Tech Tok: ChatGPT chatbot, the future of AI

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says it will someday do tasks for humans

Hyderabad: A couple of centuries ago, touch-screen smartphones, video calls with someone at the other end of the world, or a spacecraft taking pictures of the universe were all unimaginable. But today, it is the reality.

If one is to believe OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, the company’s ChatGPT, which is an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, will someday do tasks for humans and will also discover new knowledge. Simply put, it will become human.

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The conversational chatbot which will talk back to you like how a human would, was made available for public testing last Wednesday and has crossed one million users in less than a week.

It all started in 2015 when Twitter CEO Elon Musk and venture capitalist Sam Altman co-founded the OpenAI foundation, which was supposed to be an independent research body. But Musk who distanced himself from the company tweeted, “OpenAI was started as open-source and non-profit. Neither are still true.”

Although the research foundation seemed to have deviated as Musk says, the system is making waves. What was categorized as a messaging bot similar to Google, is now being looked upon as something life-changing.

It is trained by AI and machine learning. Chunks of data are taken from the internet to train it. Some of the answers it gave the past week astonished its users.

As of now it can answer customer inquiries, write movie scripts, detect a fault in codes, provide recommendations and even create other automated chatbots. However, it fails to think critically or take ethical decisions, which makes us human.

ChatGPT is not perfect, yet. But is it touted to be the future of everything related to technology? Most say yes.

EU okays calls on flight:

If you are travelling somewhere in Europe, you might be free to take or make a call mid-air. According to the revised European Commission rules, mobile phone calls will now be allowed on aircraft flying in European airspace once the plane reaches an altitude of 3,000m or more.

Calls are expected to be allowed from next month, and the move will be under a rigid scanner for the next six months. Viviane Reding, the EU telecoms commissioner, has warned operators to keep the cost of calls made on planes at a reasonable level.

Sundar Pichai receives Padma Bhushan:

The poster boy for the glorious IT career dream, Google CEO Sundar Pichai received India’s third-highest civilian award Padma Bhushan.

In the presence of his family, the 50-year-old Indian-American received the award for his contribution to the Trade and Industry category.

He received it from the Indian envoy to the US in San Francisco on Friday. Accepting the award, he said, “India is a part of me and I carry it with me wherever I go.”

Games on Amazon Prime soon in India:

Amazon Prime Gaming has been around in other countries for some time now. But this week, the platform teased the service in the Indian market for the first time with a banner on its platform.

It is a part of the Prime subscription which gives shopping, streaming, and other benefits. It is yet to be available for local users. It is still unclear if the access will be limited only to PCs.

— Epsita Gunti with agency inputs