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SOLEDAD: WELCOME BACK TO "MATTER OF FACT." ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS SHAKING UP THE WAY WE CREATE ART, MUSIC, AND WRITING. IT’S NOW DIVIDING THE ACADEMIC WORLD AND THREATENING JOBS. CHATGPT IS POPULAR WITH STUDENTS WHO USE THE A.I. TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE ESSAYS AND OTHER WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. THE USER TYPES IN KEYWORDS OR ASKS A QUESTION, AND THE BOT GENERATES ARTICLES, PAPERS, AND EVEN POETRY. TEACHERS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT PLAGIARISM AND THE ETHICS OF LETTING A COMPUTER DO THE TYPING AND THE THINKING. A COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENT AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY BELIEVES HE HAS A SOLUTION. EDWARD TIAN CREATED GPTZERO. IT’S A SOFTWARE THAT DETECTS ESSAYS WRITTEN BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. EDWARD TIAN, IT’S SO NICE OF YOU TO JOIN US, THANK YOU. SO LET’S BEGIN WITH A LAYMAN’S EXPLANATION OF HOW CHATGPT ACTUALLY WORKS. EDWARD: HOW IT REALLY WORKS IS THAT IT’S INGESTING GIGANTIC PORTIONS OF THE INTERNET. LARGE, LARGE QUANTITIES OF DATA, AND IT’S LOOKING THROUGH IT FOR PATTERNS, AND IT’S SORT OF REGURGITATING THESE PATTERNS TO GENERATE TEXT. SO I WOULD CAUTION THAT IT’S NOT ACTUALLY COMING UP WITH ANYTHING ORIGINAL. IT’S READING, INGESTING A LOT, AND IT DOES KNOW A LOT AND IT’S REGURGITATING IT. SOLEDAD: TALK TO ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR SOFTWARE, HOW DOES THAT WORK? EDWARD: GPTZERO, IT’S A SOFTWARE THAT DETECTS IF AN ESSAY IS A.I. OR HUMAN WRITTEN. IT USES TWO BIG VARIABLES RIGHT NOW. ONE WAS PERPLEXITY, WHICH IS ALMOST HAVING A LANGUAGE MODEL LIKE CHATGPT AND ASKING IT HOW FAMILIAR IT IS WITH A PIECE OF TEXT AND HOW LIKELY IT IS TO GENERATE IT ITSELF. AND THEN THERE’S A BIG PICTURE INDICATOR WE CALL BURSTINESS, WHICH IS MEASURING VARIANCE IN THIS WRITING OVER TIME. HUMANS HAVE CREATIVITY AND SUDDEN BURSTS IN CREATIVITY VERSUS THESE MACHINES ARE PRETTY CONSTANT OVER TIME. SOLEDAD: WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS FOR CREATING GPTZERO? EDWARD: HUMANS DESERVE TO KNOW THE TRUTH, WHETHER SOMETHING IS A.I. GENERATED OR HUMAN WRITTEN, NO ONE WANTS TO BE DECEIVED. A.I. GENERATIVE TECHNOLOGIES ARE LIKE A PANDORA’S BOX. ONCE WE OPENED IT, THERE’S NO DIALING BACK. AND WHEN WE’RE BUILDING THESE INCREDIBLE NEW TECHNOLOGIES IT’S CRITICAL THAT AT THE SAME TIME, WE’RE BUILDING THE TOOLS TO ADOPT THEM RESPONSIBLY. SOLEDAD: DOES YOUR SOFTWARE HAVE ANY LIMITATIONS? WE TRIED IT OUT AND WE FOUND FOR SOMETHING VERY SHORT, LIKE A LITTLE SONNET, IT WAS CHALLENGED. EDWARD: YES, DEFINITELY. IT’S NOT PERFECT. THERE’S A LOT OF LIMITATIONS WHEN WE’RE DOING THIS, LIKE WITH SHORT SONNETS AS WELL AS WITH EDGE CASES, DIFFERENT LANGUAGES. AND WHAT WE’RE DOING RIGHT NOW IS WE’RE TRANSITIONING FOR, LIKE, TRAINING TOOLS FOR EDUCATION USE CASES, AND NOW WE’RE HIGHLIGHTING PORTIONS OF ESSAYS THAT ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE HUMAN GENERATED, WHICH TURNS OUT TO BE SOMETHING TEACHERS WANT INSTEAD OF JUST HAVING THIS BLACK AND WHITE, YES OR NO, CATCH-ALL TOOL. SOLEDAD: WE OFTEN TALK ABOUT THE FAILURES OF A.I. BUT I’M CURIOUS IF YOU THINK CHATGPT HAS A VALUE JUST IN GENERAL. AND OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, SMALL BUSINESSES FOR, FOR TURNING OUT FLIERS OR EMAILS, YOU KNOW, I SORT OF THINK OF A LOT OF USES THAT AREN’T REALLY PLAGIARISM. EDWARD: IT’S GREAT AT GETTING PEOPLE STARTED. IN TERMS OF FINISHING THE JOB, I’VE REALIZED THAT YOU REALLY NEED TO DO IT AT THE END, WHETHER IT’S FINISHING YOUR ESSAY OR FACT CHECKING. BECAUSE AGAIN, ANYTHING THAT’S WRONG IN THE TRAINING DATA WILL TRANSLATE UP TOWARDS THE END. SO IT’S NEVER GOING TO BE ABLE TO DO THE JOB OF A JOURNALIST, PER SE, IN CHECKING ALL THE FACTS. SOLEDAD: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE FUTURE FOR CHATGPT? EDWARD: I ALMOST THINK OF A FUTURE 10 OR 20 YEARS DOWN THE LINE WHERE EVERYBODY’S USING CHATGPT TO WRITE THEIR ESSAYS, AND THAT FUTURE SEEMS A LITTLE SAD TO ME. THERE’S SO MUCH BEAUTY IN HUMAN WRITING, AND THERE’S ASPECTS THAT THESE COMPUTERS CAN NEVER CO-OPT. I THINK IN THE FUTURE WHERE EVERYONE’S WRITING WITH THE MACHINE, IT WILL STILL REMAIN A VALUABLE SKILL TO WRITE ORIGINALLY. SOLEDAD: EDWARD TIEN, THANK YOU FOR TALKING WITH ME, A