What is ChatGPT, and what can we expect from it?

I stand in awe of ChatGPT and couldn’t wait to learn more about it, which I’d love to share with you in this article.

ChatGPT is an AI-driven ‘chatbot’ which combines natural language processing (NLP) and deep-learning algorithms, designed to be used in customer service or people-serving environments, but it’s already becoming so much more than that.

In simpler terms, you can ask a question, ask it to write an article or poem, or any of a number of writing tasks, and it will do so in incredibly accurate and human terms. It understands natural human language and generates impressively detailed text responses.

It’s passed an MBA at Wharton and is already banned in New York schools. This is world-changing stuff.

The GPT in ChatGPT stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer.

I think that’s a bit of a complex phrase, but we need to understand it if we’re to keep up with the incredible pace of development of ChatGPT since it launched – and changed the world – last November.

‘Generative’ means this AI platform bases its responses through a frame of its own learning. In other words, it’s been taught to respond after ‘thinking’ or searching through its own sources of information.

It’s pre-trained, in the sense that it has been fed a sizeable human-generated text dataset – comprising billions of words and phrases – which helps it provide a staggeringly human-like response when provided with a prompt or context.

And the ‘transformer’? Don’t worry, it isn’t going to turn into a giant robot figure. This word relates to transformer architecture, a type of neural network used to process sequential data, such as text.

The Dubai government – always quick to embrace the latest technologies – believes this chat technology will help citizens access government services more quickly and efficiently.

Given that the Dubai government is committed to advancing the economy through the adoption of AI technology, I firmly believe ChatGPT will be an integral part of this effort.

In fact, the Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) recently became the world’s first utility provider to adopt ChatGPT-based tools for customer and staff support and services, but details remain vague.

And perhaps even more exciting is the recent news that the UAE Ministry of Education has announced plans to allow its use for teaching.

Despite global concerns about cheating and avoiding homework, there is a place for AI chat tools in education, with pragmatic principals suggesting pupils and educators embrace the tool rather than ban it.

Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, UAE Minister of Education, actually delivered a speech entirely composed using ChatGPT during the recent World Government Summit 2023, telling delegates: “Don’t demonise AI as it will be a part of our lives…I insisted that I use it to prove that it can deliver a pretty good speech.”

He added that the UAE government is one of few to fully embrace AI, explaining how the Education Ministry has used AI to predict student outcomes and to streamline processes.

“We are now being pushed to the limit as educators to improve our assessment (systems). A calculator never made mathematics obsolete, and a scientific calculator never made calculus obsolete. We should be committed as educators to improve our assessment systems,” he said.

Dubai’s AI strategy also includes initiatives such as digitising existing services and introducing new technologies into its public service sector. The Dubai government believes ChatGPT will help them accelerate this process by providing a faster, more efficient customer response service.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, recently requested a study into how ChatGPT can safely benefit the government.

Whether or not you trust futuristic AI applications like ChatGPT, the global reaction seems to be focused on excitement and potential, rather than fear and mistrust.

I, for one, will be embracing ChatGPT as it evolves. In fact, this blog might have even been written using ChatGPT technology. Can you tell? [Note – it wasn’t!]