ChatGPT Fact or Fiction? Expert Opinions Vs. Public Perception

    ChatGPT has dominated the headlines as of late as the transformative technology is already making a splash in creative industries. We sat down with experts in AI and robotics to get the facts about the future of ChatGPT and generative AI. Then, we followed up with a public survey to understand what the general population knows about the technology. The answers might surprise you.

    What is fact and what is fiction when it comes to ChatGPT? Let's explore. New to the ChatGPT space? Check out our Investor's Guide to ChatGPT to get a better grasp on the how and why of the technology.

    THE FUTURE OF CHAT GPT

    According to our strategic advisory board of AI experts, there’s no doubt that this technology is here to stay. Quite confidently, an AI expert from one of the largest technology companies in the world commented, “ChatGPT is very real and very impressive. It's not a parlor trick. It is a very disruptive technology. It's not going to go away. We are going to have to learn to live with it and integrate it into society.”

     

    There is a long road ahead in terms of developing and fine-tuning products and services like ChatGPT, but the experts believe that it certainly represents a huge step forward in the world of AI.

    Interestingly, in our survey of the general public (inclusive of people between the ages of 18-65+ across the US) we found that more than half of the respondents classified ChatGPT as a fad and over one-third hadn't even heard of the program at all.

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    The percentage of people who believe that ChatGPT was here for the long run grew in momentum depending on the surveyor’s experience with the technology. Unsurprisingly, of those who had never heard of ChatGPT, 75% believed it would be a fad. Of those who had heard of the technology but hadn’t yet used it, 41% believed that it would be a fad. However, of those who had used the program before, only one-third felt it would be a fad.

    While this certainly alludes to an increase in confidence amongst the surveyors who have encountered the technology on a more personal level, we still find it to be shocking that a whopping 51% of the total respondents believe that this technology is a fad.

     

    PROS & CONS OF PROGRAMS LIKE CHAT GPT

    Our strategic advisory board considers ChatGPT to be a powerful tool that also comes with limitations and concerns:

    • ChatGPT is not a search engine.
    • Data analyzed only goes through 2021.
    • Responses are not fact-checked.
    • Human biases may be picked up and reiterated by ChatGPT.
    • There is potential for plagiarism.

     

    But with such concerns also come increased societal access and benefits:

    • Automation of simple procedural tasks (i.e., basic legal services)
    • Content creation that is accessible to the broader public
    • Powerful summarization tool 

    Another AI expert noted, "ChatGPT can help society by providing a tool for search and conceptualization. For example, a lawyer might use ChatGPT to find summaries of similar cases and evidence. More generally, ChatGPT can be used to support research in any field — law, government, medicine, etc. by synthesizing information from vast data sources. It is critical to remember that in order for this information to be useful, it also has to be fact-checked."

     

    INVESTING IN CHAT GPT & GENERATIVE AI

    Unsurprisingly, those in our survey who were familiar with ChatGPT were much more likely to be invested in generative AI and to increase their exposure to the technology in the future. Of respondents who have used ChatGPT before, over half said that they plan to increase their AI investment exposure, while 36% of those who had heard of ChatGPT before planned to do the same. Investment Exposure #1

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    One major finding here is that people generally don't invest in what they aren't familiar with. For financial professionals looking to increase their clients' exposure to these future-focused technologies, it is imperative that you start with education. One quick and easy way to do that? Send them to our  Investor's Guide to ChatGPT and encourage clients to experiment with ChatGPT itself to truly understand the caliber of its capabilities.

    We believe that this only further proves the importance of educating investors about the growth potential to come with these transformative applications of AI. Don't trust us? Just ask the experts. All of our advisors confidently believe that this technology is here to stay and its impact will be felt across many aspects of our lives.

    As one AI expert from a leading U.S. research university noted, “ChatGPT's extraordinary contribution is putting the power of AI tools into the hands of the community. For the first time, there is an AI tool that is usable by all, independent of their training in AI. ChatGPT is democratizing the use of AI in language tasks.”

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