to:
Answer Questions
Chat GPT can answer extremely complex questions in a matter of seconds. Saving you from hours of browsing Google.
It can also change the format of the answer to fit your use case. For example. If I ask if a detailed description of inflation it writes me this:
But if I ask it to explain inflation to me like I’m a five year old I get this:
Cool right 😎.
Write articles & marketing collateral
Loads of people are having a meltdown about Chat GPT’s ability to output high quality text. And rightly so!
Chat GPT can generate unique, well researched articles on just about anything.
Want a list post on 10 things your should do to lose weight? yep.
Need a paragraph explaining quantum physics? no problem.
Even if you’re a gifted writer, you can still use Chat GPT to generate outlines for articles. Providing you a clear structure to write from.
Like I did for this post.
Write & error check code
What do you know the machine can code! Chat GPT is able to review code and look for errors or vulnerabilities.
It will then explain the bug & potential fix so you can avoid repeating the same mistake. Smart eh!
Chat GPT has knowledge of most major programming languages including:
- Python
- React
- HTML
- PHP
- CSS
- Javscript
- Swift
- C++
- C#
- Ruby
It even understands common frameworks like Bootstrap 5!
Extract Information from text
Chat GPT can read through large amounts of text & extract exactly what you need to know.
For example if you have a large white paper, but want a very specific piece of information that you know is inside. You can get Chat GPT to route through & pull the nuggets of info you need.
Think of it as a smart find & replace feature.
Do homework…
The use of Chat GPT is already causing an existential crisis in our education system.
There’s no other way to put it. Chat GPT’s answers are great. They’re detailed. Concise. And generally correct.
Without some pretty hardcore tech it’s near impossible for a human to detect that Chat GPT generated an answer.
Some teachers have already raised the alarm bell on the impact of Chat GPT on education. Whilst others have suggested that universities will simply have to change how students are assessed.
Example essay
Write Social Media posts
In my experience Chat GTP can write punchy social posts that encourage user engagement. Which is exactly what you want!
You can even give it character limits if you using it for a platform like Twitter or Mastodon.
Draft legal contracts
Chat GPT can generate coherent legal documents that would out match any free template you’ll find online.
I actually did this myself before passing it to a legal rep who commented it was “pretty good”.
DISCLAIMER: The text Chat GPT generates IS NOT equivalent to legal advice. Always get any legal text you pull out of it validated by a professional.
Write Music
The musicians aren’t safe either. Chat GPT can write unique music including lyrics, chords & melody.
Now that’s rock & roll 🤘🏽
Write a poem
Not sure how many people have use for this. I recently needed a poem about ducks on a car ride home to pass the time.
My 1 year old daughter loves ducks…
Here’s the poem Chat GPT wrote – she loved it
Come up with jokes
I’m not the funniest guy at the office. But since using chat GPT to generate jokes I’m now regarded as mildly funny.
Chat GPT’s humour always leans towards light hearted and silly. So If that’s your style, you’ve got your new source of material.
Yes I’m continuing with the ducks theme 🐥 👇🏼
Write meal plans
It might not be as game changing as some of the other uses in this article. But healthy body healthy mind right?
You can use Chat GPT to write out a full meal plan. Monday to Friday. Including breakfast, lunch, & dinner.
You’ll never go hungry again.
How can I use Chat GTP & is it free
Chat GPT is currently in testing & is free to use at chat.openai.com.
By allowing people to engage with the tool for free, Open.AI are able to improve their language models.
Making the tool freely available also encourages people to build dependence on it. Which will no doubt help Open.AI when they decide to monetise later on.
How long will Chat GPT remain Free?
Based off some rough economics, projections suggest Chat GPT costs Open AI $100,000 every day. Meaning they’ll need some source of income in the not too distant future.
CEO of Open AI Sam Altman recently tweeted:
we will have to monetize it somehow at some point; the compute costs are eye-watering
— Sam Altman (@sama) December 5, 2022
It’s also worth noting that in 2019 Open AI transitioned to being a for profit company. Dropping it’s non-profit status.
How will Chat GPT be monetised?
No one knows yet. There are many theories about how it could might done. Including:
– A Monthly subscription model
– Pre-paid credits for each interaction
– Ad funded usage (Like Google Search)
What are the current limitations of Chat GPT
Having read the sections above you might think Chat GPT is near perfect. But it has plenty of issues to fix before it becomes a truly reliable tool. These include:
Incorrect answers
Chat GPT has a habit of providing incorrect information.
What’s worse, is that unlike Google where you can compare answers & decide for yourself. Chat GPT presents one answer as the fountain truth. When in reality, there is a variety acceptable answers to most questions. Sometimes it’s about perspective.
In Chat GPT’s defence, Open AI very clearly state that their chat bot does generate incorrect information occasionally.
Out of date information
Chat GPT has limited knowledge of world and events after 2021. Meaning if you want it to comment of current events of ever last year. You’re out of luck.
It’s super important to remember this when generating content that is time sensitive. Or based on recent developments.
The average mortgage interest rate in the UK currently stands at 6.25% – 04/01/23. Chat GPT still says average mortgage interest rates sit at 2.24%.
Biased answers
According to Open AI’s recent release blog Chat GPT was trained by humans through questioning & reinforcement. With some algorithms being used to review answers.
Graph from openai.com explaining how GPT-3 was trained
A lot people think this is a good thing. But I have a different take.
Where there are people. There are biases.
The individuals training the language model will have their own world view. Which will no doubt show up Chat GPT’s answers. As the trainers are the ones deciding what’s correct & what isn’t.
This could create a situation where entire points of view are lost overnight. Because the trainer of the machine is either unaware of alternative ideas. Or simply disagrees with them.
It’s my opinion Chat GPT’s method of development & format for presenting answers doesn’t lend itself to producing a balanced view. Which is something everyone should bear in mind.
Again Chat GPT does clearly label that results provided may include harmful instructions or biased views.
Chat GPT was recently tricked into creating a table which showed clear racial bias. Deeming people of select races or genders to be less intelligent.
— steven t. piantadosi (@spiantado) December 4, 2022
Stability & capacity
Chat GPT has seen an explosion in traffic since it captured the attention of the mainstream.
This caused the site to crash or time out in recent months.
Whilst things have gotten better Chat GPT still has a tendency to glitch. Making day to day usage a little buggy.
But hey, what you gonna do. It’s still in testing.
Will Chat GPT replace humans?
In the long run Chat GPT probably has the potential to replace human writers, developers, & so on.
If you apply Moore’s Law which states the that the capability of computers doubles every 2 years. That day might not be as far away as you’d think.
Chat GPT in it’s current form is a useful tool to discern & disseminate information. And that’s about it. So we can all keep our jobs (Yay!).
Despite issues of bias & incorrect info. GPT-3 is a transformative bit of tech that will only get better. Especially if you listen to the rumours about GPT-4 😱!
Key Takeaways
- Chat GPT is a chatbot tool that uses GPT-3 to generate human-like text in real-time
- GPT-3 is a powerful neural network that includes text, websites, videos and articles, giving Chat GPT access to a vast amount of pre-established knowledge
- Chat GPT was created by OpenAI, a research organisation focused on advancing artificial intelligence. Notable investors include Elon Musk and Sam Altman
- Chat GPT has a wide range of potential applications. It can answer questions, generate articles and marketing collateral, write and error check code and extract information from text
- Chat GPT has the potential cause real confusion in the education system as it’s difficult to distinguish the answers generated by Chat GPT from those made by humans.