So you want to know if ChatGPT is reliable? Well, that can be a tricky question to answer. While ChatGPT is an incredible advancement in our online world, it certainly isn’t always right, even when it knows it is. I spent some time over the past month using ChatGPT and found its answer to be… interesting.
In this article, we are going to talk about what exactly ChatGPT is, how it works, and why it isn’t a reliable source of information.
So with that said, let’s jump in!
What Is ChatGPT?
In simple terms, ChatGPT is a conversational Artificial Intelligence chatbot that was created to answer questions and respond to queries through a chat interface that sounds human and authentic.
It seems that in 2023, it’s the only thing people are talking about. Using it for anything from solving coding problems to copywriting, and even completing student homework assignments.
Needless to say, utilizing AI like ChatGPT isn’t going away anytime soon and will only become more of an integral part of our society as time goes on.
If you haven’t checked out ChatGPT yet, you can find it here.
How Does ChatGPT Work?
Since ChatGPT isn’t open-source, we can’t say precisely how it works. Even if it was, it would be too complex to summarize. However, we do have a pretty good idea. Especially because many AI models are built very similarly.
At the root, ChatGPT is a statistical tool used to predict words. ChatGPT is fed an incredibly high amount of training data from multiple sources. This includes Reddit, books, news articles, and the vast majority of what you could find online.
ChatGPT learns how to build sentences based on the semantic context of the surrounding words. This means that ChatpGPT doesn’t actually “know” anything. It is just really good at finding information online and giving an answer based on the statistical data it has.
Why Isn’t ChatGPT Reliable?
The problem with ChatGPT is that all it is doing is compiling information online and giving you an answer that sounds correct. If you probe it a bit, it will literally tell you it’s just an algorithm used to produce results that sound realistic.
The problem with this is that ChatGPT sounds convincing, but it’s not always right. What’s worse is that since its response is built from billions of results, you can’t be certain where the information is coming from.
In contrast, if you were to read a book or online publication, you can see where the results are coming from. Take The Algorithm Design Manual by Steven Skiena for example. You can clearly see the book is highly regarded in the industry and that the author works as a computer science professor. Working heavily in algorithm research. Likely a person you can trust the opinion of.
If you have the necessary skills to verify your sources, you can be sure you are getting high-quality information from a quality source. With ChatGPT, this simply isn’t the case and there is no way to test its accuracy without looking up the response afterward.
Will ChatGPT Ever Be Reliable?
Although ChatGPT isn’t currently reliable, it has the potential to be reliable in the future. The main thing ChatGPT is missing is an accuracy response feature. Something that states to what degree of accuracy the AI thinks the response is.
Additionally, if the AI was able to crawl the resources it gathers and find information on the author and their credibility, it would be a huge improvement.
With that said, I can see a world where we stop searching for information online and instead turn to AI-powered engines that search and gather the information we want for us. As for right now, I wouldn’t trust its responses without cross-checking after.
Summary
To summarize, ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot that delivers realistic responses to whatever question you have in mind. Although it is an impressive feat in our digital society, it isn’t reliable yet. Although the bot sounds convincing, it is really just pulling resources from random sources and compiling an answer. It has no way to check its own sources or gauge how accurate it actually is. For that reason, I would be cautious about using ChatGPT without first checking for plagiarism or accuracy afterward.
