AI auto-writing wonder ChatGPT continues to gobsmack the world — now clocking nearly a billion visitors every month.
Observes Stefan Katanic, CEO, Veza Digital: “The ChatGPT phenomenon spread like wildfire at the end of 2022.
“And we expect it to soon break all records of being the fastest-ever Web site to reach 1 billion monthly active users in such an incredibly short space of time.
“Debates about AI are divisive.
“But one thing we can probably all agree on is that AI is no longer the future: It is the present.”
In other AI-generated writing news:
*Quick Look: Gmail’s New AI-Powered ‘Help Me Write:” Click here for a 2 1/2 minute video demo of Gmail’s new AI writer by none other than Sundar Pichai, Google’s CEO.
Some of Help Me Write’s coolest features:
~The tool can auto-incorporate information from previous emails to discuss the topic you’re writing about
~Help Me Write has an ‘Elaborate’ button that enables you to auto-write a longer email if you prefer
~Help Me Write relies on the same underlying AI tech that powers Google Bard — the company’s rival to ChatGPT
*AI Expert: ChatGPT Represents Sea Change of ‘Industrial Revolution’ Proportions: Aidan Gomez, CEO, AI startup Cohere, sees ChatGPT bringing on change of ‘Industrial Revolution’ proportions.
Observes Gomez: “What the steam engine did for mechanical work, mechanical labor, this technology is going to do for intellectual labor.”
Gomez points to a recent MIT study on ChatGPT that found its impact on mid-level professional writing jobs will be “substantial” and that ChatGPT was “significantly faster” than those pros.
*The Whip Comes Down: IBM Waves Goodbye to 7,800 Jobs, Thanks to AI: IBM has stopped hiring for about 7,800 positions it believes may be replaced by AI over time.
Observes writer Benj Edwards: IBM CEO Arvind Krishna’s “announcement at IBM marks one of the strongest so far from a major tech company regarding potential labor impacts from AI.
“He predicts that certain tasks, like providing employment verification letters or moving employees between departments, will likely be fully automated.
“However, he also mentioned that some HR functions, such as evaluating workforce composition and productivity, are not expected to be replaced within the next decade.”
*With the ‘Scripting Kraken’ Unleashed, WGA Fights to Restrict ChatGPT and Similar AI: TV and movie scriptwriters — now in the second week of their strike against the studios — are pushing hard to limit ChatGPT’s impact on their paychecks.
Observes screenwriter C. Robert Cargill: “The immediate fear of AI isn’t that us writers will have our work replaced by artificially generated content.
“It’s that we will be underpaid to rewrite that trash into something we could have done better from the start.
“This is what the WGA is opposing — and the studios want.”
*No ChatGPT? Later, Dude: 39% of Students Give AI-Banning Colleges a Hard Pass: A sizable portion of students (39%) plan to pass on attending colleges that have banned ChatGPT, according to a new survey from College Rover.
Equally eye-opening: More than 40% of students are currently using ChatGPT for coursework.
Observes writer Sabrina Ortiz: “Out of the same pool of students, 36% said that their professors have threatened to fail students caught using AI technologies for coursework.”
*Google’s Answer to ChatGPT Goes for the Jugular: Smarting from the gigantic lead ChatGPT has carved-out in consumer AI, Google’s answer to the tool — Bard — has some decided advantages, according to India Express.
For example, Google’s official roll-out of Bard to 180 countries on May 10 included:
~Built-in access to today’s Web (ChatGPT’s knowledge of the Web ends in 2021, although there is a plugin that connects ChatGPT to today’s Web)
~Availability for use on a smartphone (ChatGPT does not have a mobile version yet)
~Built-in export of Bard results to Gmail and Docs
While ChatGPT may be able to quash any advantages Bard has with third-party plugins, there is a decided advantage to having features built into the core product.
*Poynter: Brace Yourself for “Pink Slime” Journalism: The fear that AI-powered news content farms will begin churning-out low-level ‘journalism’ has already arrived, according to Poynter writer Seth Smalley.
A study by NewsGuard has found that 49+ Web sites together are churning out thousands-upon-thousands of ‘news stories’ each day by digesting other news stories and ‘regurgitating’ what they find — with rewrite help from AI-powered writers.
Observes Smalley: “It’s pink slime on steroids.”
*SlackGPT: Major Workplace Communications Platform Gets AI Refresh: Millions of workers who use Slack to communicate with each other every day can now do so with a new generation of the tool, ‘SlackGPT.’
Essentially, the same software powering ChatGPT has been integrated into Slack, enabling workers to use the AI in-app.
Observes writer Jennifer Torres: “Marketers will find many useful features in the new tech, including the ability to auto-generate copy and images for blogs, email campaigns, social and advertising directly into a channel for team collaboration.”
*AI Big Picture: ChatGPT CEO to Testify Before U.S. Senate This Week: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman — the maker of ChatGPT — will be offering his perspective to the U.S. Senate May 16 on AI regulation.
Altman met earlier this month with other top U.S. government officials regarding AI — including Vice President Kamala Harris.
Among the issues the U.S. Senate is weighing: Whether or not AI should be used to make national security decisions devoid of human intervention.
Share a Link: Please consider sharing a link to https://RobotWritersAI.com from your blog, social media post, publication or emails. More links leading to RobotWritersAI.com helps everyone interested in AI-generated writing.
–Joe Dysart is editor of RobotWritersAI.com and a tech journalist with 20+ years experience. His work has appeared in 150+ publications, including The New York Times and the Financial Times of London.