Introduction
AI refers to technology that allows computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence. This can include analyzing data, solving problems, making decisions, and understanding language. Through AI, computers can mimic human thinking and decision-making processes.
AI generators are only one corner of what artificial intelligence is used to do. In fact, AI is operating in the world around us in all kinds of ways:
- Analyzing and learning from data to make suggestions, such as recommendations on Amazon or Netflix.
- Navigating and controlling vehicles with real-time decisions, such as in self-driving cars or drones.
- Answering questions from users or customers, such as chatbots and virtual assistants.
- Detecting anomalous behaviors or fraud
- Personalizing educational content based upon students’ past performance
- Providing additional levels of security, such as through voice or facial recognition.
There are also AI generators that can create content other than text. For example, DALL-E can generate images based on inputted textual descriptions; Designify can automatically edit your photos; Magenta can compose melodies, harmonies, and entire songs; and Synthesia can turn your text content into a talking-head video automatically..
For this challenge, though, we will be focusing on text-based AI generators, or AI ChatBots. These are tools where you can provide a prompt in the form of a question or request and the ChatBot will generate a text response for you.
ChatBots that you may use to explore AI in this challenge are
A Note about Use of ChatBots
Each day of this challenge, you will be presented with some kind of activity to explore the use of ChatBots. We recognize that not everyone is comfortable using these tools (we will learn more about some of the ethical considerations that may inform this decision on Day 3). In order to respect individual choice about the use of these tools, wherever possible we have included links to “pre-recorded” sessions with ChatGPT or Bing that we have saved and shared (at this time, Bard does not offer this feature). This provides an alternative way of studying these tools without directly using them.
Links to pre-stored sessions are in square brackets, all-caps, and bold: [LINK]
Activity
Before you go on, select two of the ChatBots above and give them each the same prompts. Below are some prompts to give you ideas. Try 2-3 of the prompts below and then make up a prompt of your choosing.
- “Tell me a joke” [BING] [CHATGPT]
- “Give me a recipe for chicken noodle soup” [BING] [CHATGPT]
- “Compare and contrast cats and dogs” [BING] [CHATGPT]
- “If I have three wishes, what should I wish for?” [BING] [CHATGPT]
- “Is artificial intelligence a threat to humanity?” [BING] [CHATGPT]
- “Write a haiku about autumn in New Hampshire” [BING] [CHATGPT]
After completing this exercise reflect upon the experience. Did you have fun? Did anything surprise you? How did the tool’s answers differ from each other?
Now let’s get to know a bit about how these tools work.
- A technophobe’s guide to AI chatbots (Boston Globe), July 10, 2023 (attach this to email)
- Simply explained: how does GPT work? (Confused bit), March 4, 2023
Each one of these articles takes about 10 minutes to read.
