ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot with the ability to hold a conversation, write novel copy, translate natural language into code, and much more. Users can communicate with the bot using natural language, which levels the playing field and makes this tool accessible to just about anyone.
The latest generation of large language model (LLM) bots like ChatGPT (the GPT stands for generative pre-training transformer) attempt to understand user prompts like, “Explain quantum mechanics using only words a 12-year-old would understand.” The bot then responds with a string of words it thinks will best satisfy the prompt.
The strings of words that make up ChatGPT’s responses are the result of extensive AI training. Data scientists employ a system called Deep Learning (DL), a complex, multi-layered algorithm modeled on the human brain. DL enables the chatbot to identify patterns and relationships in data and respond by predicting which words should appear next in the sentences that make up its output.
The neural network that powers ChatGPT holds more than 175 billion parameters. These variables enable the system to assign values to the component parts of a user’s text prompt and create a response that satisfies the prompt as appropriately as possible.
But that doesn’t mean chatbots like ChatGPT can actually “think” like humans do. (Not yet, anyway.)
It’s important to remember that ChatGPT doesn’t create novel information. Its purpose is to take in all available data on the internet and use it to create novel yet derivative natural language responses to user prompts. In other words, the answers you get back from ChatGPT are only as good as the information it scrapes from the web.
Large language model chatbots like ChatGPT have been around for years. But it’s only recently that the public at large became fascinated by—and maybe a little circumspect about—AI.
The coming months and years will bring fascinating breakthroughs in data science. And we as a society will need to reconcile with the incredible power of advanced artificial intelligence able to create novel text, code, pictures, sound, and who knows what else.
