Pat PilcherPAT PILCHER plays around with an astounding generative language processing tool that might just be a game-changer for wordsmiths.
There’s been a flurry of hype around an AI chatbot called Chat GPT that’s surprisingly adept at a wide range of tasks. Curious to see all the fuss, I went down the Chat GPT AI rabbit hole.
Pondering how best to explain Chat GPT so I didn’t send myself and my readers to the land of snore, I asked chat GPT to explain what it is. Here’s what it said:
“GPT (short for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer”) is a type of artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology developed by OpenAI. It is a machine-learning model that is trained on a large dataset of human-generated text and can generate human-like text as output. GPT has been used in a variety of applications, including language translation, language generation, and chatbot development.”
Okay, so much for avoiding Snores-Ville. In basic tech jargon-free English, Chat GPT is an artificial intelligence that has been given a massive pile of data. That is, human-created text so it can learn how to craft words in a convincingly human manner.
I wanted to know just how versatile and human-like Chat GPT was, so I fired some questions at it. Because any old AI can crank out dull, factually correct text, I figured a good test of Chat GPT’s human-like writing capabilities would be to get it to craft a song, specifically a song about Tories written in the style of Ian Dury. The results were both funny and impressive, considering that they were written without the aid of any humans. Here’s what I got:
“Verse 1:
Tories, Tories, what a bunch of prigs
All dressed up in their fancy wigs
They think they’re so high and mighty
But we all know they’re just a bunch of shites
Chorus:
Laxatives, Laxatives
The only way to flush out those Tories
They’re clogging up the system
Laxatives, Laxatives
The only way to clear the stench of Toryism
Verse 2:
They talk about austerity and saving money
But they’re the ones who are always so funny
With their fancy dinners and lavish parties
While the rest of us struggle to pay our rent
Chorus:
Laxatives, Laxatives
The only way to flush out those Tories
They’re clogging up the system
Laxatives, Laxatives
The only way to clear the stench of Toryism
Bridge:
They say they’re for the people, but we all know it’s a lie
They only care about their own wealth and power, that’s why
We need to take a stand and give them the boot
It’s time to flush out the Tories, let’s all holler hoot!
Chorus:
Laxatives, Laxatives
The only way to flush out those Tories
They’re clogging up the system
Laxatives, Laxatives
The only way to clear the stench of Toryism”
Add some groovy music and a Cockney singer who’d had one too many cigs/whiskies/Mogadons, and this might pass for a song by Ian Dury and his Blockheads (okay, so you might need to squint and block your ears). Aside from chats and silly songs, it does have a whiff of Dury and even managed to capture the right context. Not bad for a machine!
Chat GPT has quite a few more skills tucked away. I asked Chap GPT to code me a simple game to see what else it was capable of. Here’s what it produced.
“Copy code
import random
def play_game():
# Generate a random number between 1 and 10
secret_num = random.randint(1, 10)
# Get the player’s guess
guess = int(input(“Enter a number between 1 and 10: “))
# Keep track of the number of guesses
num_guesses = 1
# Keep guessing until the player gets it right
while guess != secret_num:
# Increment the number of guesses
num_guesses += 1
# Tell the player if their guess was too high or too low
if guess > secret_num:
print(“Your guess was too high. Try again.”)
else:
print(“Your guess was too low. Try again.”)
# Get the player’s new guess
guess = int(input(“Enter a number between 1 and 10: “))
# Congratulate the player on winning
print(f”Congratulations! You guessed the correct number in {num_guesses} guesses.”)
# Start the game
play_game()”
Okay, so this game might not cause Sony or Microsoft to break a sweat, but the point here is that no humans were involved, and the coding was done after I’d said, “code me a game”. Herein lies the rub with Chat GPT. Its versatile and almost convincing language skills mean that it can craft essays, code and translate. Kids could, for instance, get Chat GPT to do their homework, and most teachers would be none the wiser. I asked Chat GPT to “write a review of Chat GPT in the style of Pat Pilcher”. Here’s what it wrote.
“GPT-3 is the latest generation of OpenAI’ s GPT (Generative Pre-training) language model. It has been generating a lot of buzz in the tech industry, and for good reason: it’s a revolutionary tool that has the potential to greatly improve natural language processing (NLP) tasks such as machine translation, text summarization, and question answering.
One of the most impressive aspects of GPT-3 is its size: it’s currently the largest language model in existence, with 175 billion parameters. This gives it an impressive ability to generate human-like text, making it a powerful tool for tasks such as text generation and chatbot development.
I’ve been using GPT-3 for a few months now, and I’ve been blown away by its capabilities. It’s able to understand and respond to complex questions and prompts in a way that feels very natural and human-like. For example, I’ve used it to generate product descriptions and articles, and the results have been impressive. It’s able to capture the tone and style of the text I’ve fed it, and it’s able to generate coherent and well-written content on its own.
Overall, I’m extremely impressed with GPT-3 and what it’s capable of. It’s a game-changer for the NLP industry, and I can’t wait to see what it will be used for next. If you’re interested in natural language processing or just want to see what the future of AI looks like, I highly recommend giving GPT-3 a try.”
Could I soon be unemployed? Will Witchdoctor towers fill up with servers instead of poorly paid journalists slaving over hot keyboards? While it might struggle to craft convincing content all the time, there’s no denying that anyone wanting some quick copy knocked out could use carefully crafted requests to get Chat GPT to do their bidding. The implications for universities and the media industry might be profound. Either way, don’t take my word for it, give it a try for yourself, it’s a tonne of fun https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/
