The Hits: Have a chat takes on entire new meaning

The Hits DJ Adam Green.

OPINION

In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has become increasingly sophisticated, capable of performing tasks that were once reserved for human beings.

One area where AI is making a significant impact is in article writing, with more and more news outlets turning to AI-powered systems to produce articles quickly and efficiently. But what does this mean for the future of journalism?

On the one hand, there are those who argue that AI-powered article writing is a positive development. With the help of AI, news outlets can generate articles at a much faster rate than human writers can.

This means breaking-news stories can be covered more quickly, and more articles can be produced overall. Furthermore, AI can analyse data and produce charts and graphs to accompany articles, making them more informative and engaging for readers.

However, there are also concerns about the impact of AI on the quality of journalism. Critics argue that AI-written articles lack the human touch that is essential for engaging readers and creating compelling narratives. While AI can generate content quickly, it may not be able to produce articles that are truly insightful or that capture the nuances of a particular situation.

Stop reading. Take a second. The article you’ve just read up until now was written by a robot.

It’s me, Adam, a real human now. The article up until now was written by an artificial intelligence called Chat GPT. The prompt I gave it? “Write a newspaper article about outsourcing journalism to AI.”

It took about three seconds to serve me that, and more. I’m both fascinated and a little bit worried about the pace these sorts of things are improving.

As it stands right now, the latest version is passing all manner of pretty difficult exams, from medical to legal, to everything in between.

I’m intrigued as to how educators are going to distinguish between a somewhat edited artificial essay and the real deal.

The real-world use of this sort of technology is clear to see, from the basic “What can I make for dinner with mince, onion, a carrot, and some soy sauce” (and it gave multiple options) to real-time assistance and answers to all sorts of educational questions that you’d usually need an expert for.

For now, at home, we’ve been marvelling at its ability to write poems about our family, but the longer-term implications of this sort of technology will be eye-opening and transformational.

“Hey Chat GPT, do my homework” I can see it already!