Using ChatGPT: this is how you talk to AI chatbot

ChatGPT: the smart chatbot

ChatGPT is definitely the most impressive AI in 2023. ChatGPT is a natural language processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations with a chatbot. It can answer questions, and assist you with tasks such as composing letters, essays, code, explaining a certain topic, and more.

There are others AI bots, like GPT-3/3.5, Jasper & Co., InstructGPT, CharacterAI, J1-Jumbo, Cohere’s models, etc., but ChatGPT stands out because it combines three key features: it’s free for public use, it’s better aligned with human preference, and it has a friendly UI/UX design.

The chatbot is currently open for users to try out and provide feedback on the responses so that the AI can become better at answering questions and to learn from its mistakes.

Who built ChatGPT?

ChatGPT was created by San Francisco-based artificial intelligence company OpenAI . OpenAI Inc. is the non-profit parent company of the for-profit OpenAI LP. OpenAI is famous for its well-known DALL·E, a deep-learning model that generates images from text instructions called prompts. The CEO is Sam Altman, who previously was president of Y Combinator.

Microsoft is a partner and investor; they jointly developed the Azure AI Platform.

How was ChatGPT trained?

GPT 3.5, a version of GPT-3 and the language model behind the ChatGPT, was trained on an Azure AI supercomputing infrastructure.

ChatGPT was modified and improved using both supervised and reinforcement learning methods, with the assistance of human trainers. The learning includes 3 steps (see image below).

Supervised learning: first, the model was given examples of conversations where humans played both the role of the user and the AI assistant.

Reinforcement learning: later, human trainers evaluated the responses generated by the model in previous conversations and used this feedback to create reward models.

Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO): lastly, the model was further fine-tuned on using a technique called PPO over multiple iterations.

This is how you can use ChatGPT

To use ChatGPT, you first need an account with OpenAI. That is the company behind the smart chatbot. Below you can read how this works.

1.??????Go to the OpenAI account page.

2.??????Enter your email address, tap 'I'm not a robot', and tap 'Continue'.

3.??????Then enter a strong password and press 'Continue' again.

4.??????You will now receive a verification email. Click on 'Verify email address'.

5.??????A new window will now open in your browser. Enter your name here, and possibly the organization you work for. Click on 'Continue'.

6.??????Enter your phone number now. This is used by OpenAI to prevent one person from creating multiple accounts. Then click on 'Send code', and then enter the code that was sent to you as an SMS.

7.??????Indicate what you will mainly use OpenAI for, and your account is ready for use.

Now you're ready to start using ChatGPT! To do this, go to chat.openai.com and log in with your newly created account. You will immediately see the chat window of ChatGPT.

Don't you see this? Then ChatGPT suffers from a lot of internet traffic – in that case you have to wait until the service is available again.

Chatting with ChatGPT always goes through your browser. There is no official chatbot app. This also means that the ChatGPT apps that are in the App Store and Google Play Store are all not OpenAI, so there is no need to download them!

What can ChatGPT help you with?

Now you have this nice little chat window, but what do you actually have to enter to get a sensible response from ChatGPT? Here are some tips for you.

ChatGPT understands other languages

Although all ChatGPT menus are in English, you don't need to fill in English texts to talk to the chatbot. For example, you type 'respond in Dutch' in the first message, the chatbot will remember this.

ChatGPT understands context

Unlike many "smart" assistants, ChatGPT understands the context of a conversation. Suppose you ask him to summarize a text. You get a summary, but you still think it's a bit too long. Then all you have to do is type 'make it even shorter'.

ChatGPT can program

Have you written a piece of code, for example for an app or game, but you don't know how to proceed? ChatGPT can complete this code for you.

ChatGPT will understand what you mean

You can ask a question, and paste a text that ChatGPT has to work with. For example: “Write a more professional version of the following text:” with pasted text underneath. ChatGPT will rewrite the text for you.

ChatGPT is a master of styles

'Answer in the style of Shakespeare', 'write it down like a rap', ‘pretend you are talking to a 5 year old’. ChatGPT can write its answers entirely in a certain style.

Quality of answers depends on quality of questions. An important limitation of ChatGPT is that the quality of the output depends on the quality of the input. In other words, expert directions (prompts) generate better answers.

My next article will be about the ways a non-profit organization can benefit from ChatGPT to enrich the fundraising activities.

Knowledge with a limit

AI models require lots of training and fine-tuning to reach ideal performance levels. In the beta version of their ChatGPT software, OpenAI acknowledges the current limitations of the AI, including the potential to occasionally generate incorrect information or biased content.

It also says the AI may have limited knowledge of events or knowledge after 2021, based on when the model was trained. So if you ask about the difference between iPhone 14 and iPhone 13, you won’t get an answer.

What is the future of ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is still a relatively new technology, and its capabilities are likely to continue to evolve and improve over time.

Companies like OpenAI and Microsoft will likely compete with other players, such as Oracle, Google, Salesforce, Workday, ServiceNow, etc. If Microsoft builds OpenAI APIs into Azure, then thousands of innovators will build domain-specific offerings, new products, and creative solutions on that platform. Industry-specific and domain-specific solutions will be a great addition to corporate systems.

Overall, tools like ChatGPT have the potential to improve efficiency and productivity in a variety of business.

Follow me on LinkedIn, so you don’t miss an overview of ChatGPT testing results and practical examples of how charity organizations can use ChatGPT in their fundraising activities.