It’s tempting to ask ChatGPT to write an introduction to a reading list about ChatGPT, but I went the old-fashioned human route for this one. Not because of journalistic integrity or to avoid a increasingly-tiresome shtick, but because, as OpenAI told me when I tried, ChatGPT is at capacity right now. Too many old-fashioned humans had gotten there before me.
That makes sense: ChatGPT is dominating the headlines, often for its potential to destroy industries, professions, and possibly democracy. In some cases, these concerns are easy to refute, especially as we layer the technology with human innovation to create something new and special (see the NPR piece below for more on this idea). But there’s also a vague sense of dread lurking as some of the tech world’s top thinkers consider what a world filled with generative AI might mean ethically and existentially.
If this leaves you feeling a little uneasy, you’re not alone—and not without resources. We’ve gathered 10 fascinating stories that investigate the different ways ChatGPT has quickly seeped into our lives and economy, and which fears are most (and least) unnerving.
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This 22-Year-Old Is Trying to Save Us From ChatGPT Before It Changes Writing Forever
AM: “Edward Tian went from using ChatGPT to write poems and raps about his friends (relatable) to create and release an app that allows users to identify if their break-up email/homework assignment/cover letter was written by a machine (less relatable.) He calls it GPTZero and hopes for it to be a tool to promote and ‘incentivize originality in human writing.’ While Tian’s achievement is incredible on its own, I look forward to tracking how many other brilliant minds find ways to deactivate some of the threats of generative AI while taking advantage of its usefulness.”
The Dark Risk of Large Language Models
AM: “But hold your horses: Before getting excited about ChatGPT, it’s essential to consider the red flags spotted by Gary Marcus, a leading voice on AI (with more than a few books and machine learning companies to his name.) Here, and in his Substack post early December, Marcus lays out some of the worst case scenarios for how machine-generated text can influence and interfere with human emotions and actions.”
The ChatGPT Bot Is Causing Panic Now—But It’ll Soon Be as Mundane a Tool as Excel
AM: “This piece contains an excellent, plain English explainer on how ChatGPT functions and highlights how we might see the tool as a jumping off point for some of our most creative thinkers.
It’s also important to note that the author, John Naughton, is hardly tuning out the bad stuff—he recently posted about reading Gary Marcus’ work. Does it comfort me that he can consider these dangers but still see a 'mundane' future for this tool? Absolutely. Does it comfort you? I certainly hope so. Or at the very least that you've come away from this with some new ideas about what our ChatGPT-ified future might look like.”