ChatGPT is a new artificial intelligence chatbot that has taken the world by storm. Developed by OpenAI and launched in November 2022, ChatGPT can engage in conversational dialogues and perform a variety of tasks like answering questions, explaining concepts, summarizing text passages, and even generating new content like articles, poems and computer code.
But what exactly is ChatGPT and how does this impressive new AI work? Let’s break it down.
All the images of this post have been generated using Midjourney.
ChatGPT is based on a large language AI model called GPT-3, which was created by OpenAI in 2020. GPT-3 uses a specialized deep learning technique called transformers to analyze massive amounts of text data and understand the patterns and structure of human language. Check this article if you want to know more about large language models.
Building on the capabilities of GPT-3, OpenAI trained ChatGPT specifically to have natural conversations and respond to a wide range of prompts and instructions. After over a year of development and training on vast datasets, ChatGPT was unveiled to the public in a beta version in November 2022, immediately capturing people’s attention and imagination.
Other tech companies like Anthropic and Google have also launched their own AI chatbots, such as Claude and Bard, to rival ChatGPT. Each model possesses its unique strengths, and a detailed comparison will be provided later in the article.
When you give ChatGPT a written prompt or question, it analyzes the text to understand the intent and context. It then generates a response by predicting the most likely next words in a sequence, based on the patterns it learned during its training.
ChatGPT progressively generates its response word-by-word, while continuously referring back to the original prompt for context. This allows it to have coherent, multi-turn conversations that stay on topic.
The key to ChatGPT’s conversational abilities lies in its training methodology. During training, ChatGPT was shown many real examples of human conversations, questions and answers from diverse sources on the internet. It uses these examples to learn the nuances of natural dialogue.
ChatGPT was also trained using a technique called reinforcement learning from human feedback. Essentially, it was rewarded when it generated responses that humans rated as satisfactory, and penalized for inadequate responses. This allowed it to keep improving the quality and relevance of its replies.
ChatGPT offers a wide range of useful applications and capabilities that showcase the technology’s current strengths and potential. However, as with any AI system, it also comes with significant limitations that warrant consideration.
First, we will explore some of the key ways ChatGPT can provide value and assistance. While not an exhaustive list, these applications demonstrate ChatGPT’s diverse conversational skills.
These examples offer just a sample of ChatGPT’s expanding capabilities. Its conversational nature enables a wide variety of functions through natural prompts and instructions. However, ChatGPT is far from flawless. Next we will discuss key current limitations to understand its deficiencies alongside its utilities.
The breadth of tasks ChatGPT can perform is impressive. It can hold conversations, explain concepts, summarize texts and generate new content in various styles. However, as an AI system still in development, ChatGPT has significant limitations to keep in mind.
Therefore, while remarkably capable, ChatGPT cannot fully replace human intellect just yet. Relying solely on it for critical advice would be unwise. That said, various plugins and integrations are expanding ChatGPT’s capabilities beyond just text generation. And for less high-stakes applications like drafting emails or summarizing concepts, ChatGPT proves very useful.
While often accurate, ChatGPT cannot be relied upon for 100% factual correctness. Any high-stakes use should involve human verification of its outputs.
While these limitations highlight areas for improvement, they do not negate ChatGPT’s impressive capabilities. Understanding its boundaries allows for responsible, informed use – avoiding overreliance or unrealistic expectations. ChatGPT was built to generate likely text continuations, not possess encyclopedic knowledge. By recognizing its strengths as a conversational model and anticipating its weaknesses, we can have productive interactions without frustration.
Moving forward, it will be insightful to explore how alternative AI systems attempt to address ChatGPT’s limitations. In the next section, we will compare ChatGPT to its two major competitors – Claude and Bard – to see how they stack up in terms of capabilities, limitations, and overall utility. Examining the contrasts and similarities with these other natural language models will provide useful perspective on the current state and trajectory of this rapidly evolving technology.
ChatGPT made a big splash as the first widely available conversational AI, but it now faces competition from Claude created by Anthropic, and Bard from Google. How do these alternative natural language models compare?
Claude is an AI assistant developed by startup Anthropic to prioritize safety and integrity. Like ChatGPT, it uses a transformer neural network architecture for natural language processing. However, Anthropic employed a technique called Constitutional AI to align Claude’s goals and values with human preferences.
As a result, Claude is said to exhibit less harmful bias and is more cautious about generating dangerous or unethical content compared to ChatGPT. It also incorporates self-supervised learning to better handle novel situations outside its training data.
It has a bigger context than ChatGPT or Bard, of about 100k tokens. This gives it the ability to read longer articles, even short books, and retain the information within a chat for much longer.
On the other hand, Claude’s capabilities lag behind ChatGPT and Bard when it comes to conversational breadth and creativity. Its responses tend to be simpler and more constrained. Though possibly safer, Claude lacks some of the expressiveness that makes ChatGPT engaging.
Google’s Bard aims to rival ChatGPT as an AI assistant that can explain concepts, generate content, and converse naturally. It is based on Google’s LaMDA model rather than GPT, featuring deep neural networks and trillions of parameters.
In initial tests, Bard appears significantly more grounded in facts compared to ChatGPT, with Google’s extensive Knowledge Graph likely providing useful context. However, Bard’s responses are often shorter and it struggles with more complex conversational prompts.
However, Bard also has access to the internet. This means that it can keep its knowledge up-to-date by reading the latest news articles, blog posts, and social media posts. This gives Bard a significant advantage over ChatGPT, which in general, it’s not able to access the internet (only paid users and with the browsing on).
For example, if you ask Bard about the latest news, it will be able to tell you about the most recent events. It will also be able to provide you with links to articles and other sources of information so that you can learn more.
In general, I use
But my recommendation is that you should try the different tools and discover which one works better for your specific needs. I sometimes ask the same question to two different chats, to compare, and even discover new functionalities. You can have a browser window specifically for your AI tools like Bard, ChatGPT or Claude.
And you, which of them do you use in your daily live? Leave a comment with your specific use cases. I’d like to know!
Follow me to stay tuned to the latest news regarding AI. You can subscribe to my blog here, or to my weekly AI newsletter at marinamele.substack.com.
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Have you ever wondered if there could be a better, more open social media platform? Well, a new application called BlueSky Social aims to make that vision a reality. In this article, we’ll explore what BlueSky is, where it came from, and what makes it special.
In short, BlueSky is a decentralized social networking protocol and service started in 2019 by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. It launched an invite-only beta app in early 2023 that currently has around 1 million users.
The app allows you to post text and photos, follow other users, like and reply to posts, and more. It uses a Twitter-like interface that will feel familiar. One key difference is it lacks personalized algorithmic feeds. BlueSky simply shows posts in chronological order.
But BlueSky’s real magic lies in its goal to be a fully decentralized network. Imagine a social media platform that isn’t owned by any single company. One where you can carry your identity and content between different communities that set their own rules. Exciting, right? Let’s learn more!
BlueSky began in 2019 as an internal initiative at Twitter led by Jack Dorsey [1]. The idea was to develop an open standard that Twitter itself would eventually adopt. But in 2021, as Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO, BlueSky was spun out as an independent company called Bluesky Social LLC [2].
The project is led by CEO Jay Graber, an experienced engineer and startup founder. In 2022, the team open sourced early protocol code called the Authenticated Transfer (AT) Protocol [2]. This allows data portability between networks.
The BlueSky app launched first on iOS in February 2023, then Android in April. It grew rapidly to around 850.000 users by September [2]. But this app is just the beginning…
The long-term plan is for BlueSky’s social app to be one of many decentralized networks interconnected via the AT Protocol. This means you could join different social apps but keep your profile, followers, and posts across all of them.
Each network could set their own rules around things like moderation and making money. All while users enjoy seamless data portability. Pretty cool, huh?
This decentralized future is still in early stages. But if BlueSky succeeds, it could provide an open model beyond today’s centralized social media giants.
One unique feature of BlueSky is it allows users to create their own custom algorithms and feeds. There is no single algorithm imposed by the platform, and the pre-installed feeds can be removed or swapped out for different ones.
For example, you could make a feed focused on posts from friends in a certain city or on a particular topic. The chronological main feed shows everything, but custom feeds let you filter the content. This level of adaptability aligns with BlueSky’s mission to give users more control over their social media experience.
So if you’re intrigued by a more decentralized vision for social media, watch BlueSky as it develops. With an engaged team and community, this little blue bird has big dreams for a better online future.
Follow me on Bluesky at @marinamele.bsky.social
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