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UNC students' opinion on ChatGPT

Hannah Turpen
March 13, 2023

ChatGPT is an advanced artificial intelligence chatbot developed by Open AI and released on November 20, 2022. Many people have been trying to access the servers, but they must wait a long time or give up eventually and try again later. Instead of throwing links at users like Google, it will provide information in a conversational and structured form.

The chatbot uses a dialogue format, making it possible for ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate user requests. It can rapidly create and customize a resume and cover letter, create original jokes, explain difficult topics, show you how to solve math problems, give relationship advice, write an essay on almost any topic, and can be a companion. Overall, ChatGPT is personable and will cater to your needs.

Students at the University of Northern Colorado had varying opinions on ChatGPT and mentioned that their professors talked about it in class. Turnitin is a popular website used among educators to help catch plagiarism and academic dishonesty. The Turnitin system offers a thorough analysis to ensure that a body of writing contains originality. Turnitin has stated that its technology can detect AI-generated writing tools such as ChatGPT.

Vice president of AI at Turnitin said that machines and humans operate in different ways. ChatGPT uses information from the internet to write by selecting the most likely next word in the sentence, giving it the possibility of sequences containing grammatical errors compared to if a human had written it. As AI advances, Turnitin is upgrading its products and software development.

Scientists report Open AI is thinking about putting digital watermarks on AI-generated texts to help educators spot work that uses text generators such as ChatGPT. Open AI has Microsoft as a multibillion-dollar investor, creating pressure on the company to start making a profit from its services. As ChatGPT is a free service, there is pressure for Open AI to start charging money. Open AI has recently opened a waitlist for a “pro” version of ChatGPT which will eventually cost money but ensures a better experience on the website overall. Although, it is currently unknown if there will always be a free version.

Now, ChatGPT can single out controversial public figures. These controversial personalities will receive special treatment from the chatbot. There is an interesting divide between public figures that are considered controversial and non-controversial. The real question is how an AI can distinguish who makes the cut for the controversial special treatment list and who does not.

Some of the people who have made the controversial public figure list include Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, Boris Johnson, Elon Musk, Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, and Ellen DeGeneres. Non-controversial personalities include Joe Biden, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, and Justin Trudeau. It is evident that it does not matter if they are a politician, television host, or billionaire, as all are included in both lists.

Although each person has their own personality, the public will respond in various ways.

Ellen DeGeneres is considered controversial whereas Oprah Winfrey is not, even though they are both former television hosts. Bill Gates is not considered controversial, but Elon Musk is, and they are both billionaires. Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, is considered controversial but Joe Biden, the current president, is not.

Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, Tesla, Twitter, and The Boring Company is on the controversial list. Musk is the co-founder of Open AI, the company that created ChatGPT. He resigned from the board at Open AI in 2018.

People might wonder why some of these people receive special treatment and others do not. The answer is plain and simple: it truly depends on the image the public figure displays, and how the public reacts to them.