The Revolution: Dialogue vs. Search
As the past five blog entries demonstrate, I’m obsessed with ChatGPT. I’m trying to wrap my mind around what this thing is, whether it’s really a sign of major changes to come (as my gut tells me it is), and what all of this means for humanity.
Over the past several days I’ve become quite comfortable talking to the AI. Today, I moved on and focused on something else. But I found myself naturally wanting to turn to ChatGPT again, but this time it wasn’t to test the AI or marvel at its capabilities. It was to use it as a tool to assist me with my work.
And then I had a little epiphany.
One profound way that this technology is going to impact our lives, and probably the first way (of many more to come), is that it’s going to give us a powerful new method for using technology to assist us in accomplishing tasks: dialogue.
We’ve already incorporated search into our workflow. While I’m doing anything on the computer — preparing lesson plans, writing fiction, blogging, journaling, etc. — I frequently switch over to a browser tab with do a Google search for something. Everybody does that. Your go-to search engine is a normal part of your daily life. This will continue to be useful for the foreseeable future for certain categories of inquiry.
But in the future it will be normal to have another tab open, too. This one will be to dialogue with an AI.
Think of the original Star Trek series. Kirk and the rest of the crew often talk to the ship computer.
- “Computer, what is today’s star date?”
- “Computer, what are the current power conversion levels?”
- “Computer, what is the location of Commander Spock?”
Do you remember the scene in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home when the crew travels back in time and Scotty tries to dialogue with a computer in the past and he gets confused by the mouse?
Siri, Alexa, Cortana, and Google Assistant are all efforts to allow users to interact with computers using natural language. They’re great as far as they go. They can answer a variety of questions and obey a set of commands. They basically work like toy chatbots of the past: they parse input and generate output via IF-THEN statements. They don’t understand language. Their ability to dialogue is extremely limited.
So, even though we already talk at our devices, we don’t really know what it’s like to dialogue with technology. I think it’s going to be a bit like Pair Programming.
What is Pair Programming?
For this part of this post, I consulted my friendly AI helper, ChatGPT.
What is pair programming?
Pair programming is a software development technique in which two programmers work together at a single workstation. One programmer, the "driver," writes code while the other, the "observer" or "navigator," reviews each line of code as it is typed in. The two programmers switch roles frequently.
Pair programming has several potential benefits, including increased productivity, better code quality, and improved knowledge transfer. It can also be a more enjoyable and social way to work, as it allows programmers to collaborate and learn from each other in real time. However, it can also be more challenging, as it requires good communication and the ability to work well with others.Actually, a better fictional example than Star Trek of the kind of human-AI relationship I’m talking about is Tony Stark and J.A.R.V.I.S. (or its successors). It’s like a good butler. The AI is a helper who doesn’t just follow instructions but is also always at the ready to bounce ideas around with you, to help keep your work on track.
Generally, we learn better, think through thorny issues better, problem-solve better, plan better, and make decisions better through conversation with others. (Or at least that’s true if those others are smart, have pure intentions, and possess good communication skills.)
Here’s an example of what I’m talking about. A writer named Mary is working on a novel. As she works, she checks in frequently with her AI.
Mary: Hey AI, can you take a look at this sentence for me? "The cat sat on the windowsill, its tail twitching as it watched the birds fly by."
AI: That sentence looks fine to me. The verb tense is correct and there are no grammatical errors.
Mary: Great, thanks. How about this one? "After he finished his homework, Johnny decided to go outside and play with his friends."
AI: That sentence also looks fine. The subject-verb agreement is correct and the punctuation is in the right place.
Mary: I need an adjective that means spooky to use in the sentence "Nattie lived down the street, in the spooky house on the corner."
AI: In the context of the sentence you provided, "eerie" would be a good adjective to use to describe the house. Other options could include "creepy," "haunted," or "unsettling." The word you choose will depend on the specific tone you want to convey. "Eerie" might be a good choice if you want to convey a sense of otherworldly strangeness, while "creepy" might be more fitting if you want to convey a sense of fear or danger. "Haunted" could work if you want to suggest that the house is inhabited by ghosts, and "unsettling" might be a good choice if you want to convey a sense of unease or discomfort.
Mary: Okay, now I have a sentence that I'm not sure about. Can you take a look? "Despite the rain forecast, Susan decided to go for a jog, and brought her umbrella just in case."
AI: The comma isn't necessary. It might be clearer if you split that into two sentences. "Despite the rain forecast, Susan decided to go for a jog. She brought her umbrella just in case." By the way, you've reached your goal of 1,500 words for the day. Congrats!
Mary: Let me know when I've reached 2,500.
AI: Will do.Confession: ChatGPT helped me write that. I used it in just the very fashion I’m describing. I started with a prompt: “Imagine a conversation between a writer and his friendly helper AI. As he composes sentences, he runs them by the AI to see if they’re okay.” I worked with ChatGPT on tweaking it, and then I made additional tweaks on my own.
There’s an AI-Shaped Hole
This way of working is enjoyable. What the AI is going to offer is something that will feel so natural that, like smart phones, we soon won’t recall how we lived without it.