[Current & Culture]The First Question for ChatGPT

Technologies That Rose and Vanished in an Instant
Where Is the Destiny of Conversational AI Headed?

New technologies always bring both anticipation and concern. The expectations vary greatly depending on the type of technology, but the worries are always similar. People fear that new technologies will take away human roles and degrade our abilities. This concern is not baseless. Thanks to navigation systems, even those who are bad with directions find driving easier, but many no longer bother to remember routes. After karaoke emerged, people could sing songs without knowing the lyrics, but it is now rare to find someone who has memorized the lyrics of even a few favorite songs. Before cell phones, we could easily recite the phone numbers of family, friends, and colleagues, but now, even I can only recall about five or six numbers. Clearly, some of our abilities have atrophied. However, it does not hinder our lives. On the contrary, we have gained much more thanks to new technologies.

These days, the world is abuzz with the emergence of conversational AI led by ChatGPT. While the basic principle, deep learning, is already widely known, and other conversational AIs like Iruda have been introduced before, this is the first time we have seen one as close to a ‘real person’ as ChatGPT, which is why the response has been unprecedentedly enthusiastic. There is coexistence of expectations that it will be used in numerous fields and bring revolutionary changes comparable to smartphones, and concerns that it will seriously degrade human learning abilities.

Even for me, how convenient it would be to have an AI assistant that writes broadcast cue sheets every day. There would be no need to monitor new songs or remember old songs that are gradually forgotten. On a rainy night, what if AI picks the next song that best suits Lee So-ra’s ‘Request Song’? What if AI writes the plot of a new web novel instead? I would probably become a bit lazier and duller. Nevertheless, I believe using AI to improve work efficiency and accomplish things that would have been unthinkable before is possible. Just as calculators and computers became revolutionary tools, and thanks to MIDI programs, not only K-pop but the entire genre of electronic music was created.

The fate of conversational AI services is still unknown. Many ambitious technologies have appeared and disappeared without a trace. Once considered the future of cinema, 3D movies are now rarely attempted except by director James Cameron. Today’s teenagers and people in their twenties probably find the word ‘city phone’ unfamiliar. What about ‘ubiquitous’? It was an attempt to create an environment where users could freely access networks regardless of location without being aware of computers or networks, but with the unexpected rise of powerful smartphones, the term ‘ubiquitous’ has faded like a dead word. It is still uncertain whether electric cars will completely replace internal combustion engine vehicles as originally anticipated or only partially substitute them.

In fact, ChatGPT appeared in a fairy tale hundreds of years ago. In the fairy tale ‘Snow White,’ the evil queen possessed a magical mirror that answered any question posed to it. That very mirror now hangs before us. The queen always asked who was the fairest in the land, but what question do you want to ask? I want to ask ChatGPT this question first.

"What do you think your destiny will be?"

Someone quick on the uptake might already be preparing to produce a ‘magic mirror’ equipped with AI conversational functions, moving beyond romantic notions. I would like to have one. Would it write columns like this in a snap? Hmm. Then what will I live on?

Lee Jae-ik, Novelist