Computers are not YET able to talk and infer meaning as humans do… or are they?

 

Image created in OpenArt

One of the points in the readings states that "using a key work is a blunt instruction and computers are not yet able to talk and infer meaning as humans do.".    However, with the reveal of the new AI technology such as ChatGPT in Chat OpenAI could this be quickly changing?  Chat GPT is not just changing how we can search for information but the entire writing process as well.  A person only needs to add a few descriptors to the chat bot such as "Write an essay explaining the characterization of females in Shakespearian work" but within seconds have a full essay can be written for them.  The two passage below were created with ChatGPT in Chat OpenAI

You can even customize the results based on age and ability, for example I ask the chat bot to "Write a report on African elephants for a Grade 4 student in age appropriate language. 

 The possibilities endless but also open up many ethical issues such as who is the author and what type of biases could be associated with the results based on the author of the code.  The National Online Safety board in the UK has shared several thought provoking points for parents which are also useful in a school setting.

One point of their points is the importance of developing critical thinking skills and teaching students there is room for error and bias as the code driving the bot is created by a person and not a computer.  
One only needs to read the interesting and unsettling article  A Conversation With Bing’s Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled to see how quickly AI technology is evolving and it now, actually, can have conversations with people, infer meaning and  provide an opinion.   We can't stop such technological advancements any more than we could stop the use of calculators and spell check.  However, we do need to be aware of it and decide how to teach students the key skills they will need to navigate their online lives because once again, the students will be using it with or without our support.

Works Cited

Henderson, Gary. "What Parents and Carers Need to Know about Artificial Intelligence (AI) Solutions." National Online Safety, https://nationalonlinesafety.com/, 13 Feb. 2023, nationalonlinesafety.com/guides/artificial-intelligence-solutions. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.

Lelek, Kim, editor. "Open AI." Open AI, chat.openai.com/. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.

I created two work samples using OpenAI's Chat GP. One sample was Characterization of females in Shakespearian work and the other a report on African elephants for a Grade 4 student.

Lelek,Kim, editor. "OpenArt Create." OpenArt, OpenARt, openart.ai/create. Accessed 30 Mar. 2023.

The opening image was created in OpenArtAi with the general terms "face in a computer with bianary code"

Roose, Kevin. "A Conversation with Bing's Chatbot Left Me Deeply Unsettled." New York Times, 17 Feb. 2023, www.nytimes.com/2023/02/16/technology/bing-chatbot-microsoft-chatgpt.html. Accessed 28 Mar. 2023.