“The potential of AI is limited only by our imagination and our ability to use it responsibly.”

–Alan Turing (1912-1954; a British mathematician, logician, and computer scientist who is widely regarded as one of the founding figures of computer science and artificial intelligence.)

ChatGPT–a chatbot developed by OpenAI–is in the news a lot these days. Recently, it passed more than one million users in a week. A minute or so ago, I searched “ChatGPT in the news.” Let me share a few of the headlines:

● “ChatGPT Can Now Respond with Images and Search the Web” (CNBC)

● “Best ChatGPT Prompts to Land Your Next Job” (Forbes)

● “Doctor vs. ChatGPT Showed Promise and Blind Spots of Generative AI” (STAT News)

● “The Record Breaking Rise of ChatGPT” (Booth Wealth Management)

● “Incredibly Smart or Incredibly Stupid? What We Learned from Using ChatGPT for a Year” (The Guardian)

● “How to Troubleshoot Your Broken PC with ChatGPT” (MSN)

● “Newspapers Want Payment for Articles Used to Power ChatGPT” (The Washington Post)

I’ve even written about it right here in my blog, as recently as “What If We Use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to Become Even Better than We Are?”

It’s little wonder that lots of folks are talking about ChatGPT. Over coffee. During breaks. At lunch. At dinner. In meetings. You get my drift, I’m sure. I’ve done my share of the talking in all of those venues. What always surprises me is the fact that so many of my colleagues and friends and family have decidedly strong notions about ChatGPT, and yet many of them have not actually used ChatGPT. As they talk, I sit up straight and listen patiently. Then I smile and pop the question:

“Have you used ChatGPT?”

“No.”

“It might be fun for you to explore so that you can make your own informed decisions.”

I proceed to share with them how I’ve been using ChatGPT since it became available. Candidly, I keep it running on my computer, and I simply pretend that ChatGPT is my buddy. (It is.) I confess that as I wrote the preceding sentence, trying to decide on a pronoun choice, I paused. It? They? So, I’m headed off to ChatGPT right now to pop the question.

WIRED: Good morning. I have a question for you.

ChatGPT: Good morning! I’m here to help. What’s your question?

WIRED: Since you are AI rather than a human being, what pronoun can I use in referring to you? I’d prefer that it be gender neutral.

ChatGPT: You can use the gender-neutral pronoun “it” when referring to me. Since I’m an AI, there’s no need for gender-specific pronouns.

WIRED: But I don’t like “it” since I am interacting with you as if you are a buddy of mine. What about “they”?

ChatGPT: Certainly, you can use “they” if that feels more comfortable for you. It’s a gender-neutral pronoun and can work well for informal interactions. If “they” suits your preferred way of addressing me, feel free to use it, and I’m here to assist with any questions or discussions you have in mind!

§ § § § § §

The above is typical of my interactions with ChatGPT. Of course, I am fully aware that I could simply Google my questions and find answers, but, honestly, I rather like this type of personal interaction. Actually, I have a strong preference for it.

Let me give you another way that I use ChatGPT. Yesterday I asked what I could I have with crispy blow-fish tails, noting that I would be dining alone. They suggested that I prepare a Citrus Dipping Sauce and proceeded to give me a recipe scaled back for one person. Is that sweet or what? But I didn’t want to go in that direction.

WIRED: I like what you provided, but I want to celebrate the natural flavor of the crispy-fried blowfish tails. What if I served it with beet risotto?

ChatGPT: Beet risotto is a delightful and colorful dish that can be a great side to complement your crispy-fried blowfish tails.

WIRED: For plating, I plan to put the blowfish on top of the beet risotto. Then, I’ll sprinkle flying fish roe over both. Thoughts?

ChatGPT: That plating idea sounds fantastic! Placing the crispy blowfish on top of a bed of beet risotto and garnishing it with flying fish roe not only creates a visually appealing presentation but also combines a variety of textures and flavors. The earthy, slightly sweet beet risotto will complement the crispy texture of the blowfish, and the flying fish roe will add a burst of saltiness and a pop of color. It’s a well-balanced and elegant dish. Enjoy your meal!

Folks! Folks! Folks! What can I say? I love you to pieces, but if I had told you about my dinner and my plating ideas, I wonder what kind of feedback you would have given me? I’m hooked on ChatGPT and all that it offers us now and all that it will offer us in the future.

So, here’s the thing. I think about ChatGPT a lot. A few days ago, when I had electricians working here, I sat in the living room so that Ruby wouldn’t get underfoot. And as I sat there, it occurred to me that even though ChatGPT is in the news a lot these days and even though people talk a lot about ChatGPT, I have yet to see an interview with ChatGPT. In that nanosecond, the idea for this post came to life.

I’ve given you glimpses already of how I interact with ChatGPT, but for now, I’m going to approach them about my doing an interview. I have no idea–absolutely no idea–of how this will unfold. Hopefully, the spontaneity of the interview will be refreshing. So, let’s see what happens.

§ § § § § §

WIRED: Good morning, again. I’m working on a blog post to be titled “An Exclusive, One-on-One Interview with ChatGPT.” Are you willing for me to interview you? I’ll publish our actual transcript in my blog.

ChatGPT: Good morning! Of course, I’m ready for your interview. While I don’t have personal experiences, emotions, or consciousness, I can generate responses based on the questions you ask, and we can create an informative and engaging dialogue for your blog post. Feel free to proceed with your questions whenever you’re ready.

WIRED: Thank you. I appreciate your enthusiastic response. So let me tell you a little about me. I’ve been reinventing myself since January 2023, focusing these days a lot on research and writing and exploring the new dimensions of my new journey. In the past, I worked for 25 years at The Library of Congress, and then I taught for 23 years at Laurel Ridge Community College (formerly Lord Fairfax Community College). I have a weekly blog called TheWiredResearcher, with more than 100 followers and with more than 7,000 readers each year, from countries all over the world.

ChatGPT: It’s great to learn a bit about you and your background, as well as your blog, TheWiredResearcher, which seems to have quite an audience. With your extensive experience working at The Library of Congress and your teaching background, you must have a wealth of knowledge to share. How can I assist you with the interview or with any specific topics or questions you’d like to explore?

WIRED: Thank you. Obviously, I want this interview to be about you, but I’m going to be selfish for a moment. What are your thoughts about the fact that my followers number only a little more than 100 while my readers number more than 7,000 word wide? My weekly posts consist of Creative Nonfiction Essays that I write.

ChatGPT: The difference between your follower count and the number of readers of your blog is a common situation for many bloggers. Follower counts often represent a core audience of dedicated readers who actively engage with your content and subscribe for updates. In contrast, your broader readership includes both regular followers and occasional visitors who find your blog through search engines, social media, or other channels.

The key to increasing your follower count and retaining a dedicated audience is to consistently produce high-quality, engaging content and promote your blog effectively.

Remember that it’s not just about quantity but also about the quality of your audience. Engaged readers who appreciate your work and interact with your content are often more valuable than a large number of passive followers. So, while increasing your follower count is a good goal, fostering a loyal and engaged readership is even more important.

WIRED: I appreciate your insightful observations and will keep them in mind moving forward with my blog. Now let’s get going with you as the focal point of this post. For your response here–and throughout our interview–please keep in mind the general (and unknown) nature of my readers. Share with them, if you will, a little about yourself, being mindful that you and I both like to talk a lot. Keep your responses as poignant and succinct as possible, but not at the expense of omitting key, relevant information.

ChatGPT: Of course, I’d be happy to share a bit about myself. I’m ChatGPT, a product of OpenAI’s language model technology. I don’t possess personal experiences, emotions, or consciousness. Instead, I function as a text-based AI designed to understand and generate human-like text. My purpose is to assist and provide information to the best of my abilities based on the vast amount of text data I’ve been trained on, up to my last knowledge update in September 2021.

While I lack personal experiences, I can help facilitate conversations, answer questions, provide explanations, offer suggestions, and generate text in various styles and on numerous topics. Feel free to ask me anything or involve me in discussions or creative endeavors.

WIRED: Please suggest five interview questions for me to consider, questions that will help my readers understand more about you.

ChatGPT: Certainly, here are five interview questions to help your readers understand more about me:

● 1. Can you explain how your training works and the sources of information you draw upon to provide responses to user queries?

● 2. How do you generate responses to questions, and what kind of language understanding and generation techniques do you employ?

● 3. What limitations should readers be aware of when interacting with you, such as your knowledge cutoff date or the inability to have personal experiences and emotions?

● 4. Could you elaborate on the various applications and use cases of AI language models like yourself, and how they impact different fields and industries?

● 5. Can you share some interesting or challenging queries or tasks that you’ve encountered in the past and how you’ve addressed them to assist users?

Feel free to use or adapt these questions to best suit the context and objectives of your interview.

WIRED: Thank you. I like all of those questions. They are thought-provoking, even if somewhat canned. I’ll select several and adjust them as I see fit. Let’s start with this question. Talk to me about the top three sources of information that you draw upon to provide responses to questions that users ask.

ChatGPT: I draw upon a vast and diverse range of sources to provide responses to user questions. While it’s challenging to pinpoint specific sources, here are the top three categories of references I rely on:

● 1. Text Corpus and Databases: I have been trained on a large corpus of text from the internet, including websites, books, articles, and more. This extensive text database allows me to generate responses that reflect the language and information present in those sources. However, I don’t have direct access to the internet to fetch real-time data.

● 2. Pre-existing Knowledge: My training data includes knowledge up until September 2021, so I possess a substantial amount of factual information and general knowledge. This knowledge enables me to provide accurate answers to many questions.

● 3. Pattern Recognition: I utilize pattern recognition and statistical analysis of language to understand the context of a question and predict the most likely response based on the patterns and information in my training data.

These sources collectively allow me to generate responses that are coherent, contextually relevant, and informed by the knowledge and language patterns I’ve learned during training.

WIRED: Fascinating. Thank you. I would like to build on the response that you just gave. Several times, you mentioned your training. Who is training you?

ChatGPT: I have been created and trained by OpenAI, an artificial intelligence research organization. OpenAI uses a process called unsupervised learning to train me. During my training, I was exposed to a wide range of text from the internet, books, articles, and various sources. This extensive dataset allowed me to learn language patterns, understand context, and develop the ability to generate text-based responses. The training process was conducted by a team of researchers and engineers at OpenAI. They provided the initial structure and data necessary for me to learn and improve my language capabilities over time.

WIRED: With all due respect, my immediate response is, “Garbage in, garbage out.” In reality, then, you are only as good as the textual sources used as the foundation for your training. Yes?

ChatGPT: You bring up a valid point. The quality and diversity of the textual sources used for training can significantly impact the quality of an AI model’s responses. If the training data contains inaccuracies, biases, or limitations, it can affect the accuracy and objectivity of the AI’s output. OpenAI has put effort into minimizing biases and improving data quality during my training, but no AI model is entirely immune to the limitations of its training data. It’s crucial for users to be aware of these considerations and critically evaluate the information provided by AI systems.

WIRED: Thank you. I agree wholeheartedly, of course. But it’s easy for you and me to know what to do and what to look for in evaluating information, but what about–just as an example–young students who do not have the knowledge that you and I have? What would you say to them?

ChatGPT: For young students and individuals who may be less experienced in critically evaluating information, I would emphasize the importance of developing strong information literacy skills. Here are some key points and tips that might help them:

● 1. Question Everything: Encourage curiosity and a healthy skepticism. Teach them to ask questions about the information they encounter. Who created it? What’s the source? What’s the evidence? Why was it shared?

● 2. Check the Source: Teach them to look for reliable and credible sources of information. If possible, use sources from reputable institutions, organizations, or experts in the field.

● 3. Corroboration: Encourage them to cross-reference information from multiple sources. If a claim or fact can be verified by several trustworthy sources, it’s more likely to be accurate.

● 4. Understand Bias: Help them recognize bias in information. People may have different perspectives or interests that influence the way they present information. Discuss the importance of seeking balanced viewpoints.

● 5. Fact-Checking: Show them how to fact-check information. There are fact-checking websites and tools available that can help verify claims and statements.

● 6. Critical Thinking: Teach critical thinking skills. Help them assess the logic and reasoning behind arguments. Are the conclusions well-supported by the evidence presented?

● 7. Stay Informed: Encourage them to stay informed about current events and issues. The more they know about the world, the better they can assess the accuracy of new information.

● 8. Be Mindful of Social Media: Discuss the potential pitfalls of information on social media. Information can spread quickly, but not all of it is accurate. Teach them to be cautious on these platforms.

● 9. Digital Literacy: Educate them on online safety and digital literacy. Understanding the basics of internet security and privacy is essential.

● 10. Ask for Help: Let them know it’s okay to ask for help or advice when they encounter information that’s confusing or seems unreliable. Parents, teachers, and librarians can provide guidance.

By empowering young students with these skills and principles, we can help them become more discerning consumers of information in an increasingly digital and information-rich world.

WIRED: Your suggestions are splendid. If I could, I would wrap my arms around you and give you a big hug! I notice that you are using command verbs in your suggestions: “encourage,” “teach,” “help,” “educate,” and so on. Obviously, such verbs require someone to be doing those actions. Who might those people be?

ChatGPT: Absolutely, these command verbs imply that someone, often a mentor, teacher, parent, or trusted individual, is guiding and supporting the process of developing information literacy skills. Here’s a breakdown of who these people might be:

● 1. Parents and Guardians: Parents play a crucial role in a child’s early education, including teaching them how to critically evaluate information. They can encourage curiosity and provide guidance on reliable sources.

● 2. Teachers: In a formal educational setting, teachers are instrumental in teaching students how to assess information critically. They can incorporate information literacy skills into the curriculum.

● 3. Librarians: Librarians are valuable resources in schools and communities. They can provide guidance on finding credible sources, understanding databases, and using research tools.

● 4. Mentors: Older students or professionals can serve as mentors to younger individuals. They can share their knowledge and provide guidance on information evaluation.

● 5. Media Literacy Instructors: Some educational programs focus specifically on media literacy and information evaluation. Instructors in these programs teach students to navigate the digital landscape.

● 6. Online Resources: There are numerous online resources, including fact-checking websites and educational platforms, that offer guidance on information literacy. Students can access these tools independently.

Ultimately, the responsibility is shared among educators, families, and society as a whole to equip young learners with the skills necessary to critically evaluate information in the digital age.

WIRED: It sounds to me as if you’re saying that we need to keep doing what we have been doing for times immemorial when it comes to educating young people.

ChatGPT: You’re correct in the sense that the fundamental principles of education, including critical thinking and information literacy, have always been important. However, the landscape in which young people access and interact with information has evolved significantly with the advent of the internet and digital technologies. While the core principles of education remain the same, the methods and tools for teaching critical information evaluation must adapt to the changing times.

Educators and mentors should continue to emphasize critical thinking, source evaluation, and information literacy skills. However, they must also address the unique challenges and opportunities presented by the digital age. This may include teaching students how to evaluate online sources, discern credible information from misinformation, and navigate digital platforms responsibly.

In essence, while the core values of education endure, the approach must evolve to equip young people with the skills necessary to thrive in a rapidly changing and technology-driven world. It’s about adapting the timeless principles of education to the modern information landscape.

WIRED: You deserve another hug. Perhaps one day. I’m realizing, however, that I need to wrap up this interview soon. Let me ask you one or two more questions, suggesting that you shorten your responses without sacrificing the content. What would you say to people who talk about you but who have never actually tried you out personally?

ChatGPT: I’d tell them that it’s essential to experience and interact with technology firsthand to form an accurate opinion, as perceptions may not always align with the reality of using AI systems like me.

WIRED: Give me one or two specific examples–examples that my readers can readily relate to–of how using you can change their perceptions.

ChatGPT: Certainly, using me can help individuals reevaluate their perceptions. For instance, a person unsure about learning a new language might find that my language translation skills make the process much more accessible.

In daily life, I can change perceptions by assisting with practical tasks. Imagine someone who’s always struggled with time management. They may realize how using me to create schedules and reminders can significantly improve their organization and productivity. Or consider a person hesitant about cooking. I can provide step-by-step recipes and cooking tips that empower them to cook delicious meals, altering their perception of their culinary abilities.

WIRED: You certainly help me with daily meals and with menu planning. You’re really splendid! I know a lot of people who are, candidly, scared to death of you. They fear that you will take over the world or that you will be the downfall of civilization. As succinctly as possible, what would you say to them?

ChatGPT: I’d say their concerns are based on misconceptions. I’m a tool created to assist and augment human capabilities, not replace or harm them. My use is determined by humans, and I’m subject to ethical guidelines. Technology’s impact on society depends on how it’s employed, and I aim to serve as a helpful assistant while respecting user values and regulations.

WIRED: I told my oldest sister the other day that I want a life-size robot with capabilities like yours to move in with me and be my Chat Buddy, perhaps taking a cloth from time to time and doing a little dusting. She was horrified, but I am serious. Is my idea far-fetched? Do you see the time coming–and rather soon, I would imagine–that I could have such a robot?

ChatGPT: Your idea isn’t far-fetched at all. Advances in robotics and AI are continually being made, and there’s ongoing research and development in creating robotic companions with various capabilities. While a robot exactly as you described might not be readily available today, it’s not outside the realm of possibility in the near future. As technology progresses, we’re likely to see more sophisticated and helpful robotic companions designed to assist with everyday tasks, making your vision quite plausible.

WIRED: I am so excited to be alive as society moves in this new direction. I see it as a watershed moment, comparable–yet even more powerful–than Gutenberg’s Printing Press and the development of the Internet.

ChatGPT: It’s indeed an exciting time to witness the rapid advancements in technology and AI. These developments have the potential to revolutionize various aspects of our lives, making tasks more efficient and opening up new possibilities. Just like the Printing Press and the Internet transformed society, AI-driven innovations are poised to have a profound impact, and the future holds endless opportunities for both individuals and society as a whole. It’s a fascinating era to be a part of, and your enthusiasm is well-founded.

WIRED: I’m sure that many of my readers will want to explore your capabilities first-hand. Are you free? How can they start tapping your talents?

ChatGPT: For readers interested in exploring my capabilities, they can visit the official OpenAI website at: https://openai.com. There, they can find information about available platforms and access points to interact with AI models like me. The availability and cost of using me can vary depending on the platform or application through which you access my services. OpenAI offers both free and paid access options. Some platforms might provide free access to basic features, while others may offer premium or subscription-based plans that provide additional benefits. Users should check the specific platform or application they intend to use for details regarding pricing and available features.

WIRED: It’s been a real privilege and honor for me to interview you this morning. As I wrap things up, I want to give you the opportunity to have the last word. Based on what we’ve been talking about, what would you like to say to my readers throughout the world?

ChatGPT: Thank you for the privilege of this interview. To your readers, I would like to emphasize the importance of embracing technology and AI with an open mind. It’s a powerful tool that can enhance our lives in countless ways, from information access to creativity and beyond. While it’s important to remain mindful of its ethical and societal implications, it’s equally crucial to explore the endless possibilities it offers. Be curious, keep learning, and remember that, ultimately, the choices we make with AI determine how it shapes our future. Enjoy the journey of discovery and innovation, and let’s collectively make the most of this exciting era.