It took 3 years and 5 months for Netflix to reach 1 million subscribers, 2 years for Twitter, 10 months for Facebook and around 2.5 months for Instagram. Do you know how long it took for OpenAI? 5 days. OpenAI is a research institute that focuses on developing Artificial Intelligence: it is known for its work on advanced language processing and other areas of AI research. Their most popular project is definitely “Chat GPT”. It’s a chatbot that uses GPT-3, a language processing model developed by OpenAI. GPT-3 stands for “Generative Pretrained Transformer 3” and is one of the most advanced language processing systems in the world. It is trained on a massive amount of data and can generate human-like text in response to input in a wide range of formats. However, with this exponential progress, some concerns and fears are starting to rise amongst people: how will we learn? How will we design? How will we program? How will we do all of this if an AI can do it for us? Let’s take a closer look at what could be our future with this new tool.

First, let’s inspect how the AI looks. After opening your account on OpenAI and clicking on ChatGPT, you find yourself in an empty dialog box, with a warning that says: “May occasionally generate incorrect information; May occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content; Limited knowledge of the world and events after 2021”. The bot isn’t connected to the internet and only replies through its (huge) database, good thing to know. After that, you can ask approximately everything, and if it cannot reply to you, it’ll tell you that it cannot browse the internet and that its database doesn’t contain the information you’re looking for. What’s the difference with Google then? ChatGPT is very specific in its answers and gives you detailed instructions on what you need to know. For example I asked the AI how to make an easy pizza dough and in 10 seconds it gave me detailed instructions starting with the ingredients I needed then the different steps of making the dough until the baking. Nothing extraordinary at first sight, but try to imagine now if we ask how to program an application from scratch; or even to send an email to your boss, your professor… The more you think about it, the more fields of work are threatened by this tool. It will be harder and harder for professors to check if an essay is written by an AI or not, same for journalism: how can you verify if it’s an AI-generated text or not? Same for movie scriptors, you can simply ask the robot to generate a script based on a couple of keywords and it will be ready in a matter of seconds! Am I even writing this article by myself or is it a robot doing it for me? 

It also has good sides. For example, let’s take education: with the help of AI, educators will be able to create tailored learning experiences for each student based on their individual needs and abilities. This will allow young people to learn at their own pace and in their own way, which can be especially beneficial for students who may struggle in a traditional classroom setting. Another potential impact of OpenAI on education is that it will make it easier for students to access a wide range of educational materials and resources. With the help of AI, students will be able to find relevant and accurate information on any subject, and they will be able to access this information from anywhere in the world. This will greatly expand their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

Despite the many potential benefits of OpenAI for education, there are also some potential drawbacks and negative effects that it could have on society. One of the main concerns is that the widespread adoption of AI in education could lead to a loss of jobs for teachers and other educators. As AI algorithms become more advanced, they may be able to perform many of the tasks currently carried out by human educators, potentially leading to job loss and economic disruption. Another potential negative effect of OpenAI on society is that it could exacerbate existing inequalities in access to education. If AI algorithms are not designed and implemented in a fair and equitable manner, they could end up perpetuating existing disparities in educational opportunities and outcomes. This could have serious consequences for disadvantaged groups, who may not have access to the same high-quality education as those who are more privileged. Additionally, there is a concern that the development and deployment of AI could lead to a loss of privacy for individuals. As AI algorithms collect and process large amounts of personal data, there is a risk that this data could be misused or accessed by unauthorized parties. This could have serious consequences for individuals, who may be unable to control how their personal information is used.

As AI technology continues to advance, it is clear that it will play an increasingly important role in our daily lives. In the field of education, AI tools have the potential to revolutionize how we learn and teach, by providing personalized and adaptive learning experiences, as well as automating administrative tasks. In the field of development, AI can help us design and build smarter, more efficient systems and products, by analyzing and predicting user needs and behaviors. And in the field of design, AI can assist us in creating more sophisticated and innovative products and experiences, by generating new ideas and prototypes. While there are certainly valid concerns about the potential impacts of AI on employment and privacy, it is important to embrace and responsibly leverage the many benefits that AI has to offer. By staying informed and actively shaping the direction of AI development, we can ensure that it serves as a powerful tool for positive progress and growth in the future.

Hugo Lhomedet