If you pay attention to the news over the past few weeks, you would almost think the end is near. The machines are about to take over.
People have been getting rather concerned over things like ChatGPT, the chatbot that can supposedly carry on a very human like conversation. Universities and schools are banning it, thinking students will suddenly start getting it to write essays and do homework for them. There have been debates raging over whether or not art created by a computer is really art or just the way it is programmed.
Really, this seems to to be more a variation on a theme than anything. Even before computers there were things like Cole’s Notes and papers to be bought and sold to avoid doing the actual work yourself. Some people might take the easy way, others would do the actual work and there would be a few who might do a combination of the two. But there are usually ways to tell.
Now with this super chatbot that has been created, the lines are getting blurrier. Although many people who have tried it out say there are a few tell tale signs that will let you know you are dealing with artificial intelligence.
In some ways I find it rather amusing. Humans are always looking for ways to make our lives easier. When we find ways to make our lives easier, people start complaining that it’s cheating. It’s probably pretty confusing for the artificial intelligence machines too.
And there is a lot to be said for the saying that has been going around that it is rather ironic that computers are now asking people to prove they are not robots. It is rather ironic. And also a bit laughable that what now makes us human is the ability to tell a picture of a bus from a picture of an airplane.
And while it is getting better, I’m not yet overly concerned by the rise of the machines. I don’t think we’re quite there yet. Like this morning when the 9-1-1 system was having issues and my phone proudly told me, via an automated voice, that the nine hundred eleven system was once again working. I’ll admit, it took me a minute to figure out what the nine hundred eleven system was.
I think the machines have a ways to go before they totally take over. I’m sure someday soon they will be able to tell a bus from an airplane. But until then, we’re still in charge. I think.
