Overnight, it seems a new technology called ChatGPT has captured the imagination of the Artificial Intelligence world. Suddenly, we are reading about it everywhere and an increasing number of companies, investors and industry watchers are talking about it. We are all excited and confused. So, what does this really mean? Let’s take a closer look.
ChatGPT seems real. That being said, the first question is will it be a short-term or long-term growth player. The second question is, will this new technology be a real hit or a miss?
Remember, we are gullible. Always have been. Let me give you an example. You remember the Segway: the two wheeled, self-balancing, auto driven device we were all going to be using.
Well, we all got caught up in the PR storm after its launch in 1999, with over-the-top fanfare. But where are they today? Have they changed the world? No. Today, the Segway is still around here and there. They are used by police in crowds or for city tours, but not the success story we were promised and expected.
Will ChatGPT be long-term success or short-term blip on radar screen?
There are plenty of important questions that need to be answered about the future potential of ChatGPT. We need to determine if it will lead in the AI space going forward or if it is just one step and will be replaced by another more advanced technology moving forward.
To make sense of all this excitement and noise, it is important to understand where we stand today with Artificial Intelligence. This seems like a brand-new technology, but it has really been with us in varying degrees for many decades.
You recall a decade ago when IBM Watson was introduced on the TV game show Jeopardy in 2011 and blew everyone away. It had been in development for years by that time. We thought IBM lit the fuse on exciting growth in this new technology.
Years later, in 2016 IBM reached their peak and held their massive World of Watson event in Las Vegas. It was huge and exciting with prominent speakers from around the world telling their stories of Watson. Then poof, it seemed to suddenly disappear.
AI has been with us and growing for decades in fits and spurts
That’s been the world of AI over the last several decades. Waves of huge fanfare, then quiet, over and over again.
Today, things have heated up once again. Will it last this time?
Today AI has advanced further and faster than ever before. Today new and advanced technologies are joining with AI, quickly transforming it in the mind of the marketplace.
Could this be the time when AI growth really takes off, long-term? That is the big question we are asking today with ChatGPT.
The truth is, whether the public realizes it or not, artificial intelligence has been growing and advancing within countless companies and industries, worldwide.
In fact, today we all use it and interact with it already. Example, today we speak with computers over the phone, and it directs our call. Sometimes, we never talk with a real, live human being, yet the problem gets solved. That’s the power of AI.
ChatGPT was introduced by OpenAI in November 2022
Within all the confusing chaos and noise around AI, ChatGPT was born. It was introduced in November 2022, just a few short months ago by OpenAI, which is a research laboratory in California.
Unlike other big ideas which take time to reach the boiling point, this seems to have reached it right out of the gates. Increasingly, companies seem to be jumping onto the AI bandwagon touting ChatGPT.
While this kind of frenzy is exhilarating, it also leads one to wonder if like a firework it will burn bright for one-brief-moment, then quickly burn out and disappear into obscurity.
Will ChatGPT be the long-term winner in AI?
So far, I like what I see with ChatGPT. The question I am asking is this. Is this really the next step in developing a talking AI computer system.
Like the Ford “Model T” a century ago, ChatGPT will continue to grow and change as it advances going forward. But will it be the long-term leader, or will another new technology enter and take the spotlight the way Google did from Yahoo! in web search years ago?
Remember how excited we were when DSL was introduced giving us faster internet connections without using the phone line. As exciting as that was, it was replaced by other, faster technology.
Today, who uses DSL? Internet speed started with the phone company and then moved to cable TV companies. So, things can and often do change.
Will ChatGPT last or will it be replaced like DSL lines for Internet
So, the question we must ask today is, will this OpenAI ChatGPT be the technology that continues to grow and own this space, or will it just be the first step, replaced by other ideas and technologies from other research labs or companies?
These are some of the big questions we do not yet know the answer to yet. Only time will tell.
In the meantime, ChatGPT is an incredible new technology that lets us have a conversation with an AI computer system at this level for the first time.
We must prepare for growth in AI and ChatGPT
As this technology advances going forward, we must also prepare for the day when it becomes smarter than its creator. We must make sure it remains a tool both created by and used by man, rather than the other way around.
That means we must pay as much attention to and control the ethics and boundaries of a runaway technology. If we do not, the day may come when we regret our lack of attention to this important issue.
I am not saying we should stop AI. In fact, we can’t. Artificial Intelligence is an amazing technology that is here to stay and can add to our lives as long as it is controlled.
What I am saying is we must move forward in a responsible manner to make sure we protect society as we know it today. Because if we move ahead with blinders on, once we pass a certain point, we may lose control of everything that matters to us as human beings. This concern is that important.
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