ChatGPT: Friend or Foe?

By Bahar Golbon

ChatGPT has garnered heavy media attention in the past year as a breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI). It was created by OpenAI and introduced on their website on November 30, 2022, for public use. Its launch was met with intrigue and heavy controversy, resulting in the expression of highly polarized opinions.

ChatGPT, or ‘Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer’, was named after its ability to produce human-like responses and its development based on the GPT-3.5 model. The AI software’s data is limited to September 2021, meaning it cannot retrieve information on events beyond this point and does not learn from its experience. Nevertheless, ChatGPT can produce content such as news articles, translate information between languages, and provide personalized recommendations for products or content based on user data. As such, uses of the model span many industries. On March 14, 2023, OpenAI revealed the newest version of the AI technology, GPT-4. It is currently in limited beta testing, but ChatGPT Plus has been trained with GPT-4 and is available for public use at $20 USD/month.

Despite its impressive abilities, the scientific research community has been skeptical about accepting ChatGPT in practice. High-impact journals such as Science and Nature have expressed concern about using this tool in publications. Recent authorship guidelines published by Nature state: “Large Language Models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, do not currently satisfy our authorship criteria.”1 Similarly, Science released: “Text generated from AI, machine learning, or similar algorithmic tools cannot be used in papers published in Science journals, nor can the accompanying figures, images, or graphics be the products of such tools...In addition, an AI program cannot be an author of a Science journal paper.”2

All authors are responsible for producing truthful and ethical research for which they are held liable; ChatGPT does not fit this definition. It has been known to make fabricated statements and cannot be held responsible for any ‘hallucinations’. An example is the software’s ability to convincingly present information from publications that do not exist.3 Although some believe that the tool was never meant to be used for data collection but for text generation instead, ChatGPT can still exacerbate misinformation. As researchers, our main concern is mitigating any bias, which can severely skew and cause misinterpretation of findings. Since this tool has been trained using vast amounts of data produced by humans, it carries inherent biases in its outputs. OpenAI recognizes ChatGPT’s unfortunate gender, race, cultural, and political biases. For example, a recent article from Brookings referenced two separate queries evaluating President Biden and President Trump. ChatGPT highlighted more positive events, such as his notable accomplishments, when describing President Biden.4 Although scientific research is never wholly objective and flawless, it is crucial to be aware of the biases that our tools introduce. Thus, mindlessly employing ChatGPT in all aspects of one’s research can be incredibly dangerous.

There have also been questions surrounding the privacy regulations of ChatGPT. On March 31, 2023, Italy banned the use of ChatGPT due to this rising concern.5 The Italian Data Protection Authority was concerned that ChatGPT was unlawfully collecting user data and providing access to inappropriate media to underage users. However, as of late April 2023, it has been reinstated in Italy as OpenAI has implemented tools to protect European users.6 Unsurprisingly, other countries, including Canada, Germany, France, Ireland, and Spain, have jumped on the bandwagon and are considering opening investigations into the software.6

Conversely, other organizations clearly see a benefit in this software as a means to improve autonomy and accessibility among disadvantaged individuals. On March 14, 2023, OpenAI announced its collaboration with Be My Eyes, an assistance app for the visually impaired, with the introduction of the Be My Eyes Virtual Volunteer.7 The chatbot is an image-to-text generator where users can upload various images. The AI software provides spoken language back, thus, significantly improving autonomy in decision-making among visually impaired individuals. For example, users can snap a picture of a bottle of sauce in the grocery store, and the software can name it (even if the bottle is written in a different language). It can also provide step-by-step recipes using the ingredient! Currently, the virtual volunteer is in closed beta testing, however, a waitlist is available for eager users. On the same day, OpenAI announced its partnership with Duolingo, a widely used language learning app, by offering Duolingo Max.8 It provides learners with the basic Duolingo interactive exercises and two new features: Explain My Answer (a chatbot that explains why your answer was correct or incorrect) and Roleplay (a chatbot that engages in conversation). Duolingo Max aims to provide highly personalized feedback to all users at an affordable price ($30 USD/month or $168 USD/year). This is substantially more reasonable, considering English tutors charge $30/hour on average,9 ultimately improving access to language lessons. However, both companies understand the shortcomings of GPT-4 and are carefully reviewing feedback to ensure the quality of their apps. Nonetheless, a growing number of companies are integrating GPT-4 into their apps or websites, including Stripe (international payment), Khan Academy/Khamingo (education), Snapchat (social media), and most notably, Microsoft’s search engine, Bing. Other mega-companies seem to be envious of this widespread use of ChatGPT and are challenging OpenAI by launching their own AI-powered chatbots, including Google.10

It would be naïve to deny the growing gaps AI software can address and the billions being contributed to this industry by influential tech giants, however, continuing the conversation about its benefits and drawbacks is critical. AI has profoundly impacted humanity in its infancy, so I and millions are anxious to see what comes next. Who knows, maybe this article was authored by ChatGPT (or should I say “me”)…?

References

1. Authorship | Nature Portfolio [Internet]. Nature. 2023. Available from: https://www.nature.com/nature-portfolio/editorial-policies/ authorship

2. Science Journals: Editorial Policies [Internet]. Science. Available from: https://www.science.org/content/page/ science-journals-editorial-policies?adobe_mc=MCMID% 3D79730734082570706754102817179663373464%7CMCORGID%3D242B6472541199F70A4C98A6%2540AdobeOrg%7CTS%3D1675352420#authorship

3. Welborn A. ChatGPT and Fake Citations [Internet]. Duke. 2023. Available from: https://blogs.library.duke.edu/blog/2023/03/09/ chatgpt-and-fake-citations/

4. Baum J, Villasenor J. The politics of AI: ChatGPT and political bias [Internet]. Brookings. 2023. Available from: https://www.brookings. edu/blog/techtank/2023/05/08/the-politics-of-ai-chatgpt-and-political-bias/

5. McCallum S. ChatGPT banned in Italy over privacy concerns [Internet]. BBC News. 2023. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/ news/technology-65139406

6. Robertson A. ChatGPT returns to Italy after ban. The Verge. 2023.

7. Introducing Our Virtual Volunteer Tool for People who are Blind or Have Low Vision, Powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 [Internet]. Be My Eyes. Available from: https://www.bemyeyes.com/blog/introducing-be-my-eyes-virtual-volunteer

8. Duolingo Team. Duolingo Max Uses OpenAI’s GPT-4 For New Learning Features [Internet]. 2023. Available from: https://blog. duolingo.com/duolingo-max/

9. How Much Do English Tutors Cost? [Internet]. TutorOcean. Available from: https://corp.tutorocean.com/costs/how-much-doenglish-tutors-cost/

10. Kleinman Z. Bard: Google launches ChatGPT rival [Internet]. BBC News. 2023. Available from: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-64546299