Write Expectations – The Generative AI Chronicles

It’s hard to keep up on everything happening in the world of Generative AI and tools like ChatGPT.

It’s hard because things are improving, evolving and devolving at a very fast pace.
That’s usually a sign of excitement (for those who use it).
That’s usually a sign of skepticism (for those who are… skeptics).

Here’s what we’re seeing this week (can you spot the trends and the threads?)…

• It looks like ChatGPT’s traffic is down (about 10%)… some think it’s because the kids are on vacation from school while others believe that the excitement might be waning. My two cents? Everyone had a blog back in the early 2000s until everyone realized that they’re not serious/regular writers/creators. Often the excitement of what the tool can do then trends towards those who really need to use it in their lives. Perhaps, we’re just seeing the froth go, while the actual good stuff is used by those who really need it?
• With that, some studies now suggest that using ChatGPT can turn bad writers into better ones? This is interesting. Many believed that tools like this would help those who can’t write to create something mediocre… and help those with the writing skills be more creative. Maybe it’s all of that and the ability for people to learn/get better as they use the tool? Did spell-checking and grammar tools make people worse or better at those skills? It’s a fair argument to make that seeing your mistakes is a great teacher.
• Now, for those who are really using ChatGPT for writing, it can actually increase your writing productivity… by 40%?!? Imagine if your writing tasks had that kind of productivity bump… maybe ChatGPT can get you there?

But… but… it’s not all bellyrubs and roses…

• It seems like Sam Altman (from OpenAI and the creators of ChatGPT and Dall-e) are being investigated by US regulators over data privacy and wrong answers. So, Altman goes in front of congress and asks for AI regulation, but it starts in an area that may not be ideal for the company, and… the information was leaked by someone in the government to the media, which doesn’t bode well for a true partnership between AI companies and the government in terms of establishing trust and credibility.
• The competition is real. Anthropic (which is a $4 billion OpenAI competitor) debuted a new AI chatbot called, Claude. It has some interesting differences from ChatGPT including the ability to summarize 75,000 words to ChatGPT’s 3000-word limit. Its information cutoff is early 2023 compared to ChatGPT’s September 2021 and more. I’ve tried Claude, and it seems quite effective as well. Claude is new… and there are others.

Lots and lots going on in the Generative AI world.

What is Tech Tuesday?

Every Tuesday – for just a few minutes – I join Heather Backman (my old buddy from her days on CHOM FM and Jack 103) on the air at 95.9 Star FM to give a quick blast about the current state of technology, media and Internet culture.
We call it Tech Tuesday (and we do it in just a few minutes).

Once the segment goes live on 95.9 Star FM, I will post it here for you to listen in, learn, share and engage.

https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/1568328424

Before you go… ThinkersOne  is a new way for organizations to buy bite-sized and personalized thought leadership video content (live and recorded) from the best Thinkers in the world. If you’re looking to add excitement  and big smarts to your meetings, corporate events, company off-sites, “lunch & learns” and beyond, check it out.