Is ChatGPT a biased "Khawajah"? And why this presents an opportunity

The header photos in this article were generated by Dall-E and were the result of an icebreaker activity done with the audience at the start of a recent webinar. The webinar, attended by hundreds of public servants from the Middle East and North Africa and those interested in AI and technology, focused on ChatGPT and its potential for innovation in the public sector. The goal was to introduce the audience to this new AI technology and to create a space for exploring its capabilities and potential challenges for implementation in the public sector. This article shares key takeaways from the conversation.

100 Million Users

ChatGPT, a language model developed by OpenAI, has revolutionized the tech industry and has become the fastest growing app in history, surpassing 100 million users.

"GPT" stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, utilizing deep learning to generate human-like text based on a massive corpus of data. Trained on a massive dataset, ChatGPT is capable of generating a wide range of text, making it ideal for natural language processing tasks such as chatbots, machine translation, and question-answering systems. Its human-like text generation and cutting-edge training make it one of the most advanced language models available, fueling its skyrocketing popularity.

3 takeaways from our live conversation:

The webinar was a valuable experience for many in the audience, as it provided them with their first opportunity to try ChatGPT. Throughout the session, participants suggested prompts for the AI agent, and we discussed its responses as a group. The following are the key takeaways from these conversations:

1. ChatGPT is a game changer!

The audience were amazed by ChatGPT's abilities! We tested it with a variety of prompts, from "How does a windmill work?" to "Write a piece about how amazing the winter season in Riyadh is." Every time, ChatGPT provided quick, insightful, and tailored answers that left us impressed.

Next, we shifted our focus to the topic of public service and asked ChatGPT questions related to the field. An example of our conversation can be seen in the following screenshot:

We then learned about an experiment conducted by Vincenzo Aquaro and Deniz Susar , where they conversed with ChatGPT to discover its knowledge on e-Government and the UN eGovernment Survey. The conversation started with basic questions such as "What is e-Government?" and progressed to more specific ones like "How can we best measure an e-Government portal?"

In conclusion, my audience and I believe that ChatGPT has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach innovation and digital transformation in the public sector.

2. Well… it depends!

The potential of ChatGPT to bring change to any industry, including the public sector, is hard to argue. However, as with previous technology waves, it's not solely about the technology itself.?The real question is: are governments prepared for ChatGPT??

Do they have the necessary institutional setup and organizational maturity to fully realize its potential? And, most importantly, are public servants equipped with the right skills and knowledge?

To further elaborate this, here’s a snapshot of the current state of digital governments worldwide as provided by the UN's Government Survey. This biennial survey, conducted for two decades, is unique in its evaluation of 193 UN Member States and is widely recognized for its impact on development. The 2022 edition of the survey revealed that only 54 countries, including a few in the MENA region, are considered "Very Highly Level" in terms of their digital transformation. This designation indicates that these countries have well-developed digital transformation programs and effectively utilize technology in the delivery of public services and policies.

The diagram below shows the percentage of countries offering different types of online transactional services, which are considered essential for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

As we can see, many governments in MENA region and around the world are still in their journey to properly make use of technologies that have been available for years. So, why whould ChatGPT be an exception?

One tool I personally find useful in making sense of this situation is The Pace Layers model by Stewart Brand which suggests that different layers of cultural and technological change occur at different speeds.

In the context of the dynamics between governments and AI, we can conclude that AI is changing rapidly and may be outpacing the ability of governments to comprehend its potential, let alone regulate it.

3- Is there bias in ChatGPT's responses?

The problem of bias in AI solutions is not new and can manifest in a variety of ways. In our session with participants from Arab countries, ChatGPT demonstrated bias in two ways.

First, in response to a prompt to create a week-long content calendar for an Instagram account promoting tourism in Oman.

ChatGPT's response indicated that the week started on Monday, when in fact it starts on Sunday in Oman and many MENA countries.

Second, when we wrote prompts or asked ChatGPT to respond in Arabic, its performance was not as impressive as its performance in English.

Here's an example (in Arabic of course!):

Aside from the poor Arabic, the text is annoyingly left-aligned!

This intersection of biases led me to dub ChatGPT the "Biased Khawajah." "Khawajah" is a slang term for "Westerner" or a native English speaker, widely used in Sudan, Egypt, and other MENA countries.

However, I see this bias as an opportunity.

While many AI practitioners and researchers tend to put the responsibility for bias on OpenAI and other tech creators in Silicon Valley and call on them to fix algorithmic, data, or societal AI biases, I prefer to look at it differently. The fact is that the Weird culture shapes our world today by creating technologies that influence the lives of billions of people worldwide. I believe that we have a better chance of making our world more sustainable and inclusive when more people from around the world become makers, not just consumers of technology.

Those who are negatively affected by biased technology cannot simply urge the profit-driven minority who creates it to make it more inclusive and diverse. If you want an AI chatbot that wishes you a good new week on Sunday morning in your own local language, then make one.

Compared to the previous waves in the past few decades of the internet age, there is a much better opportunity for this to happen. And we can find inspiration and encouragement in stories like CatVers and also by realizing that there is actually more than one internet. I find inspiration as well in observing countries like India and China. I also learn from the series of articles Ajit Jaokar publishes in his newsletter.

In conclusion, I'm excited about the opportunities that ChatGPT presents to the world. It serves as another wake-up call and an opportunity for the non-Weird worlds and (more non-Khawajat people) to be more active in the conversation of shaping the future of AI and our world.