ChatGPT at two: OpenAI's chatbot has yet to change our lives
Generative AI has yet to make a profound difference in how we live our lives. But it has already changed the future.
The big picture:
OpenAI's ChatGPT turns two years old today. Outside a handful of specific fields, it's hard to make the case that it has transformed the world the way its promoters promise. But the possibilities its power unlocks — both good and bad — have come into sharp view.
State of play:
ChatGPT and similar tools have supercharged coding, helped us with rote workplace tasks, accelerated scientific discoveries, and inspired some teachers and health care providers.
Thought bubble, from Axios chief technology correspondent Ina Fried:
ChatGPT has probably changed your life the most if you are a high school or college student, if you work in customer service or software development, or if you're trying to become a prolific poster on LinkedIn.
Case in point:
Almost since its launch, ChatGPT vexed K-12 teachers and college professors. Fears of widespread cheating caused schools to ban the technology instead of figuring out how to use it in the classroom.
GenAI is also beginning to change health care — albeit slowly, due to inherent risks and general mistrust.
For those who embrace the tools, ChatGPT and similar chatbots are beginning to change human relationships.
Yes, but: Whether the majority of people regularly use chatbots or not (and some new studies of specific groups, like U.S. workers, say that they aren't), generative AI is now embedded in our vision of the future — along with our fears of it.
What's next:
Whether generative AI's hot market thrives or goes bust, the changes ChatGPT has begun to unleash — within technology itself, in virtually every field of work and all across society — are likely to accelerate.
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Copyright Axios Media, 2024
