We have nothing to fear in ChatGPT, whether it is creating stunning art, perfect love letters or award-winning academic papers. The only thing we need to fear is ourselves and our use of it to make hollow, meaningless and delusional messages to our peers. 

ChatGPT is currently the most popular artificial intelligence (AI) software which already has the financial might and backing of Microsoft for their Bing Search engine. This new Bing has already shown its capabilities with image generation, chatbot responses and comprehensive search engine queries. 

In addition, Microsoft subsidiary GitHub has recently released GitHub CoPilot X. This is an AI-driven software capable of writing software based on a standard English sentence and answering specific questions about a codebase after analysis. 

What can we surmise from this new technology? We can look to a similarly disruptive era: the rise of the internet. Initially, it was not entirely known what the internet would change in society. It served an entirely academic purpose. Companies and entrepreneurs were not even sure that it would amount to anything. Early internet services required a specialist to operate them. Fast forward a few decades later and everyone has a smartphone in their pocket that connects to the internet every waking second. People constantly express themselves in a controversially-moderated discourse and express opinions that they should have thought out better. A whole generation can not imagine life without that connectivity. 

No doubt, in the coming years will see increasing use of ChatGPT and similar products to disrupt markets people once thought were secure. Academia will have to face the approaching disaster of generated student work from the morally inept. Artists will be put under ever more scrutiny over the authenticity of their work. People will fall for chatbots impersonating their perfect significant other. This monsoon of chaos will assure a world of insensitivity. People will no longer care if a product was made by a machine and will accept the comforting delusion they have encased themselves in. 

Amid all this panic however, I believe that AI will greatly help everyone. The problem mostly stems from what is an appropriate use of AI. In comparison, using the internet to help a research project is a good use, but using the internet during a test is cheating. AI can and will be used to help designers brainstorm ideas during boardroom meetings with executives, just as it will be used to help programmers understand a codebase better. It will also be used to help people get better search results for their questions. 

As a society, we should discipline ourselves to adapt to this new technology, but be keenly aware of its effects. We should be skeptical about the media we consume if we do not know the creator of the source, human or not. We should emphasize the achievement of learning a master skill, without the use of any technology. We should encourage a mentally healthier society to have individually strong people. Above all, it is on us to use AI ethically and not attempt to deceive each other.

Photo by Matheus Bertelli via  Pexels