Artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT has the power to generate informative and engaging content.
But as anyone who has experimented with it will know, using it effectively requires more than just a single prompt.
According to Dr Simon McCallum, a senior lecturer of software engineering at Victoria University of Wellington, ChatGPT is like a car clutch — use it wrongly and it’ll burn out.
But, if used effectively, people will have a “PhD uncle” living in their house, happy to tutor them.
Speaking to the Bay of Plenty Times, McCallum explains ChatGPT’s full potential by building context to training it and how it’s changing the world — for better or worse.
The key to getting effective answers out of ChatGPT was understanding how it worked.
“It’s a bit like a clutch in a car,” McCallum explained. “If you don’t understand it, you might use it the wrong way and burn it out.”
He said it came from a translation system rather than a knowledge one, meaning it was built on understanding the relationship between words.
It was “really good” at generating content where the main thing was the relationship between words, whereas it did maths poorly because it wasn’t factoring in just the relationship of words, but all the mathematics behind the problem.
ChatGPT worked by understanding the relationships between words and generating output based on context.
For example, if it was prompted to write like a lawyer, it would use words that were associated with legal writing because of the way it was trained.
This is because the term “lawyer” triggers all the things it has learned about lawyers, including the words they use, McCallum said.
He said ChatGPT “benefits from structure”, and if people wanted a specific style of an answer, the best way was to train it.
That could look like entering the input and output of what people were after and then putting another input and asking ChatGPT to produce an output.
“Usually, that context will give you the answer that you’re looking for,” McCallum said.
“You’ve demonstrated the relationship you want between the thing you’re after and the one it should give.”
Given the way it had been set up, ChatGPT was able to write fiction stories given the relationship between words and could imitate writers and other famous people from the likes of Lee Child to Winston Churchill.
It also had the ability to match the writing style, tone and voice of the person using it by providing examples of what to follow.
For example, asked to rewrite the previous five sentences in its own version of the style of Churchill, it produced the following:
In the realm of digital marvels, ChatGPT emerges as a fine creation, one that, as some say, “benefits from structure”.
Indeed, if one seeks a specific manner of response, the most fruitful path lies in its training.
Consider the following approach: input the desired query and its corresponding answer, and then present another inquiry, beseeching ChatGPT to render a fitting reply.
By and large, this context shall yield the sought-after solution, as explained by McCallum. Thus, you have successfully demonstrated the desired association between the sought-after subject and the response it ought to provide.
By virtue of its meticulous design, ChatGPT showcases its prowess in the realm of storytelling. It possesses the capacity to weave tales of fiction, leveraging the intricate interplay between words.
Moreover, it can deftly emulate the styles, tones and voices of esteemed figures, be they esteemed authors like Lee Child or even the likes of Winston Churchill himself.
Furthermore, it boasts the uncanny ability to adapt its writing style, tone and voice to align with that of its user, following a set of exemplars as guidance.
One common mistake people made was starting a new chat and immediately asking ChatGPT to generate text without context.
This approach resulted in the blandest, most robotic answers that McCallum likened to firing up a car on a cold morning and expecting it to perform at its best.
To get better results, McCallum said it was important people built up context by explaining who they were, what their motivation was and the topic they wanted to discuss or problems they wanted answered.
This would give ChatGPT a better understanding of what people were looking for and the answers would be more useful and relevant to their needs.
McCallum would stand as the Labour Party candidate for Southland in the upcoming election and said that was partly because he felt discussions around AI had to be done at a Government policy level.
He had mixed feelings about ChatGPT, saying he was “equal measures excited and terrified” of the AI system.
One of his main concerns was about the profession of programming and that AI was better than his first-year students and could learn faster than them, meaning they might never be better than it.
ChatGPT was already creating issues in the education sector.
Experts have said the availability of AI tools has made “the opportunity for cheating and all manner of misconduct ... seemingly endless”.
NZQA advised schools about the use of artificial intelligence in February - noting the arrival of ChatGPT was ringing alarm bells in the sector.
“At worst, the chatbot can produce quality essays, reports etc on any topic, which might escape detection by regular plagiarism checks and be passed off as the student’s work,” NZQA said.
Earlier this month, two high-achieving students at separate high schools claimed they were wrongly accused of cheating after teachers judged AI had completed their work.
McCallum said how assignments were marked needed to “fundamentally change”, not only because ChatGPT was a tool students could cheat with, but because it was an amazing teaching tool and was going to be used across industries.
“It’s like everybody’s suddenly got a PhD uncle who’s living in the house and happy to tutor them.”
He was looking at considering ChatGPT as a member of a team assignment, with students showing what work they did and what they instructed it to do.
Meanwhile, Tim Boyne, owner of AI start-up company SmartSpace.ai, earlier said the economic impact of artificial intelligence could be viewed positively until “we’ve got lawyers lining up at Work and Income”.
His own company had recently completed two years’ worth of work in just a few months using AI.
In his view, digital and knowledge-based industries such as web design, law, accounting, architecture and marketing agencies would cease to provide enough value to stay viable if they did not find new models.
He said for the first time, we could see GDP and unemployment both heading in the same direction - up.
McCallum encouraged beginners to experiment with ChatGPT, play with its features and talk to others who had success with it.
In doing so, people would gain valuable insights and learn what strategies worked for others, but simply following others without a deep comprehension of the technology would limit one’s progress.
Traditional sources of information, such as books and publications, were quickly becoming outdated as AI technology continued to evolve at a rapid pace.
There were, however, many experts who had a good grasp of ChatGPT’s inner workings that could provide helpful prompts and insights to stay ahead of the curve.
By gaining a deeper understanding of the technology, people could learn prompts that were more effective and efficient, ultimately leading to more successful outcomes.
The aim is to help individuals enhance their skills, knowledge and abilities related to their work to improve their performance and achieve their career goals.
1. Streamline your workflow
Prompt: “I have a lot of tasks to complete in a day. Can you create a prioritised to-do list that will help me complete all of my tasks efficiently and effectively?”
2. Expand your vocabulary
Prompt: “Generate a list of 100 new vocabulary words for me to learn that will help me communicate more effectively in my profession.”
3. Improve your writing skills
Prompt: “I want to improve my writing skills. Provide me with a list of the most common writing mistakes that I need to avoid and ways to correct them.”
4. Get inspired
Prompt: “I am experiencing writer’s block. Give me some prompts or ideas that will help me get inspired to write again.”
5. Plan and execute a project
Prompt: “I need to plan and execute a project. Provide me with a step-by-step guide that will help me accomplish my project goals.”
6. Stay organised
Prompt: “I have a lot of important dates coming up. Can you create a calendar for me that will help me stay organised and on top of my deadlines?”
7. Create impactful content
Prompt: “Topic: How to make a positive impact on the environment; Audience: College students; Format: Video; Tone: Inspirational and educational; Goal: Inspire college students to take positive action for the environment; Additional instructions: The video should be under 10 minutes.”
8. Improve your communication skills
Prompt: “I want to improve my communication skills. Give me a list of effective communication techniques that will help me communicate more clearly and effectively in my profession.”
9. Enhance your creativity
Prompt: “I want to enhance my creativity. Provide me with a list of techniques and exercises that will help me develop my creative abilities.”
10. Personalise your experience
Prompt: “I want to personalise my experience with ChatGPT. Can you create a list of prompts that will help me achieve my specific goals or needs?”
The jury's marathon deliberations ran for two weeks.