What is Generative AI (GenAI) and ChatGPT?

• GenAI is short for generative artificial intelligence
• ChatGPT stands for chat-based generative pre-trained transformer. It is based on a large language model called GPT-4 that can understand and generate human-like answers to text prompts. ChatGPT is a type of artificial intelligence
• It can generate essays, emails, lyrics, computer code, webpages, lesson plans, and more! It is also useful for summarizing text and creating questions 
• It is not explicitly programmed. It is learning patterns and making decisions based on probability. It can make mistakes. For this reason, it is important to fact-check the output
• ChatGPT is not the only AI chatbot. The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 started a technology race of AI generative chatbots. Other chatbots include Copilot Chat, Perplexity and Google Gemini

Generative AI is changing rapidly and it is important to keep in mind that content created by AI tools is the result of a predictive model; content is not necessarily accurate, unbiased, up to date, or ethical or legal to pass off as your own work.

Specific challenges of GenAI:

• Often “hallucinates” (makes up things) especially in term of academic references or citations
• Has not been trained on the newest information, so has limited knowledge of current information and the current world
• Does not have equal knowledge of all topics. For example, has more knowledge of STEM topics than humanities topics
• Does not cite sources or otherwise indicate what in training data has led to response
• As with search results, results must be critically evaluated for bias
• Cannot make future predictions 
• Lacks creativity or “out of the box thinking”

Always fact check content provided by an AI tool!