A new publicly available, AI-driven, chatbot has come to be all the rave this month. It’s called ChatGPT. Since I’m currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Computer Science, and my research is focused on machine learning, I wouldn’t have expected to be taken aback by the capability of this bot. But, I was. I really, really was. Now, more than ever, it feels like the role of artificial intelligence in our lives will become increasingly prominent. Without speculating too much about scary futures that AI may bring, here’s a little exploration of its use to us here, now.
My introduction to ChatGPT came when I was busy compiling a physical training program for myself. It’s not the first time I’ve done this. This first part was easy. I compiled a high-level plan for how the program may progress from week-to-week, and from month-to-month. At this point I had something along the lines of a plan that tells me that on day one of week one, I need to do a workout that focuses on cardiovascular endurance. But, I was still left with detailing the specifics of every workout. The arduous task of compiling a hundred different workouts with a multitude of unique exercises. For, without the sets, reps, and rest of every workout, of every week, of every month of this program, it would not be complete. And if it’s not going to be complete, what’s the point, even?
Laughably, I also knew that I likely wouldn’t follow the program to the T. There would be days when I’d be tired, and skip a day. There would be days that I shuffle around. And, there would be days where I had energy or wanted to add a little something extra. Therefore, the extremely detailed program that I was contriving would eventually just be used as a guideline. Yet, it was still important that it contained fine-grained details. So that, on a given day, if I just wanted to pick it up and have it to tell me what to do for exercise, I could do that, and know it still formed part of a bigger goal. For, on some days, I just don’t have the time or energy to think about any of that. I just want to go to the gym, and, “know” what to do.
You’d be justified in thinking, how on earth does this relate to the role of artificial intelligence in our lives. Well, in seeing me toil over the compilation of this training program for a few days, my girlfriend asked me, “why not ask ChatGPT for the workouts?”. My first thought was, that won’t work. My second thought was, let me at least see what this thing is. And, after testing it out, my third thought was, you’re a genius and, this is why I love you.
Now, by no means is ChatGPT perfect. First, it needs the right information. Luckily, I know most of what I want on a given day. I want a workout that focuses on a specific component of physical fitness (muscular strength, cardiovascular endurance, balance, etc.). The workout should also be constrained by what I have access to. Maybe I’m training in the gym or maybe I don’t have any equipment, or feel like training outdoors. Then there are some other things that may or may not have to be factored in - how much time I have available, whether I’m feeling low on energy, or whether I want to focus on a specific muscle group.
Second, whatever it says, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt. For instance, if I ask ChatGPT for a cardiovascular workout to do within an hour, and it tells me to do ten 1-kilometer repeats followed by three sets of 8 shuttle runs. I’m probably going to alter that to be a little bit more pragmatic. Of course, I could always just ask it to refine the workout itself by telling it that I think the workout is a bit too intense or needs a bit less of that and a bit more of this. But, the point remains that, trusting blindly in this impressive intelligence, is not a good idea.
All that said though - with my high-level training program already detailed, if I said to ChatGPT, “Hey, can you give me a workout to do today. I am an experienced runner and am training for a half-marathon in three months from now. I want to train in the gym today and want the workout to be focused on muscular endurance. I only have 60 minutes to train”, it would give me a detailed workout that was uncannily similar to a workout I may have contrived myself, given the same information. And, with a little smoothing of the edges, it’d probably be as good a workout as I’d be able to find anywhere, from anyone.
This is a very personal example of the use of AI in my own life. But, I do think it goes a way to encapsulating the way in which it can help other people, in other ways. Of course, there is an inherent fear that comes with trusting computers to do more and more useful things. But, I think that fear stems from forgetting that, on the other side of what this machine is doing, was a person that put it to work. And people, I think, will always err, on the side of good.
So here’s to the (good) future my fellow humans (and non-humans?)!
"A year spent in Artificial Intelligence is enough to make one believe in God."
- Alan Perlis