The other week in first period, I was sitting in a den of sweaty, loud, screeching jungle animals (my computer science class), when I heard a rare intelligible sound from one of the boys sitting next to me: “Have you heard about ChatGPT?” They went on to talk about the new technology, how it was risking jobs, and playing around with it in class. My interest was piqued. ChatGPT is a new artificial intelligence chatbot technology created by OpenAI. And to its credit, it can do a lot - code, write, and supposedly be a sort of virtual assistant. It’s known for its capabilities in dialogue - being able to be responsive and at least sound pretty human. Because of all its abilities, a lot of people are worried that it will take away jobs. Right now, it’s still being tested, and so the company has opened it up to the public for free use to test it. Let’s do a deep dive into the implications of this new AI.
I wanted to test out what ChatGPT could do. I made an account with OpenAI, I typed in my HTML code into ChatGPT, and in a few seconds, it started typing back. I watched in part-awe, part-horror as it not only shot back corrections to my code, but explained them to me. This was impressive, but to my knowledge, fancy spell check hasn’t taken away any jobs. So, I took it one step further and asked it to create HTML code from scratch, specifically, I asked for a pink background, a few boxes stacked one after another, and a calendar for the month of December. Then I sat back and waited. It started typing back, not only spitting out code, but explaining it. I ran it, and it worked!
So why hasn’t this code already decimated the programming job market? ChatGPT’s code was nicely done, free of human error, and neat. It did what I asked it to. But it lacked any personality when compared with my code, it was too simplistic. Worst of all, it started lagging and didn’t even finish its code, only getting halfway through the calendar I requested.
However, even though I won the battle, will I lose the war? The most obvious implication of ChatGPT is the risk of jobs being automated. This is most threatening to more low-skill, clerical jobs, which has the potential to disproportionately hurt people who don’t have access to higher education. It may also perpetuate inequalities by making a new set of skills necessary to be competitive in the job market, when education can barely keep up as it is. Right now, coding is the need-to-know language, and whether your school offers computer science or not is not a given. If ChatGPT becomes ubiquitous, fields like AI and Data Science may be prioritized over the typical coder we have now. While some schools will be able to keep up with these changes, a lot will be left behind.
There’s a second implication that may make you groan, but it’s omnipresent: kids losing motivation to learn. There is a disturbingly pervasive idea now that knowledge is completely transactional and should only be acquired for specific goals. Have you ever heard someone say, “why do I need to learn this, calculators exist!” That way of thinking is dangerous and woefully short-sighted. So, if kids can WikiHow and now ChatGPT everything, what incentive is there to learn?
Don’t worry though - not all hope is lost. There are potential advantages to this new technology. I can see it being used by people who don’t have access to a human coder, which can help people who otherwise would see tech as inaccessible participate in the internet, making things more equal. Maybe a school club without any coders can throw together a functional website. It won’t be perfect and totally pretty, but it will complete its purpose and be good enough.
Don’t forget. AI can learn and it can create code from scratch. But it will never have intuition. Our unconscious reasoning allows us to connect to other people. It’s this “sixth sense” that makes us human. And employers value humanity - employers are saying that the most sought-after skills aren’t technical ones, but soft skills like collaboration, authentic communication, teamwork, and interpersonal skills. If you’re a coder worried about being replaced by ChatGPT, then realize that when you’re working, it’s not just your raw skill that will carry your career; you need to be innovative, empathetic, human.
Now, let’s please put to rest the idea that ChatGPT and other technology eliminate the need to learn. ChatGPT is constantly gathering information to better itself. Every time we chat with it and every time it gathers data, it’s like it’s exercising and building its muscles. As humans, gathering insight we may not immediately need, like the themes of Faulkner or the Civil War, help train our brains to always question what we see, to be able to develop complex thoughts, and to look back on our mistakes so we don’t repeat them. If everyone stopped learning once they felt that the current technology was sufficient and made their lives easy enough, then society would never progress.
Finally, I’ll state the obvious - jobs are safe for now. Not only is the technology in its beta stage, but it has a lot of kinks to work out and won’t be ready to be a virtual assistant or coder for a long time. Even once it theoretically passes the threshold into usability, it will create new careers in developing and managing AI technologies. Jobs won’t totally go away; they’ll just change.
In conclusion, don’t let this one technology completely change your career path, but remember that just plain skill doesn’t take you as far as it may have used to. Develop your intuition by being well-rounded - don’t just learn skills. Read and think about the world around you to develop your sense of self and to be able to empathize and distinguish yourself from artificial intelligence. Input-output isn’t enough - we need people that are motivated, empathetic, and deeply knowledgeable.
Also, remember that Chat GPT is only able to write so well because it takes from works written by humans. It will always rely on human-generated content to be relevant, because if it only takes from the sources it has now, it won’t keep up with our linguistic, cultural, and societal changes, and will be antiquated. It’s short-sighted to think that even in a world where humans theoretically don’t need to create, they won’t anyway. Not only is it in our nature to create, but it’s in our nature to enjoy creations made by other humans. People will never go out of style.
Finally, this is a point where we should be taking a good look at the systems that both reduce and perpetuate inequality - especially education. Schools lift up many kids but also leave many behind, and we should make sure that all kids are getting a fulfilling education that equips them for our constantly changing world. ChatGPT is a fun tool for now that is full of possibilities. I’m immensely curious to see where it goes and where it takes us.