AI and ChatGPT Bad Actors vs Good Actors

AI and ChatGPT Bad Actors vs Good Actors

Incredible advancements in technology seem to regularly be accompanied by growing nerves and even fear of this same technology. This is, of course, far from irrational. For every example of amazing technology that has helped and saved lives, we can pull examples of technology that has done quite the opposite. Great power, great responsibility, and all that jazz.

With Artificial Intelligence being the latest on the scene of new and exciting growing technology, naturally, associated nerves and fears are on the rise here as well. It’s important to remember, however, that technology is only a tool. Behind every tool, inevitably, there is a person.

Why the Fear?

To some, the fear that comes with AI and machine learning might seem silly, but it’s essential to understand that this fear isn’t unfounded, and it certainly isn’t unique. Coupled with computers that seem to get faster and more powerful each and every day, this dawn of stronger AI and machine learning isn’t just an improvement in things like media quality or energy consumption. It’s the potential to revolutionize practically every process in our everyday lives and beyond. That kind of potential is difficult to imagine, and when things are difficult to imagine, they can be scary.

Contending with that fear, though, is really just a matter of perspective and technological literacy. Often, the fear associated with AI is a fear of primacy, or the loss thereof. Watching applications like ChatGPT supposedly “think” and interact with people as though they were sentient. This in and of itself gets us in our heads thinking about what would happen if ChatGPT, or some similar technology, decided to be harmful, or to go rogue. While this makes for great movies and books, fortunately, it is a bit out of the question for AI apps now.

AI is Just a Tool

When we talk about ChatGPT, or any other current AI application, it’s important to remember that we are describing tools. These are not fully autonomous processes, and they certainly aren’t sentient. Although AI and machine learning in some ways mimic how humans think and learn, at the end of the day, they are just algorithms trained to study and recognize patterns—not to make decisions or formulate original thoughts.

Thinking about ChatGPT specifically, it can be scary to witness the chat conjure complex and thorough responses to just about any prompt you send its way, but the comforting reminder is right there in the second clause: prompt. ChatGPT doesn’t just start talking to you, and it doesn’t keep crunching numbers and formulating ideas behind the scenes while it’s sitting on your browser. Until you offer another prompt, the world has stopped for ChatGPT. Even if it had the capacity to act maliciously, which it really does not, it would not be able to until you hit Enter.

ChatGPT Good Actors vs Bad Actors

Remembering that ChatGPT is just a tool reminds us that, just like any other tool, the chat (and AI in general) is not inherently good or bad. There is nothing evil about a pattern recognition algorithm. That doesn’t mean that harm can’t be done with the tool, of course, but the harm and the intent would be coming from somewhere else: a person.

As in any other context, in AI too, there will be good actors and there will be bad actors. Horrible crimes have been committed under the umbrella of medical research, but that does not mean that medicine is evil. Just because AI can be used in harmful ways does not make artificial intelligence necessarily evil, either. However, just as with any other tool, the power of AI serves as a great reminder that, first and foremost, it is our responsibility to hold ourselves and others accountable to their actions. Our caution with Artificial Intelligence should be less about the technology itself, and more about protecting our communities from the inevitable bad actors.