America is the home of useless gadgets. From Sauna Pants to EZ Butter slicers, gadgets blend technology and consumerism into a product that is often fun, but not always necessary. Any time over the last 40 years, one could walk into a Sharper Image and be surrounded by state-of-the-art electronic flea collars, massaging slippers, and air purifiers. Playing with these gadgets feels like visiting the future, or so shoppers are made to believe.
Working with GPT-3, an artificial intelligence (AI) text generator, can feel like walking into a Sharper Image for the first time—anything can wow, but sooner or later, the novelty wears off.
Recently, I asked GPT-3 to help with an article I was writing by coming up with a list of 10 people I would be surprised to know have an MFA in creative writing. The list it gave me included Taylor Swift, Steve Jobs, Kim Kardashian, David Beckham, and Ryan Reynolds.
At first glance, this list seemed perfect for my article. It would be surprising for most readers to learn that Swift, Jobs, and Kardashian had MFAs in creative writing. The only problem is, they don't. No one GPT-3 listed for me does.
A new user can be forgiven for being bowled over by how well GPT-3 mimics emails, familiar fairy-tale stories, or self-help articles, but after hundreds of rounds of working with GPT-3, it becomes clear that this supposed technical marvel is consistently flat-out wrong.
ChatGPT, which is also developed by the company OpenAI, is frequently incorrect when it comes to basic facts. I asked it to name someone who has a PhD in Literature who people might be surprised to learn has this degree. The result:
One person who might be surprising to some people to learn has a PhD in Literature is J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series. Rowling earned her PhD in Medieval and Modern Literature from the University of Exeter in the UK.
J.K. Rowling may have many honorary degrees, but she does not have a Ph.D. in Medieval and Modern Literature from the University of Exeter. She earned a B.A. in French. As in the previous example, AI had produced flawed work, which can take a considerable amount of time to double-check.
We already live with so much misinformation in the world. An AI device that can spew it so quickly and convincingly is a problem not only for writers and readers, but for anyone who decides to rely on these devices for information. AI writing programs can give internet trolls, conspiracy theorists, and propagandists an infinite digital printing press for misleading and false content.
Skepticism of GPT-3's and ChatGPT's current abilities will seem preemptive to technophiles, as will the warnings that AI could destroy the college essay, or even the internet itself. Whenever a piece of tech gets lots of hype, we must breathe deep and remind ourselves that hype is not the same as impact. AI has been around for decades, companies have tried to cram screens in front of our eyeballs since at least the failed migraine-inducing Olympus Eye-Trek, and Segways were once going to change mobility forever.
So many gadgets are marketed as solutions to modern life, but they can also make life more complicated than it needs to be.
AI programs like GPT-3 seem to want to solve a problem that isn't really a problem: creating written content. Do we really need to ramp up our production of blogs, articles, and marketing copy with products built on GPT-3, like Jasper.ai? Countless clickbait pieces on the internet already say the same thing about the benefits of meditation, why people are anxious, or what a Myers-Briggs personality type reveals about someone's leadership style.
Still, some people love certain products for their ridiculousness or excessiveness. Plenty of gadgets that get relegated to the dustbin of progress achieve success later on, even if the progenitors see no success themselves. Take the Microsoft SPOT watch, which died in 2008. Business Insider named it one of the worst gadgets of the 2000s because "Users could access MSN Direct news, weather and more for a monthly subscription—all of which could also be done with a much less painfully humiliating way using computers and, eventually, smartphones." Little did we know Apple would eventually make wearing a computer on your wrist far more fashionable. Or consider Logitech FreePulse Wireless Headphones, which were apparently left for dead because Logitech was "desperate to solve a headphone-wire problem that simply no one suffered from."
There is no doubt that GPT-3, ChatGPT, and other AI writing programs will continue to advance. After all, Sharper Image's Sharp pocket PC from 1988, which featured a digital calendar, was completely redundant at the time, but today the 85 percent of Americans who now own smartphones would be unlikely to call their device unnecessary. We might just be at the early stages of a device that will become as vital as word processors and search engines, but only time will tell if their potential is ever actualized.
Kevin Jacob Kelley is a freelance writer and Assistant Professor of English and Literature at Red Rocks Community College. Follow him on Twitter @KKelley_author
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
