ChatGPT, Dark Clippy Rises

There is a never-ending torrent of new languages and techniques in the tech world, but few have had as much of a mental impact as ChatGPT. Overnight ChatGPT became the new hotness as the tech community tried to find new and faster ways to integrate it into their use. It’s popular enough that it’s impossible not to have at least some opinion or commentary on it. For me, the most fascinating part of ChatGPT, which I like to call "dark clippy," is the heroic blunders that have arisen from it.

Some of the most impactful blunders

What is ChatGPT

If you already know what it is, skip this section. For the 2 of you who stumbled here and don’t, I’m just going to use ChatGPT itself to write out what it is in this next paragraph

ChatGPT, what are you?

I am ChatGPT, an advanced artificial intelligence developed by OpenAI. Essentially, I'm a large language model trained on vast amounts of text from the internet, allowing me to generate human-like text responses based on the prompts I receive. Think of me as your digital conversational partner, capable of understanding and generating text on a wide range of topics. Whether you're seeking information or assistance, or just engaging in casual conversation, I'm here to lend a hand and provide insights to the best of my abilities.

So Powerful, Everyone is Afraid

People tend to get spooked by the idea of AI. How this better version of ClippyMicrosoft's discontinued intelligent user interface from the early 2000's. garners the same fear of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T1000, I’ll never know. Perhaps if it took over one of those Boston Dynamic robots there may be a chance. So ChatGPT is the terrifying harbinger of the robot apocalypse.

But here's the kicker: it's not just individuals who are scared of ChatGPT; it's companies too. Businesses are terrified of this AI behemoth lurking in the digital shadows. Why? Well, for starters, they don't understand it. They see ChatGPT as this mysterious black box, churning out text with no rhyme or reason and a game-changer of automating painstaking manual processes. What they don’t understand they avoid it like the plague.

The World is Fascinated

As much as some fear the impending robot apocalypse we can’t put it down. Every company has been experimenting with these large language models in an attempt to streamline their process. As we’ve seen in the above examples, they’ve taken the idea of replacing a call center with a bot would be a way to save money. Maybe someday, as the blunders of using a tool not quite tested enough cost them more than they would save.

Blunders aside we shouldn’t be afraid of technology, but embrace it to make your day-to-day easier. In the same way that Clippy hit us with its annoying suggestions of document formatting, AI can be used to accelerate your day-to-day. Use this smarter and scarier “Dark Clippy,” in the way we all wanted AI to be growing up.

Real-world Greatness In Using Dark Clippy

There are hundreds of small daily tasks that take up far too much of your time. Use these models to help you focus back on friends and family or if there is still time, even yourself. Don’t waste the stress of those silly things that take too much time to think through. This is where AI is great and can save you time.

Here are some other examples of small timesavers:

Conclusion

Make sure you read through ChatGPT’s results to see if there was a critical blunder. Its results are most of the way to success, but it still takes understanding what you are doing to review and use the tool well. It still is just a really really good version of Clippy and is a good way away from replacing a human. Perhaps one day, and in some jobs, it will, but if that’s the case let’s all wish for the utopia of not having to do the boring and frustrating jobs it can support us with. 

ChatGPT, “Dark Clippy”, is a tool, and like any tool, we can use it to make life just a little easier each day. I encourage you all to experiment with it and share those experiments. Keep on generating that text, engaging in those conversations, and spreading a little digital learning wherever you go.