Yes, this image was generated by A.I. :) A.I. used was DALL-E from OpenAI
Unless you’ve been living under a rock in a jungle in a faraway land with zero internet access, you have probably heard of Artificial Intelligence. The concept is that software can perform tasks that generally require human intelligence. This includes things like speech recognition, decision-making, and visual perception.
==Artificial Intelligence has come quite a long way in the past decade and is even used to power certain bits of software and the internet we interact with every day! However, recent developments have really lit a fire under the entire tech world, causing intrigue, wonder, and unfortunately a great deal of panic and worry for many.==
Let’s dive into these recent developments and…well…try to make sense of it all!
The Birth of the Internet Search Engine
==In 1990 the first internet search engine, named Archie, was== ==created by Barbados native Alan Emtage====.== It was predominately used by early internet journalists. This was not too long after the birth of Web 1.0. The early version of the internet predominately hosted static pages that could (hopefully) only be changed by the administrators of the site.
Fast forward to Web 2.0, where websites began engaging users to post content, modify their personal pages, and more. ==Around 1998 a little search engine company was born that eventually became so popular worldwide that its name became a verb!== If you don’t know what I’m talking about…Google it!
Ever since then, there has been a whole host of search engine companies and services all over the world promising to speed up searches, provide more accurate results, and try their best to topple the mighty Google. Folks had many different options to choose from, but for most users as long as they got the results they were looking for in a reasonable time it really didn’t matter who it was.
However, in November of 2022, a company called OpenAI developed an A.I. service that, in effect, is about to give all of those companies a serious run for their money.
Artificial Intelligence Vs. Machine Learning
Now, ==you may have heard of Artificial Intelligence, but have you heard of Machine Learning?== Some have tried to use them interchangeably but there is a difference!
Artificial Intelligence in some ways is an umbrella term, with Machine Learning being a branch of that. Artificial Intelligence is most often described as a system thinking “like a human” and performing tasks on its own (yes, like Skynet from Terminator).
Machine learning is how a computer system develops its intelligence. It does this using algorithms or in other situations a neural network that aggregates data from all over.
So to recap: Artificial Intelligence systems use Machine Learning to develop the data it needs to mimic human reasoning. Microsoft has a pretty concise FAQ about this here.
Artificial Intelligence in 2023
Well, here we are! In this day and age, technology is inextricably interwoven with pretty much all facets of life. Like all technology, when Artificial Intelligence was first researched and explored it was very expensive to produce accurate models and thus was not widely available to the public. Another example of this would be the proliferation of quadruped robots like “big dog” which was originally developed by DARPA, The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
These days you can have your own robot dog for a little under $3k!
In the past two years a lot of publicly accessible and available Artificial Intelligence was being brought online. It truly started with DALL-E (which has now evolved into DALL-E 2), an AI tool that can generate images based on text, and it was scarily accurate. So much so DALL-E is now a paid service which, though morally sketchy, has drawn some companies to using AI instead of hiring or contracting Artists and Designers.
Then came the most disruptive AI which has recently intrigued so many, ChatGPT.
The GPT in ChatGPT stands for Generative Pre-Trained Transformer. The simplest definition of this technology is a neural network machine learning model trained to use data from the internet to generate any type of text.
I’ll put it to you like this. Imagine if google was a person with a phone that you could text and get any sort of information you’d like. To take it one step further, this person could also accurately generate code, poetry, philosophical thought, and even lyrics to a song based on a topic you want the song to be about!
It’s like an internet search on steroids! As you can imagine, this has gotten quite a few large tech firms a little scared about their future.
The Great Panic
With the unveiling of ChatGPT the company that developed and owns the AI, OpenAI, saw a jump of 100 MILLION active users in two months. Needless to say, those are NOT small potato numbers.
With the revelation of its future obsolescence, Sundar Pichai, the head of Google, famously issued a “code red” alert to the entire company. The goal could’ve only been one of two things if not both: Stay relevant and Develop competition.
This left large tech firms like Google and even Microsoft scrambling for answers, which eventually led to embarrassing reveals and flimsy replicas that paled in comparison to the accuracy and output from ChatGPT. Truthfully, it’s just the beginning.
As time goes on this next iteration of Artificial Intelligence is poised to enter a more accessible and commercial space, which is why for the first time so many white and blue-collar workers are understandably concerned about their future.
No, A.I. won’t replace us
I’ve spent a great deal of time with ChatGPT and other A.I. platforms in the past few months. I am currently studying to take my Offensive Security Certified Professional certification and ChatGPT has been instrumental in getting me quick, concise, and easy-to-understand answers to questions like “Can you give me a regex to perform (insert search pattern)”. What makes it so beneficial is it doesn’t just give you an answer, it explains, in detail, what the line it spat out does and each part of the expression.
However, it isn’t always that simple.
I often times found myself pouring over the code or expression it spat out and finding problems. Flags that don’t exist for commands, less efficient tools being used, etc. Even when it comes to A.I. Generated art, sometimes it can come up short.
The truth of the matter is Artificial Intelligence is meant to aid us, not replace us. It aids us by giving us semi-accurate answers in a fraction of the time it takes to perform an internet search, performing mundane tasks that may require diligence, or taking hours of time out of developing scripts for use in any environment.
Much of my experience is from the Tech/Cybersecurity side. I asked some FB friends (don’t crucify me Gen Z) to chime in on their experiences with A.I. so far. It was the general mix of an unsure future, and a request for more information, which I’ll get to in my closing remarks.
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It’s an understandable approach to it all
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This is the hand-in-hand aid I mention many times. Especially in Human Resources, it takes a human touch, not a simulated one.
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An excellent approach because it not only shows some skepticism, but also a willingness to utilize whats coming next.
As you can see from the responses, it’s more or less an aid, not a replacement. There is fear there, but it’s not unfounded, and there is also a willingness to learn how to utilize what is coming next. That’s what’s key going forward. Understanding how to utilize what will inevitably become either a stepping stool or a wall.
Don’t worry about being replaced, worry about not understanding how to use this technology moving forward. There was a point in time when people didn’t adapt quickly enough to technology like computers being incorporated into their business or everyday life, and I can guarantee that today they wish they did.
That doesn’t mean those who don’t fully grasp Artificial Intelligence won’t benefit, but it’s up to a diverse crowd of those that do understand it to ensure people won’t get left behind.
Closing Remarks
To bring things full circle, take a look at the picture at the top of this article. That is essentially what Artificial Intelligence is becoming. An agreement between us and it as it stands that we can work together, and in turn make the world a better place.
A.I. can be used to recognize patterns in medical treatment to develop better ideas of the root causes of people’s ailments. It can be used to further self-driving technology and better situate public transportation to move people more efficiently. It could even be used to find problems in scientific approaches to changes we make in things that will affect us long term like our food and the chemicals in the products we buy.
All of this is possible because, through machine learning and concise data sets aggregated from reputable sources, a machine will find patterns faster than a human can. Faster than it would take to negatively affect us as humans.
But it isn’t without its bias. The people that are developing this technology may not be the most diverse teams and because of this, there is a general bias that could be hardcoded into algorithms. Not only that, but life experiences can shape what data developers feel necessary to include. If you’ve never had to rely on government cheese or food stamps, you may not have a full grasp of the effects it could have on your health, both mental and physical.
What we need moving forward is a proliferation of knowledge. Open source understanding of the technologies, where they get their information from, how it aggregates that information, and ultimately what it will mean when we shake hands with it in the coming years.
This is because it won’t just be you or someone you know that has to shake hands. It could be people you’ve never met, who could truly benefit in ways you can’t understand.
Thank you for reading this post! Please drop a follow and follow me on twitter @cybrpunk_panda for updates and more on what I’m currently working on! Also, don’t forget to check out my CTF Walkthroughs if you’re the more technical type!
P.S. This article was NOT written by A.I. :) It took time and effort, human effort, and I appreciate your support in any way possible.