ChatGPT and Generative AI Tools for Learning and Research

Many sophisticated machine learning (ML) products recently have been introduced as general-purpose content-creation tools. The one that has garnered the most attention was ChatGPT, a chatbot powered by the large language model (LLM) GPT-3.5.

An LLM is a type of ML model that performs various natural language processing tasks-such as recognizing, summarizing, translating, and generating text; answering questions; and carrying on a conversation. An LLM is developed by deep learning techniques, and training its artificial neural networks requires a massive amount of data. Deep learning is a type of ML, and ML is a subfield of AI. Since ChatGPT outputs new content as a response to a user's inquiry, it is considered a tool in the realm of generative AI.

GENERATIVE AI FOR CONTENT CREATION

ChatGPT was launched by OpenAI on Nov. 30, 2022, and it quickly became a phenomenon. In 5 days, more than a million people signed up to try this product. Shortly thereafter, on Feb. 7, 2023, Google unveiled Bard, its own ChatGPT-like chatbot. Bard is built on top of Google's natural language processing model, called LaMDA, which stands for Language Model for Dialogue Applications. Around the same time, Microsoft debuted a new Bing chatbot as a competitor to ChatGPT and Bard.

In addition to generating a human-like conversation, ChatGPT and other similar AI-powered chatbots can write essays, computer code, recipes, grocery lists, and even poems. While some inaccuracies and incoherence were soon found in the responses of various chatbots (Bobby Allyn, "Microsoft's New AI Chatbot Has Been Saying Some 'Crazy and Unhinged Things,'" NPR, March 2, 2023; npr.org/2023/03/02/1159895892/ai-micro soft-bing-chatbot), there is general agreement that these AIpowered chatbots perform noticeably better than any past, non-AI chatbots.

While ChatGPT, Bard, and Bing chatbots generate texts as a response, DALL-E, Midjourney, and Imagen create images as an output upon receiving a user input in text. Make-A-Video generates a video that fits the description given in text, and MusicLM generates a piece of music. GitHub Copilot outputs computer code and is used as a pair programming tool. These AI tools are introducing generative AI to the public at an increasing speed.

WHAT IS GENERATIVE AI?

Generative AI refers to deep-learning algorithms that generate novel content in a variety of forms-such as text, image, video, audio,...