‘ChatGPT is a great thing’ but ‘is pretty bad,’ says Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales

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‘ChatGPT is a great thing’ but ‘is pretty bad,’ says Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales – Crypto News

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3 years ago

November 15, 2023

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Wikipedia founder, Jimmy Wales spoke against the use of ChatGPT as a reliable source at a Web Summit that was held this week in Lisbon. The discussions at the summit were dominated by AI.

While sharing opinions on the challenges associated with the surge in the use of generative AI, Jimmy Wales said, “ChatGPT is a great thing to play with and so on. But when you start using it, you realise that what initially seems fantastic is pretty bad,” reported Trending Topics.

He also pointed out that OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft will be a problem for Google. Known as one of the internet’s influential voices on subjects like open source and reliable information, his words were mostly demeaning AI.

Also read: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says ChatGPT is a ‘channel’, aims for ‘magic intelligence in the sky’

Reliability of generative AI

Wales was skeptical of the use of ChatGPT and expressed his apprehensions about it becoming a reliable source. He further added, “ I think we are still a long way from ChatGPT being a reliable source,” reported Trending Topics.

He believes that many of the startup founders expose themselves to the risk of incorrect information being incorporated into their digital products with ChatGPT-based APIs.

Wales said that OpenAI’s ChatGPT is suitable for reading Reddit and Twitter that is ‘learning how people talk.’ However, the use of ChatGPT becomes ‘problematic’ while dealing with ‘facts.’ Taking a dig at SpaceX founder and social media platform X/Twitter owner, Elon Musk, Wales said, “I’m pretty happy that they read Wikipedia and not just Elon Musk’s Twitter – it’s not a good source of truth.” AI chatbot named Grok was recently launched by Elon Musk’s team.

Also read: ChatGPT powers Snap’s Lens Studio 5.0 Beta for new Augmented Reality experiences

Wikipedia and AI use

He also pointed out that generative AI will not be used for writing articles but could be used as a tool to supplement existing articles in such a way that AI could search for information on the matter that should be added to Wikipedia articles. “I could ask the AI to find me some statements that are in these 10 articles that should be in this Wikipedia entry but are not there yet. And I think she’s pretty good at it. And if she’s only 70% right, that can still be a productivity boost,” he said.

He pointed out that Wikipedia was also used for the training of ChatGPT. He further said, “Wikipedia’s entire philosophy comes from the world of free software and the open source ethos.” The content available on Wikipedia is freely licensed and can be copied or modified and used for both commercial and non-commercial purposes, he claimed.

Also read: Meet Imran Chaudhri, former Apple executive aiming to replace smartphones with tiny AI gadget

Ethical use of AI

Wales appreciated ChatGPT developers who tried to be ‘ethical and careful’ in their approach but the use of AI empowers people to undertake unethical practices. He appealed to those developers to take measures to counter its misuse and said, ‘It means they have to move a little bit faster,’ reported Trending Topics.

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Updated: 15 Nov 2023, 11:25 AM IST