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Considering the risks of artificial intelligence

Newswatch 16's Elizabeth Worthington learned more about the rapidly developing technology from a professor in Luzerne County.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Newswatch 16 told the artificial intelligence system, called ChatGPT, to write a 200-word news article about the open letter recently signed by top tech CEOs, including ChatGPT's inventors, warning us of the dangers of AI. 

The system responded in about six seconds with an article summarizing the topic.

Anthony Kapolka, a computer scientist at Wilkes University, offered some reassurance.

"There isn't any creativity there," Kapolka said. "Emily Bender is a scientist, and she coined the phrase, 'stochastic parrot' to describe a large language model, in the sense that it's saying things that sound good, but it doesn't really have any understanding of what it's saying. That's why I say it's really passed the 'imitation test.' It looks like a person, but it's not intelligent like a person."

Replacing jobs is just one of the concerns people have. The most recent one raised in that open letter - replacing humans completely. You can read that single-statement letter here, and the previous open letter released in March here.

"Some people think man was created in God's image. Some people think God is created in man's image, but I think we should all agree that these computers are being created in our image, right? And so, if we're creating things in our image, what you think about the danger of these technologies has a lot to do with what you think about people. And I think that's what we're seeing coming out. So, if you are concerned that people are not inherently good, then you might think that technology is going to cause trouble," Prof. Kapolka said.

His biggest concern is people using AI tools as a reliable source of information, which he says, in their current form, they're not.

The information ChatGPT churns out might not always be accurate, but it sounds convincing, and that's where the danger lies.

Check out WNEP's YouTube channel.  

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