Should you be using ChatGPT? Experts say ‘yes,’ but don’t confuse it with a friend
When research and development company OpenAI released ChatGPT late last year, it instantly attracted the attention of the media and general public.
In just two months, the artificial intelligence software—or a chatbot that can process natural human language and generate answers—reached 100 million active users monthly, beating TikTok (nine months), Instagram (20) and Uber (70) to that milestone.
05/15/23 – BOSTON, MA. – ChatGPT stock on May 15, 2023. Photo by Matthew Modoono/Northeastern University
“AI will become more and more ubiquitous. This trend cannot be stopped,” says Dakuo Wang, associate professor at Northeastern University, whose research lies at the intersection of human-computer interaction and artificial intelligence.
Wang advises everyone who hasn’t done so to try using the public version of ChatGPT.
“It’s called AI literacy,” Wang says.
Everyone needs to start learning what AI can and cannot do, he says, and playing with ChatGPT can help relieve people’s concerns about AI taking over the world or eliminating jobs.
AI will change people’s lives and jobs, Wang says, but it will not replace humans. Instead, more productive people who embrace AI will replace less productive people who are reluctant to learn how it works.
So, how can an average person use ChatGPT or other chatbots like Replika? Let’s start with the less obvious ones.