AGAR: Beware the bot that can steal your writing job 

Do you look at the rise of artificial intelligence with excitement or alarm?

I am not sure where to fall along that continuum, but friends and I were talking about something called Chatgpt, a chatbot that mimics conversation.

GPT stands for Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer.

We wrote a prompt, “Write a conservative newspaper column in the style of Jerry Agar of the Toronto Sun.” We let the AI program pick the topic.

It quickly wrote:

“The Importance of Personal Responsibility in Society: As we go through life, we encounter various challenges and obstacles that require us to exercise personal responsibility. Whether it’s making decisions about our own health, finances, or relationships, we have the power to shape our own lives and the lives of those around us. However, in recent years, it seems that many people have forgotten the importance of personal responsibility, instead opting to blame others for their problems or seeking government intervention to solve their issues.

“Furthermore, the push for government intervention in every aspect of our lives only serves to undermine individual autonomy and create a culture of dependency. Instead of taking control of our own lives and seeking out solutions on our own, we look to government to solve all of our problems.”

This was generated as quickly as I could read it and was so right about how I think and write that I did a search of my columns to ensure that it didn’t just lift a previous column of mine. It didn’t.

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It continues: “Of course, this doesn’t mean that we should ignore the role of government and the importance of social safety nets. Government can and should play a role in ensuring that everyone has the resources they need to lead fulfilling lives. However, this should not be used as an excuse to absolve individuals of their own responsibility.”

I would say that.

It ends: “So let’s all strive to be more responsible, both for ourselves and for our communities, and reject the victim mentality that threatens to undermine us.”

I might add some flair into the last line with something like, “so grow up and take responsibility.”

I can do a bit better column by injecting more of my personality, but still, the column it wrote seemed, to me, to be by me.

And this thing is in its infancy. It will get better.

What implication does that have for work and for learning?

How long will it be before the program learns to even more closely mimic a person’s style?

It obviously could generate a paper for a university or high school student and perhaps do a better job than the student.

I am told there are apps that can read a paper and determine it was written by AI.

But what if someone comes up with an AI program that is better than that program?

It is an AI Intellectual arms race.

Another question we asked Chatgpt is: “How will AI eliminate the need for columnists?”

It responded: “AI can enhance the work of columnists and make it more efficient, but it is unlikely to completely replace their role in the near future.”

Nice. What does AI think is the near future?

That’s what I want to know.

Is AI coming for your job?