ChatGPT: get to know the new generative artificial intelligence
ChatGPT is on everyone’s tongue. In recent months, its popularity has not ceased to grow, and it has become a trending topic in social networks and the media. But what is it exactly? How does it work. And, of course, what are its main uses from the entrepreneurial point of view?
At the LAB Foundation, we shall go through all of these questions in order to get a better understanding of this new model of artificial intelligence which is revolutionizing the world. The truth is that the numbers speak for themselves. Just five days after its launch, it already had a million users and, as we write these lines, ChatGPT sends us the following message: ‘ChatGPT is at capacity right now’.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a chatbot supported by a model of generative artificial intelligence, created by OpenAI, capable “of generating coherent, natural responses to questions on a variety of subjects, from history to technology as well as pop culture”. We have placed this between inverted commas because it is the description that ChatGPT gives of itself. It further adds: “ChatGPT has been trained with millions of texts and conversations, which allows it to understand context and respond in a relevant way. This makes it a valuable tool for a wide range of applications, from customer service to content creation”.
In fact, it is this coherence in dialogue that makes this artificial intelligence tool unprecedented, unlike those known to us so far. It is one of the most capable AI systems known, as it goes beyond asking and answering questions; it is also capable of generating news, creating summaries, generating ideas for new projects or building complex developments in programming languages.
How does ChatGPT work: learning system and doubts about its reliability
ChatGPT, like other artificial intelligence systems, requires training in order to work with text. You ask questions, information is added, and corrections are made until it is capable of performing a series of tasks automatically. In this particular case of AI, which is trained to hold a conversation with anybody, its algorithms interpret what you are asking, and it is capable of giving a coherent answer within the context of the question posed.
However, herein lies its main controversy: is this answer always correct and true to reality? On the one hand, the very normal way it has of expressing itself is surprising, which makes it hard to distinguish if the text was written by a person or artificial intelligence. In addition, its simple operation, just like a Google search, makes it a very useful and user-friendly tool, only helping to heighten the debate on its use.
In this respect, a student can use ChatGPT to write up 1,000 words on a specific subject. This artificial intelligence will generate the content before you have time to make the first search for information on Google. However, is the content accurate? Should we take everything ChatGPT gives as a response as being true? We must understand that the working of this AI, as its own name indicates, is generative, that is, it is trained to generate content that is syntactically and morphologically correct and that makes sense in the context of the conversation, but this generated content is not the result of a search and, therefore, is not necessarily real.
The debate on artificial intelligence: pros and cons
As with all technological innovation (this clearly is), the debate is guaranteed and ChatGPT already has its own “army” of defenders, though there are also many detractors. On the one hand are those who see this new system of artificial intelligence as an encouraging achievement towards creating an almost human AI. Others, on the other hand, highlight the proven inaccuracy of many data it offers in order to dampen the enthusiasm.
Before going more deeply into the debate, we shall let it speak for itself, let it be prudent when defining itself after being asked, who are you?: “As a language model trained by OpenAI, I can process language and speak in a way similar to a human being. This means that I can understand questions and provide coherent answers using human language. However, unlike a human being, I have no self-awareness or the ability to think and reason autonomously. I am simply a computer program designed to imitate human language”.
On the side of the defenders, we have the expert in Artificial Intelligence and director of the ELLIS Foundation in Alicante, Nuria Oliver, who, in a recent interview for EFE Noticias, stated that the potential and advantages of ChatGPT “are much greater than its disadvantages”. This is why, for example, she does not share the decision by the city of New York or the Institute of Political Studies of Paris to ban the use of artificial intelligence in their classrooms. For her, this AI implies “a deeper transformation” of education, beyond the ban of its use or not, which is why “it is important to consider which positive elements these great advances afford so that each student can reach their potential, to promote writing and encourage creativity».
On the opposite side, Julio Gonzalo, vice-rector of research at the UNED, in an article in El País, explained that this online artificial intelligence is not capable of reasoning and does not have explicit knowledge. As he claims: “if ChatGPT were used today as a substitute for the university, it would be catastrophic, because ChatGPT lies with the same assurance as when it says things that are true”.
ChatGPT creates an irresistible illusion of rational thought. But it is no more than a language model which *does not reason* or have *reliable knowledge* of the world. Below is an example of how it is carried away by its interlocutor and starts to rant. pic.twitter.com/jITyRA3sz7
— Julio Gonzalo (@JulioGonzalo1) December 3, 2022
Uses of- ChatGPT for companies
Now that this artificial intelligence has made the leap to the mainstream, the LAB Foundation would like to explain how companies can make proper use of a technology with such great potential. Below, we set out some of the first uses to emerge at the business level in order to improve the efficiency of certain processes/jobs.
- An improved artificial intelligence. With ChatGPT, the existing chatbots, computer programs that simulate human conversation through a chat, can be significantly improved thanks to its greater comprehension of language. The new bots will improve with regard to the quality offered in customer service, as they can understand and meet customers’ needs. Nowadays, the bots’ answers are extremely limited, whereas ChatGPT understands the context of the conversation and, therefore, can improve its experience.
- Automating commercial cycles and sales. Will this artificial intelligence be capable of doing away with sales work? We still cannot answer that question, but it could speed up administrative tasks so that sales people can focus on the more human side of the sales cycle and respond to the individual needs of each case. This would be possible thanks to the fact that ChatGPT stands out in the automation of processes like large-scale email writing or creating sales documents.
- Quick and well-optimized translations. One of the advantages of this tool of online artificial intelligence is its ability to do translations requiring minimum editing. For now, ChatGPT can translate quite accurately several languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Chinese or Japanese. What can still be achieved is greater agility in processes and reduction in costs, as only a subsequent review by an expert would be required.
- Creation of content for social networks. The immediacy in which we live means that businesses and brands need to be present on many social platforms, while generating constant content for them. This is where the help that ChatGPT can offer comes in, from writing up a script for a YouTube video to drawing up a blog post for a website, or variations for PPC (pay per click) ads, an online advertising model. In this way, you do away with the operational part in order to focus on efforts in strategy to make it more powerful and ambitious.
- Semantic searches. This is probably the most horizontal use of all, one we lean on in contents generated in our company, in order to afford context to the conversation we can have with ChatGPT, so that we can limit our responses to content previously generated within the organisation. This would allow us to summarize memorandums, compare versions of contracts, extract relevant content in agreements, etc.
Fundación LAB Mediterráneo
Fundación LAB Mediterráneo is a project created by AVE with the mission of positioning the Region of Valencia as a national and European benchmark in entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and research.
To achieve this, it has set itself five objectives: to promote the creation and attraction of technology start-ups; to work to attract national and international technology companies to set up in the Valencia Region and create a ‘tractor effect’; to promote support for companies in non-technological sectors to accelerate their digital transformation; to contribute to increasing private investment in R&D&I; and to help promote research.
The Foundation’s Board of Trustees is made up of the following entities Aceitunas Cazorla, Aquaservice/Plug and Play, AVE, Baleària, Banco Sabadell, Boluda Corporación Marítima, CaixaBank, Dacsa Group, Embutidos Martínez/KMZERO, GDES, Grupo AZA, Grupo Bertolín, Grupo Gimeno, Helados Estiu, Importaco, Lanzadera, Logifruit, Nunsys, Royo/ Invext, S2 Grupo, SPB/Cleanity TIBA/Romeu, Verne Technology Group y Zeus/Sesame.
