ChatGPT is an example of generative AI which in turn is artificial intelligence that can generate content, be it text, images, music, and such. Plus, ChatGPT is also a search bot that can browse through the content available on the internet to search for an answer, the best possible answer it thinks, to your query.
And ChatGPT does all these things just at a prompt from you, a little question, a little textual command. It’s like the world’s most obedient, fastest, most knowledgeable, and competent (in certain things) assistant! No wonder that it has taken the world by a storm. From deep philosophical questions to highly specific technical questions, I have seen people asking ChatGPT. From creating text for an essay for school to writing a whole PhD thesis, I can imagine people are asking it to do.
But in addition to being a brilliant technology, it is also scary. If ChatGPT can do so many things, why do we need humans?! Wouldn’t ChatGPT (or similar AI technologies) bring the end of the thing that’s called being human?
Tech pundits are predicting various kinds of futures – from rosy (where AI helps us find cure to various diseases) to very dark (where we lose control of the AI and destroy the fabric of our society). Politicians are scrambling to make legislations to regulate the use of AI but legislations take years to make and last for decades or even centuries while AI and other technologies evolve by months, weeks or even days!
But all those are big level questions. Let’s just focus on the level of individual humans and think about what we should and shouldn’t use AI, specifically ChatGPT for. You’d think that there would be a guideline (internal or external) that one could follow before outsourcing one’s tasks to this brilliant but scary technology. But there isn’t (that I know of). Everyone has their own ideas and that’s fine because we are only talking about the individual level.
So, here are my 2 cents on the topic.
When NOT to use:
- Tasks where human creativity is needed
No matter how powerful AI is, humans are still unbeatable when it comes to coming up with new ideas, new ways to look at an old idea/object, new applications of an existing thing/concept, and such. We don’t want to give that up! Personally, I love coming up with new ideas in technology or in my personal philosophy, writing about various topics, or making craft projects for my home or my friends.
Example tasks in everyday life: painting, composing music or poetry, creating a personalized gift for someone etc
- Tasks when learning through doing is equally, if not more, important as doing the task itself
Many tasks need to be done because that’s how we humans learn – by doing. If you’re trying to become a sci-fi writer, you can hone your skills by reading sci-fi for inspiration, trying to write, making mistakes, writing again, and so on. It will be useless and even counterintuitive if you just asked ChatGPT to write it for you! (Unless, your objective is not to learn how to write sci-fi but simply to sell a sci-fi piece of writing! But the buyer has to like what ChatGPT wrote, right?)
Example tasks in everyday life: homework assignments, sketching practice, book reading etc
- Tasks that one loves doing (no matter how mundane)
Even when some tasks are neither creative nor particularly important for our growth, they might be useful to people for different purposes. For example, someone might love gardening that another person finds tedious. Washing a car might be a chore for one person but a tool to show off their car for others. Peeling potatoes might be mind numbingly boring for you and me but was very important to Ludwig Wittgenstein, the famous philosopher because he got his best ideas when peeling potatoes. I, for one, got my best ideas when jogging, cycling or walking around! The point is, if you love doing it, for whatever reason, why outsource it to a machine or algorithm?!
Example tasks in everyday life: painting, composing music or poetry, preparing a special meal for a loved one etc