Lipika, O My Darling!
(Time to read-4 mins)
(Disclaimer: This article is not for
the tech-savvy or the tech-averse, but for the curious but tech-challenged reader.)
Love at first sight!
One look at her features, and I fell in love. She didn’t croon for me ‘Piya tu ab toh aajaa’, the hot, hit number from Caravan, the 1971 Bollywood film. Yet, I was besotted. She is young, fetching, enticing, enthralling, and enchanting. Bubbly, yet works quietly even though she is never at a loss for words.
Lipika, My GENIE!
Recently, I learned the mantra to summon ChatGPT, a
Genie who is at my beck and call, 24x7, and performs any writing task I assign
in a matter of seconds. Considering her ready wit and rapid-fire replies, I guess
ChatGPT must be a female.
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is an abbreviation
for Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer. That is a mouth-full, but let that
not put you off. You do not need to know how it does what it does. As a user,
you give a command (techies call it ‘input’), and it produces the text (output)
ordered by you.
It is simple. That is its USP. You use
Natural Language inputs, the language you use in conversation or written text,
to key in the task; ChatGPT understands that, works at an amazing speed, and
produces the result in a few seconds. Just like a Google/Siri/Alexa/Cortana
Search, only better.
If my description does not make much sense to
you, here is what ChatGPT has to say about itself (My command was for: A Note
on ChatGPT in 50 words for the technology-challenged person):
ChatGPT
is a natural language processing (NLP) model developed by OpenAI. It is
designed to generate human-like text based on the input it receives. ChatGPT
can be used to answer questions, engage in conversations, and perform other
language-based tasks. It is trained on a large dataset of human language and
can understand and respond to a wide range of inputs. ChatGPT is a useful tool
for tasks that require understanding and generating human-like text, such as
language translation or customer service.
She exceeded the word limit (output is
in 81 words!), but never mind that minor slip. She gave an easy-to-understand
note about herself.
Why did I sign up for ChatGPT?
Once asked by a reporter why he wanted
to climb Mount Everest, George Mallory famously replied, “Because it’s there.” Those
are said to be the most famous three (or four, if you are counting) words in
mountaineering.
Same for me. I signed up coz others (mostly
from the younger generation) have done that and are raving about it. Also, because it is free. To survey the
scenery, explore a little, and stay there if I like it, or leave if I don’t.
And for bragging rights. I signed up on 30 December 2022. Doesn’t that make me an early bird, since ChatGPT was launched on 30 November 2022 by OpenAI, an Artificial Intelligence research and deployment company that has a partnership with Microsoft? Many will sign up in 2023 or later. I can always say, I learned it in 2022, which is factual.
Tasks I assigned ChatGPT
- · A poem on Prayer for Universal Health,
Happiness, and Prosperity
- · A poem on New Year wish by an ordinary,
concerned citizen of India
- · A poem on forecast of global recession in 2023
- · A Hindi poem on New Year wish
- · A Prayer for Lord Jagannatha in Odia
- · A Prayer for Lord Jagannatha in Sambalpuri
dialect of Odia
- · A limerick on ChatGPT
- · A limerick on DALL-E (about this AI tool,
later)
- · A limerick about a spendthrift Indian wife
- · A Note on ChatGPT in 50 words for the
technology-challenged person
- · A Note on Domestic roof-top Solar Energy in
Madhya Pradesh: Opportunities and Challenges.
- · A Petition to Bhopal Municipal Commissioner
for Urgent Repair of Roads in Baghmugaliya Colony
- · A Petition to Bhopal Municipal Commissioner
for installation of a Sewerage Treatment Plant at Laharpur
- · An affidavit to change my name from ‘Prasanna
Kumar Dash’ to ‘Prasanna Dash’
- · Reply to Income Tax Officer, Bhopal that the
Tax Demand raised on P. K. Dash vide his letter of December 27, 2022 is
incorrect since the total tax due has already been paid
- · A limerick on an author named Dash
You may note that I have kept ChatGPT rather
busy, but she has no complaints. She has not yet snapped at me for assigning inane,
boring, or tough tasks. Occasionally, she has regretted that a particular task
was outside of her capability since she had not been trained for it. A polite
but candid confession, despite her gender.
What do you think of my ‘asks’? Maybe,
the list tells more about me than about ChatGPT!
A few Illustrations
I refrain from reproducing all her
replies and outputs. That would be oh, so boring. You are free to sign up, and
ask your own serious, solemn, funny, frivolous, or very smart and intelligent
questions. Go ahead, while it is still free.
I present below a few ChatGPT Limericks:
About a
spendthrift Indian wife
There once
was a spendthrift Indian wife
Whose shopping caused her husband much strife
He begged and he pleaded
But her wants never receded
Now they live in a home without a roof or a knife.
A limerick
on an aspiring author named Dash
There once was an author named Dash
Who dreamed of publishing with panache
He wrote every day
In every which way
Hoping his book would make a splash.
(My own limerick on
Dash)
There was an author named Dash
Who failed to make a splash,
Since his stories were pathetic,
He switched to limerick,
Hoping to be desi Ogden Nash.
Sorry, Genie, for grabbing your space!
Applications/Petitions,
etc
She wrote a perfect letter to the Bhopal Municipal
Commissioner requesting him to urgently repair the roads in Baghmugaliya
Extension. She even mentioned the large number of potholes, a daily traffic hazard,
and highlighted that these roads had not been repaired for several years. I had
NOT provided these inputs. Did she pick it up from Google Earth? Or from the
records of BMC? Or from my request to the Commissioner, a few months ago, by a
WhatsApp message?
Feeling rather thrilled, I asked her to write a
petition to the Bhopal Municipal Commissioner for installation of a Sewerage Treatment
Plant at Laharpur since the abandoned irrigation tank has now become an
open-air sewerage pond, and a great health hazard to the residents in the area.
She mulled for a moment, and then assigned me a series of tasks:
- ·
mobilise public
opinion
- ·
prepare a petition
signed by several residents
- ·
attach documentary
proof of any recent scientific study to substantiate your claim, and a few
photographs
- ·
seek an appointment
with the Commissioner, and
- ·
present the
petition along with a delegation.
Was she taking sweet revenge for all the
non-sensical tasks I had assigned her? Had I insulted her intelligence by
asking for banal jobs? I am told that she can write python coding language, too!
Conclusion
It is time for a quick performance appraisal
of my Genie. On a scale of 1 to 10, I award her 6. Very good at mundane,
mechanical tasks (application, petition, affidavit), and reasonably good at
creative tasks (poems, stories). I have not tested her alleged High IQ, which I
will assess when I myself learn about that.
Don’t go by the assessment of this novice user. Search for erudite, scholarly articles on ChatGPT, and you would have loads of reading material. Keep your mind open. Sign Up (at openai.com you will find the link to ChatGPT), try it yourself, and form your own opinion.
A Question before I conclude. Will AI
make writers and poets and painters redundant or even extinct? I fancy myself
as an author. Do I have a serious rival in ChatGPT? Nah, she doesn’t have
access to my personal memories and feeling and thoughts. Not yet, though. Who
knows about the future? If DALL-E can paint a sunset on the Bhopal Lake in Van
Gogh style, and ChatGPT can write a murder mystery at Mandu in the style of
Agatha Christie, why can’t it write like Prasanna Dash?
Maybe, she will read up all my eleven
books in a few seconds, scan my social media transactions, emails, eavesdrop on
all my conversations, and easily figure out my profile, imitate my style, and
begin writing liking Prasanna Dash. Maybe, even parodying me!
***
Digital Art for Lipika generated by DALL-E. My 'prompt' was:
“an impressionist oil painting of an Indian author, age 65, dictating; and a pretty American girl, age 25, typing on a laptop on a cruise boat at Bhopal lake at sunset”
Note:
- Author's profile may be seen at http://amazon.com/author/pkdash
- Books by this author are available on Amazon.in, Kindle eBook, Flipkart, and Notion Press, Chennai.
***
Very shocking . Particularly for poets and writers who will find themselves tech threatened with machine almost replacing them even in the domain of sentiments and emotions. Alvin Toffler 's predictions have been exceeded .Interesting .
ReplyDeleteok
ReplyDeleteA wonderful share - ChatGPT alias Lipika is a new tool added to my knowledge now. No wonder, AI is the future but I believe, AI can never replace humans.
ReplyDeleteAI can never replace humans, especially poets and artists.
DeleteUltimately technology is self learning like the human brain .
ReplyDeleteChat GPT has changed the quality of answers by my students in the examinations, the content, the sequence and impact leaves me wondering if I am required any more
ReplyDeleteMy son has indicated a surprise from him , some thing like a children story book with sketches to be published by him .( I suspect Chat GPT has been rightly prompted)
ReplyDelete