The 141st Block: Maybe don't let your chatbot do your work

Remember that one time I made GPT-3 write my newsletter?

Tina Carmillia

Jan 16, 2023

This week…

Another week of ChatGPT dominating the headlines.

Here’s a selection of top stories on my radar, a few personal recommendations, and the chart of the week.

CNET quietly publishing entire articles generated by AI

Frank Landymore for Futurism:

The articles are published under the unassuming appellation of “CNET Money Staff,” and encompass topics like “Should You Break an Early CD for a Better Rate?” or “What is Zelle and How Does It Work?”
That byline obviously does not paint the full picture, and so your average reader visiting the site likely would have no idea that what they’re reading is AI-generated. It’s only when you click on “CNET Money Staff,” that the actual “authorship” is revealed.
“This article was generated using automation technology,” reads a dropdown description, “and thoroughly edited and fact-checked by an editor on our editorial staff.”
Since the program began, CNET has put out around 73 AI-generated articles. That’s not a whole lot for a site that big, and absent an official announcement of the program, it appears leadership is trying to keep the experiment as lowkey as possible. CNET did not respond to questions about the AI-generated articles.

ChatGPT wrote my dating app responses. No one replied back

Jordan Parker Erb for Insider:

The replies that ChatGPT offered were often lengthy, impersonal, and, frankly, bizarre.
The number of times that ChatGPT asked me to message someone about “craft beers and avocado toast” makes me think that ChatGPT may be powered by some poor 2010s hipster.
But after a while, it seemed like the bot had found some self-respect — or at least picked up on what I was doing.
Following several of my requests for pick-up lines and dating-app responses, the bot gave me this eerily perceptive response: “Keep in mind that pick-up lines are often seen as cheesy or inauthentic, so it’s important to be genuine and respectful when approaching someone.”

Scientists, please don’t let your chatbots grow up to be co-authors

Gary Marcus on The Road to AI We Can Trust:

Wanna know what’s worse than hype? People are starting to treat ChatGPT as if it were a bona fide, well-credentialed scientific collaborator.
Yesterday’s trend was hyping ChatGPT’s alleged Google-killing abilities. Today’s trend is listing ChatGPT as a co-author.
According to Semantic Scholar, 6-week-old ChatGPT already has two publications, 12 co-authors (all of whom agreed to this prank) and one citation.
I sincerely hope this trend won’t last.
Here are five reasons why:

Read on.

ChatGPT: Student builds app to sniff out AI-written essays

Nadine Yousif for BBC:

Edward Tian has been thinking about the power of artificial intelligence for a number of years.
But it was in a packed lecture last year that the computer science student at Princeton University saw how advanced this technology had become. His thesis adviser displayed a set of text in front of the class and asked the students to differentiate between what had been written by a human and what had been AI generated.
Many students guessed wrong. He realised then that there was a problem that needed a solution.
“This technology is only going to get better and better, AI is here to stay. This is the future,” [he] told the BBC.
“But at the same time, I believe we need to enter this future responsibly.”
This is why the 22-year-old spent his winter holiday break at a coffee shop in his hometown of Toronto working on an application that can determine, with high accuracy, if a text was written by a human or a bot.
He created it in response to the emergence of ChatGPT late last year - a free online chatbot that can expertly write almost anything, from English essays and news articles, to meal plans and computer code, all from a simple prompt.

What I read, listen, and watch…

I’m reading Laren Lluveras’ essay on untangling the horrors of being parented resentfully on Catapult.
I’m listening to Rose Eveleth on Tech Won’t Save Us as she explains to host Paris Marx why tech billionaires want to shape our future.
I’m watching Joanna Johnson explain on TikTok why she, as an educator, is not worried that ChatGPT might destroy education.

Reviews, opinion pieces, and other stray links:

Brampton mom creates multisport helmet for her Sikh children by Alex Arsenych for CTV News.
Why millennials and Gen Z are helping lead the zero-proof drink surge by Bob Becken for CBC.
Why is Spotify full of faster versions of pop hits? Let’s bring you up to speed by Alaina Demopoulos for The Guardian.
Guardian confirms it was hit by ransomware attack by Dan Milmo for The Guardian.
Why are there so many cyberattacks lately? An explainer on the rising trend by Jessica Smith for The Canadian Press.

Chart of the week

Play around on Google Trends for a bit, and see a spike in interest in ChatGPT. I plotted one against AI and DALL-E over the course of the last 12 months for comparison.