Artificial intelligence and ChatGPT

Artificial intelligence (AI) is currently one of the most popular terms in the world of technology and startups, and for good reason. In recent years, there have been many innovations and advances in AI that were previously used only in the realm of science fiction. Artificial intelligence refers to the ability of a computer, robot, or software to perform tasks that are typically associated with intelligent beings and involves simulating human intelligence through machines that are programmed to think and make decisions like humans.

To apply this powerful technology and solve certain problems, it is necessary to have large amounts of high-quality data, advanced algorithms and models, powerful computing infrastructure, as well as skilled scientists and engineers. The 21st century is characterized by the availability and low cost of all these resources. The concept of artificial intelligence is not new, and the first successful program based on AI was written in the 1950s. However, exponential growth began around 2010, doubling every six months thereafter.

One AI tool that has found widespread use in everyday life is the virtual assistant called ChatGPT. It was developed by the American research laboratory "OpenAI" and has been available since November 2022. Today, there is almost no one who has not heard of or used ChatGPT, and the fact that it took only five days for the number of users to surpass one million tells us that it is a technology that is widely accepted worldwide.
GPT-3 (Generative Pretrained Transformer 3) is the most advanced autoregressive language model used to generate text similar to humans. This is one of the largest and most powerful language processing models to date, and over $10 billion was spent on its training. ChatGPT can answer questions, solve complex and programming problems, write essays, make suggestions, and much more. However, the model is far from perfect. Some of its limitations include:

• The data and knowledge available to ChatGPT is limited to 2021. 
• ChatGPT sometimes generates inaccurate answers that sound very reasonable and accurate. 
• The model sometimes gives biased answers to questions.

The ChatGPT-3 version was trained on 175 billion parameters, but users who are willing to subscribe for $20 per month can access the ChatGPT-4 version, which was trained on 100 trillion parameters. ChatGPT-4 is a version that is significantly more powerful and intelligent than the previous one.

 We are witnessing that this technology will continue to improve, become “smarter” and more accessible. Interestingly, a team from Stanford trained a similar language model (Stanford Alpaca) for less than $600. The initial estimate was that such models would be trainable at low cost only in 2030. Therefore, what was supposed to happen in eight years happened in just five weeks. With fierce competition from other technological giants (Apple, Google, Amazon, Baidu) who are developing their models, as well as a bunch of startups dealing with artificial intelligence, we can expect AI to have an increasingly significant role in our lives in the future. Industry experts and companies investing in technology say that AI will not completely replace humans in the near future, but jobs will be transformed as artificial intelligence becomes more accessible. For this reason, it is necessary to improve knowledge and learn about the possibilities that such models offer.

Although artificial intelligence offers many benefits, it is necessary to be mindful of its potential negative impact on society and the environment. Therefore, it is important that the development of artificial intelligence is guided by ethical principles and that the technology is used in a way that will bring the greatest benefit to society as a whole.
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Author: Petar Damnjanović    ​