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Is ChatGPT going to replace you? …Possibly

Is ChatGPT going to replace you? …Possibly

February 12, 2023

We caught up with two AI experts to talk about how ChatGPT (and its soon-to-be-many rivals) will change the way we live and work, forever.

ChatGPT (and its many rivals and iterations) are set to change the way we work, socialize and live our lives
But it may not be entirely possible to police it. The biggest risks it presents are job losses, but there’s also a huge scope for misuse
It has the potential to revolutionize our interactions, the way we learn, and even the way we think

THE BLUEPRINT ILLUSTRATION

THIS WEEK’S MUST READ

Is ChatGPT going to replace you? …Possibly

Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, is pretty excited about ChatGPT.

“I have to say, really in the last year, the progress [in AI] has gotten me quite excited,” he told Forbes magazine.

And he’s not alone. In fact, his is one of many in a veritable sea of voices that think ChatGPT and its soon-to-be-many rivals, which at the time of writing already include Bard and Ernie (insert Sesame Street-themed quip here), are going to make quite the splash.

To talk about what exactly these bots are going to change for the likes of you and me, let alone processes, capabilities, and industries the world over, we caught up with Niek van de Voort and Max Richardson, co-founders of JedAI Studio, which essentially helps businesses harness the power of AI to fortify, streamline and improve their operations.

Interesting Engineering: What is your involvement in the world of AI?

Max Richardson: AI was always of interest to us, ever since its inception. With JedAI Studio our aim is to be at the forefront of AI for businesses, by using the newest AI models to deliver better services to companies.Through it, we are going to become an AI consultancy, effectively, which means we’re going to get involved with the implementation if businesses require that. There are lots of startups, but most people aren’t even aware of the iceberg of capability and possibility that’s sitting dormant right beneath them, when it comes to AI.

Niek van de Voort: With JedAI Studios, we're making AI solutions for business. So we look at existing businesses and what they currently offer to their clients. Then we look at how we can make it better with the power of AI. Like, can we offer something alongside their existing line of service products? We work out how we can deliver services to their customers better, or streamline their operations, or both.

IE: How has the introduction of ChatGPT and its ever-increasing number of rivals affected the way you work?

MR: It's it's kind of broadened our interest really, because it opens up so many new use cases for businesses. It's forced us to consider how can we position ourselves to give the best value back to businesses that come to us.

So I think what we're really excited about is ChatGPT being something of a catalyst for innovation, and being the first of a huge number of launches with as-yet-unknown capabilities. I think a lot of businesses are going to want to know what they can use it for and how they can integrate it into their own businesses, and that’s where we come in.

NvdV: It will help us to help people create new AI models to serve their customers better. Now, everything becomes much more interesting. More awareness means more ideas, which means more innovation and more development. It’s exciting.

The story continues...

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The story continues...

IE: What's the biggest difference you think it's going to make to all of our lives in the next few years?

MR: I think automation is getting this complete new makeover. I think the biggest industry to be disrupted will be customer service. But sales, marketing, customer services, and development content are all going to be disrupted massively by this.

For the rest of us, the biggest difference this will make to us going forward is that it will threaten or change the way some people will have to work, or are able to work.

Like, remember when social networks first started to get bigger and bigger? Now you see every company with a dedicated social media manager. I believe every company will eventually either have an AI manager or will use the services of an AI agency like ours, to help them with their AI.

So this is just going to open up a new job position in every single business, just like social media did.

NVDV: I think it will change the way we all operate — at work, at home, everything. And I am not sure people realize how much is about to change. Which is exciting.

IE: What about ChatGPT (and its equivalents) makes you most excited?

MR: I think it's going to encourage this new huge wave of entrepreneurs and innovation. I would liken it to how crypto was in 2016. There was this energy you got when you went to these conferences. I feel like the same thing is happening now with AI and the hype around ChatGPT is demonstrating this.

And what's exciting about it is that there are actually use cases for it out, and I think that part's very exciting. It’s going to inspire and empower entrepreneurs to now start building real serious businesses with an underlying protocol and foundation that's superb.

NVDV: Its endless possibilities. It could change the way we do everything. It could very easily change the way we think, the way we act, who we are. It’s scarily powerful.

IE: What do you think the biggest risks with it are?

MR: I'd say the biggest risks with it are job losses. There’s also huge potential for misuse — like governments using AI in bad ways, hackers using it to leverage, say, identity theft, or imposing leverage over many people using chatbots. This could be a big thing.

And as excited as I am about AI video, I think that holds a lot of potential for misuse. Because, intentionally or unintentionally, it's going to have an impact on how people think. And that's a big one.

NvdV: I think it’s a double-edged sword. I think in years to come it will be possible to exist without any human interaction whatsoever — just you and a bunch of computers. And you could get to the point where you only have computers that show you what they think you want to see, because they’ve learned from you. Now that would be incredibly isolating and lonely. And even if you wanted to live like that, it would have some not-great effects on your psyche and who you are as a person.

AI sometimes tells you things that are factually not true, which they call “hallucinating in the system”. But if you assume that everything AI tells you is true, your belief system could go quite quickly off track.

IE: Is it going to be possible to police these bots?

MR: So students are already using ChatGPT to create essays, and as fast as you create ways to block or trace that, they will create ways to avoid your tracing. It will be impossible to know whether the students have written their work themselves.

But originally there was no concept of – let alone policing of – cyberbullying, and I wouldn’t say we’ve got a real handle on that yet, so I think the honest answer is that this is going to be really tricky to police.

NvdV: It depends who is doing the policing… it will be possible, but will the people with the capability to do that, give that power to the ‘right’ people. Who even are the right people? The police? The government? Who should be in charge of it and how are they going to make sure they’re ahead of the developers? They can’t really… It could quite quickly get out of hand.

IE: Do you think ChatGPT could democratize the research process?

MR: Well, that's an interesting question. Yeah, I think, yes. Which opens up the question of… if doctors are just big encyclopedias that are looking at symptoms and telling you what's what, could they be replaced too? And the same could apply to researchers. So yes, I would say, yeah.

NvdV: Yes, very much. Yes, and I would even throw in a bit of web3 and decentralized science to this question too, to add some flavor. Currently, there's a lot of bureaucracy and politics around research, especially in universities and things go very slow. This could radically change that.

The fundamentals of the research process are, in my view, very siloed at the moment. With the democratization of research, people could work together more easily and even get public funding more easily.

You’ll be able to conduct peer reviews without even knowing who the other person is. AI coils also act as co-author. So yeah, I do think that research will be sped up and made better by AI.

IE: Which industries in particular do you think need to worry about the future stability of their jobs?

MR: So everyone assumed that the low-end jobs were going to be taken first, but potentially, people in creative jobs like doctors and lawyers… If you're just a human with a lot of information in your head, that's not useful anymore.

If an AI can come and replace you, that’s not great. But my prediction would be that instead of doctors being necessarily replaced, doctors will be working with AI to enhance their existing capabilities.

NvdV: Content producers. Certain programming jobs. Customer interaction, so customer support and customer services.

Quickfire questions

Who or what inspires you?

MR: I think the rates of progress with AI in the last year

NvdV: This changes every week. I like the ramblings of Alan Watts. Also the work of Pieter Levels – he’s a rapid prototyper who builds concepts pretty fast and I think he’s an amazing person to learn from.

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

MR: Creativity and corporate pitching.

NvdV: The excitement of seeing what new things have hit the market every morning.

What makes you smile?

MR: I would say, seeing, seeing applications for technology being used in creative ways to make the world a better place.

NvdV: The sun.

What annoys you?

MR: Elon Musk haters.

NvdV: I have more wrinkles than I thought I had.

What is your greatest achievement to date?

MR: I've just started bullet journaling. And I feel like my life is completely changing after journaling. So I think that's my greatest achievement because I think it's going to create more achievements.

NvdV: I would say building innovation labs that solve real problems.

What is your biggest regret?

MR: Not looking into learning about AI sooner, I think.

NvdV: Not having learned programming earlier in my life.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

MR: Read more books.

NvdV: Become a morning person earlier.

WEEKLY POLL

ChatGPT and its rivals are becoming increasingly intelligent.

Do you think AI will change the way you work in the next few years? (Poll closes February 16)

No, they aren't human

Yes, it's inevitable

In certain ways, sure

I am unsure either way

LAST WEEK'S RESULTS

Last week, we asked you what you think the main barriers are to 11-bladed propellors becoming commercially avaialble. And you were divided between scalability (44%) and cost (44%.)

44%

Scalability

44%

Cost

11%

It's not commercially practical

Something else entirely