What is Generative AI?

What is Generative AI?

• Traditional or conventional AI typically focuses on specific tasks and is designed to solve specific problems. It operates based on predefined rules and algorithms, often with a fixed set of inputs and outputs. AI systems are trained to follow specific instructions and make decisions based on predetermined logic.

• Generative AI is focused on creating new and original content. It is capable of generating outputs that are not explicitly programmed or predefined. Generative AI models are trained on very large datasets to learn patterns and structures, enabling them to generate new and creative content that resembles the training data. They can produce text, images, music, speech, video, and other forms of content based on the patterns and examples they have learned.

Watch ChatGPT at work

What is ChatGPT and how does it work?

• ChatGPT is a generative AI tool developed by OpenAI that can mirror characteristics of natural language and competent writing on a wide range of subjects in response to a user request. 

• ChatGPT is a Large Language Model (LLM), meaning it has been trained on vast quantities of text from nearly everything ever written and posted on the internet. Using this data, an LLM generates original text responses using a statistical algorithm that predicts the next word. The more data it is trained on, the better and more natural the language responses are. 

• While LLMs like ChatGPT do not have a sense of "facts" or "truth," advanced models can access the internet to provide real-time information and verify current events.

Are there other tools similar to ChatGPT?

• There are many generative AI tools like ChatGPT that can create realistic images, generate human-like speech or text, compose music, read and write code, or generate entire presentations. The field is quickly progressing and new tools emerge almost daily. 

• Generative tools are also being integrated into various learning tools that we commonly use, including search engines, word processors, email clients, library interfaces, research archives, and job search sites. Popular platforms like Gmail and Drive, as well as applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, have already incorporated generative AI capabilities.

Take a deeper dive

For an in depth conversation about what AI is and is not, view this fireside chat hosted by The Fubon Center featuring Stern's own Foster Provost in conversation with NYU Professor Emeritus Gary Marcus.