The Direction of AI

If you haven’t heard, the latest buzz in the tech world is a new AI program called ChatGPT that can write code, text and other intelligent human tasks by combing the internet to quickly solve the problem. While this concept sounds at first very exciting, it could have some unexpected outcomes.

According to their website, ChatGPT is capable of training itself to carry on a conversation based on words you enter or questions you ask. You can also continue to react with the response you receive to obtain better results.

If you were to rely on an AI to write code for you, would you know if it were somehow tampered with to insert malicious code? This is something important to think about before turning over highly skilled tasks over to an AI program. AI is designed to execute a task, not look out for your company’s best interests.

As we enter into this next generation of content and website generation, it’s important to have IT security in mind.

Google is Pushing Back

This past week, Google released a new algorithm updated called Helpful Content. While it claims to target content specifically written for SEO purposes, the description of the update clearly delineates that it is targeting AI generated content, showing preference to content written by people for people.

According to NBC News, “Some people theorized that Google could lose its value as the No. 1 search engine because of the early success of the chatbot.” This potential threat to the search engine giant is likely the main reason for the algorithm update. Google is unwilling to forfeit any part of its pie.

While artificial content generation seems like a time saving dream, its use may be very short-lived as content creators realize they will not be able to rank well in the search engines due to their ability to detect AI content.

Some are concerned the AI could be used for nefarious reasons such as telling people how to create weapons; however, that information is already available on the internet if people know where to look. You can’t have freedom of information and moderate certain content without crossing over to limit freedom of speech.

But as for writing code, ask any developer how many years of school and experience they’ve acquired to do what they do. The thought of an AI coming along to quickly replace them is a scary notion. In fact, the past few years they have commanded very generous salaries as more businesses needed their services to adapt to the changes inflicted by the pandemic. Developers were hard to find and much more expensive to hire.

And for writers who pour their passion into their keyboards, one wonders if an AI can demonstrate emotion that comes along with skillful writing.

It’s a scary world out there as AI technology stands to replace many different careers. There’s a big price to pay for technological advancement and seldom do things revert when people discover the changes were counterproductive.