Now we have a new avatar of already thriving
Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the form of ChatGPT. It is an AI tool developed
by a company called OpenAI. It offers conversational-style responses to the
queries of the users. It remembers the whole thread of the dialogue and
responds to further queries accordingly. This tool has a huge reservoir of
information in its store, from which it will be able to retrieve the
information required by the user. Also, by using its AI skills, it continually
learns from recurring interactions with humans, storing that knowledge as
trained data. It means ChatGPT will become smarter and more human-like as one
continues to interact with it. In short, the experience of using this tool is
similar to having a conversation with a human expert.
ChatGPT has not yet gained human capabilities,
yet, it is far more efficient and quick in doing tasks than an ordinary skilled
worker. Hence, it is not surprising that more than one million people were
trying this software within a few days of its launching. There are hundreds of
fields in which this AI tool is being used worldwide. Even students are using
this to write their assignments and it is said that the teachers find it almost
impossible to distinguish the text generated by ChatGPT from the text written
by a student. What ChatGPT does not know is whether the information it is
providing is true or not. Nor does it understand the ethical consequences and
social implications of the huge data it stores and disseminates. Simply
speaking, it is just a storehouse of information with continuing learning
capabilities but without any self-awareness. Recently, Microsoft infused more
AI power into its search engine ‘Bing’, on the lines of ChatGPT. After some
time, this chat program began to respond to the users with threatening and
abusive comments. Now Microsoft has restricted the use of chat to avoid such
embarrassing situations. This shows the adverse effects such programs can cause
on society.
Any advancement in technology to make human life
more relaxing and enjoyable invariably has its negative aspect also. This
becomes clear when we go through the history of humankind. However, the most
tragic side of such innovations is the losing out of human intelligence to
machines. As new AI software of higher capabilities is being introduced, human
beings are being relegated to a primitive existence. The worth of a human being
lies in using his or her intellectual power to rise to higher levels of
intelligence. The tools like ChatGPT, instead, weaken those very faculties and
make us slaves of the machines that we ourselves have created. Does it not
remind us of the story of Bhasmasura, who having been blessed with some power
by Lord Shiva, tried to kill Shiva himself through that power?
