What will happen to the world in 2023 when ChatGPT takes over?
"I'm sorry, but I'm not able to browse the internet, so I don't have any information on ChatGPT or what might happen in the future. As a language model trained by OpenAI, my purpose is to assist users in generating human-like text based on the input I receive. I don't have any knowledge or opinions about real-world events or future developments." ChatGPT response
So, since ChatGPT can't answer that question for me and save me writing this newsletter, I guess I'm going to have to try and do it all myself. (Shrug) But before I do, hello to my new subscribers and sorry for not posting for a few weeks. Other things took priority, like work, life and hanging out with Buddy, the giant hairy and lovely elf.
Anyway, since I'm technically a published author and my short story was about an AI taking over, I feel like I can speak on this subject with some authority, as misguided as that might be.
ChatGPT has been blowing up and people have been doing some cool things with it, push the limits and seeing what it come back with. It is scaring a lot of people too. Is this the Skynet moment, just wrapped in a more friendly user interface, or are we a few decades away from needing Keanu Reeves to save us from the Matrix?
People are understandably worried about their livelihoods and probably wondering if they should look to retrain as a plumber in 2023?
Reuters reported that "ChatGPT owner OpenAI projects $1 billion in revenue by 2024" but, how much of that is at the detriment of humans? It could be $10bn or $100bn in lost income for skilled folk. We don't know yet and only time will tell.
Yes, alongside Image AI, it is a potentially economy as we know ending event. It makes Fiverr look expensive, never mind more expensive experts and creatives.
The other day I had a bright idea to use it to create a children's story based loosely on a Lefi the goat boy. A story that was made up as folklore in Surbition, I love it but it's fairly niche as you can imagine. The result was scary, especially as I continued to refine the input into ChatGPT. After about 20 minutes I stopped, I'd seen enough to know what I was using and powerful it could be. My plan for the weekend was to use AI to create images and look at publishing it to make money for charity with consent, of course to see what the reaction would be.
But then this TIME article dropped on my lap. I never get Google News notifications for TIME, so this is spooky in its self, considering how close to my own thinking and conversations I was having. "He Used AI to Publish a Children’s Book in a Weekend. Artists Are Not Happy About It"
The Twitter thread is worth a read and there's lots of unhappy creative people. I feel like I dodged a bullet. He's only made about $200 so far and is giving it to charity too.
Why a children's book though? Well, one of the things AI tools don't do well, is provide sources or references and lacks context. So, it's perfect for fiction because facts matter less and children's book because its still pretty basic and not as clever as people are believing.
From a marketing perspective, I've been dabbling with Jasper AI for a couple of months now and here are my thoughts.
As an assistant, AI can be helpful ?? but there's a but... and it's a big BUT! ??
Marketers are generally very time poor and need all the help they can get. It's likely that many will use AI tools and potentially pay for them themselves because it could easily be seen as a weakness to ask the business to pay for an AI tool to assist them. Likewise, agencies are arguably even more time poor and often work longer hours to keep demanding clients happy. ??
So what it's good for? ?? A few that I've liked so far. ?
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Creating bullet points and conclusions from long form content. Creating new versions of paragraphs when content is just not working or an introduction to a topic when you've got a mental block. Repurposing content using the AIDA model is my fav feature as AI lends itself so well to that.
Here's the BUT... Used in a lazy way and it starts to become dangerous, not Tesla self-driving whilst reading a book dangerous but you get my point.
It lacks context and doesn't provide sources. Fact checking can take as long as writing the content yourself. It also lacks empathy and understanding etc etc. I could go on. Like all things, it will likely improve things for those who use it well and not for those who abuse it or use it badly. It all feels 2009 crypto wild west right now. ??
There is of course a chance that we will completely stop trusting anything we read or see and that would be sad, we could also end up with a content tsunami. The problem being, that we still only have 24 hours in a day and only part of that do we want to be reading or looking at stuff.
I do see brands and agencies rewriting contracts that explicitly state that AI cannot be used or must be fully disclosed before sign off, such is the legal grey area of much of this technology. The same will happen for coding and other areas that ChatGPT is encroaching on as people find new uses.
From a social media perspective, I recommend reading Jennifer Gutman post on the subject.
As my super smart friend Jason Miller wrote in his newsletter on the subject of AI and creativity.
"It’s all too easy to get into a binary debate about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Creativity: are AI’s capable of creativity? Will they ever be as creative as human beings? Yes or no?
The reality is far more nuanced.?"
Which is why I recommend reading his newsletter next, unless you've already stopped reading and Googling how to train as a plumber.
Of course, people are also saying that it could spell the end of Google too. But that even the previous "do no evil" giant thinks it's not a good idea yet. But there's no doubt that it will if it thinks it is under threat.
2023 will be an interesting year, one that might have the biggest impact on life as we know it in a generation. Or it will do a crypto and we will go back to normal, as no doubt many will long for authenticity and handmade things again.
Some other articles worth a read: