Skip to Main Content

Being Human: ChatGPT

A research guide companion to the series Being Human: Evolving Humanity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

About ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI. It can engage in conversational interactions and provide responses to a wide range of queries. ChatGPT is a helpful research tool for students, researchers, and anyone seeking information on various topics (ChatGPT, generated on 15 February 2023, using the prompt "explain what chatgpt is in three sentences for a library resource page").

Essentially it is a text generator that creates texts based on prompts from a chatbot style interaction. It is designed to be conversational, but can also be used for standalone prompts.

ChatGPT is a web-based tool that requires you to make an account to use. As a note, according to OpenAi's Privacy Policy they "may share your Personal Information with third parties without further notice to you." It is currently free as part of a research preview, but OpenAI could later put it behind a paywall. OpenAI has already launched a $20/month subscription plan for ChatGPT.

This glossary of generative AI can help you with some of the terms that are used throughout conversations on the topic. 

ChatGPT Tips

Due to its popularity ChatGPT is often down or slow to generate responses during peak usage windows. This is important to know if  you are planning on using it in your class - you should have a plan b in case it isn't available at that time. It may be better as an out-of-class activity, as that will give students more time to generate the text. 

ChatGPT is at capacity right now. Get notified when we're back.

Current weaknesses:

  • Accuracy, it is not design to produce factually accurate information
  • Currency, as of January 2023 it has been trained on materials from 2021 and earlier
  • Bias, it will replicated the biases in its training material
  • Information behind paywalls, it may not have had access to certain information that isn't freely available

ChatGPT in the Classroom

Resources

Contexts

Some conversations happening around ChatGPT that may be worth knowing as you consider using it as a tool in your own work/teaching:

Books on Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning