ChatGPT - What?!

The drawback of assumption-making

I used to have a dismissive if not disapproving attitude toward ChatGPT – the AI-driven chatbot (technical term) so widely used for fast information gathering. What can take hours of Google searches and link-following can now be done for us and delivered in a clear, cohesive, and hopefully mostly accurate readout. It’s just scraping the internet for information related to the question or topic you present, and there is a lot of data out there to be scraped. It laces it together in a personable conversational manner. It good-naturedly asks, “Would you like me to expound on x, y, or z part of your question?”

My attitude was dismissive because I tend to discount what I presume is a fad or the latest new toy.  I realize I’m late to this party, but I now believe that some form of ChatGPT is here to stay. I am separating ChatGPT and its fellow major chatbots, like Gemini, Grok, and Copilot, from the rest of AI. AI in general is massive and ubiquitous at this point, and as frightening as it can be, it is also very useful. Here, I’m just focusing on chatbots, particularly ChatGPT.

My attitude was disapproving (and still has echoes of that) because I see how it can be abused, especially by students who can use it as an unchecked shortcut rather than exercising their creative or problem-solving brains, or by those who plagiarize by submitting its output as original work. It’s also misused in the literary world, where some writers generate their texts with a chatbot and then ask professional editors to make them sound more ‘human’, rather than taking the time and talent to craft their own prose. Image generation is another knotty area. I’m sure there are many other ways it can be misused.

So, what has made me soften my uninformed but nevertheless unenthusiastic stance toward ChatGPT? I started to use it. Ha! Who knew it would be advantageous to use a tool before forming an opinion about it?

Here’s what made me use it: Once you publish a book, you become a target for countless marketing scams, ‘companies’ who promise, for an undisclosed fee, to bring your visibility to new heights – celebrity endorsements, high-profile interviews, television spots, or even just adding your book to their ‘vast’ range of marketing possibilities. They call, they email, they text – repeatedly. I have learned to ignore them. (And hope I don’t miss that Hollywood producer who wants to turn my book into a movie!)

Then I received a very personable email from a woman who raved about my book and commented on specific scenes and moments that meant something to her, which made me think she actually read it. I was intrigued; was this one for real? Should I respond and learn more?

I wondered if someone could get the specifics she was referencing without actually reading the book. So, I thought I’d ask ChatGPT: “What are the pivotal moments in Light in Bandaged Places?” I was blown away by what came back. It was a thoughtful (although emotionless) and in-depth report on many details of my book. I wondered how it did this - did it read my whole book (which is copyrighted) and form a thoughtful response? No, it got what it needed by scraping every review on Amazon and Goodreads, all the blurbs that appear on these sites and my website, every magazine article I wrote, and every print interview published around the time of my book launch. That was enough to generate a pretty convincing report on what my book was about, its narrative arc, key moments, what people like about it, why it matters, and who would benefit from reading it. That’s a lot.

So, I learned four things from this experiment. One is that ChatGPT does a pretty amazing job at collecting and reporting back information; turns out it’s a pretty useful tool. The second lesson is that my excited emailer probably also used ChatGPT, just like I did, to generate her almost-convincing note to me. Thirdly, I have a queasy feeling in my stomach because I can see both the powerful tool this is, and I am simultaneously impressed and disturbed by that power.

The fourth learning might be the most meaningful: This highlighted my tendency to make assumptions and form judgments about things, people, and situations I don’t know enough about. I suspect I’m not alone in this, and we can see all around us how making assumptions in the absence of direct experience or enough knowledge can lead to problems. My brief encounter with ChatGPT has reminded me to be aware of my assumptions. Thanks, ChatGPT!

I know many of you are likely much better informed about chatbots and may find my experience naïve. I accept that; I am a newbie. I hope to bring a more open mind, curiosity, and a little watchfulness to this, and other things I don’t know enough about.

How do you approach new things or ideas?

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