The ChatGPT chatbot has taken the internet by storm for both very legitimate and silly reasons.
Some of the things the AI language processor churns out are incredibly sophisticated, leaving many worried it will take over their jobs.
But other responses from ChatGPT are hilarious nonsensical trash, such as writing knock-knock jokes about a pangolin.
Dr Sophie Calabretto talks to Cosmos Magazine journalist Evrim Yazgin about how ChatGPT works, how it can spit out incredible knowledge and garbage simultaneously and what the algorithms behind the AI are truly capable of.
To better understand what ChatGPT is and what it does, we first must solve the question of what ChatGPT stands for.
“GPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer. Basically, ChatGPT is built on a type of algorithm, namely another acronym, LLM, which stands for Large Language Model,” Yazgin said.
Yazgin said LLMs are a type of deep learning algorithm that mimics the human brain’s neural pathways and our learning process.
“This means that they can recognize, summarize, translate, predict and generate content, including images and text, like in the case of ChatGPT,” he added.
He said there were several human AI trainers who provided conversations as both the human users and the AI assistant.
“The trainer and AI-generated responses were mixed together and ranked to help the AI learn in inverted commas, which responses were better in terms of both accuracy, but also which ones sounded most like natural human speech or writing.”
However, ChatGPT can also spread misinformation as it may include toxic or biased content in the conversation.
“So responses can be just flat out unhelpful and don’t follow the instructions that you’ve put in. Sometimes they’re not even interpretable,” Yazgin said.
Tune into the full episode of Science Explained with host, Dr Sophie Calabretto to hear the full recap of this month’s discoveries.
Introducing The Science Briefing: a podcast about the science of everything and your new go-to podcast for your snapshot of science news. Hosted by Dr Sophie Calabretto and featuring journalists from Cosmos Magazine.