ChatGPT and other AI systems can write poems and essays that look plausibly human; a Jefferson Center salon Sunday will examine what it means
ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence systems can write poems, term papers and quick, coherent responses to countless questions. The ability of AI — artificial intelligence — to use language in ways that seem authentically, or deceptively, human also raises potentially disturbing questions.
Tony Davis, who has worked two decades as computational linguist, will lead a discussion of those concerns, titled “Who Wrote That?” from 4 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19, at ScienceWorks in Ashland. The free event, in the museum theater at 1500 E. Main St., is co-sponsored by the Jefferson Center.
According to the Jefferson Center, Davis will begin the salon by showing some of ChatGPTs capabilities in action. The ensuing discussion will take on such questions as: How much can we trust what AI systems say? Are their applications fair, transparent and ethical? How hard is it to detect ChatGPT’s writing? How will jobs that involve writing change? Is this the end of college essays?
Davis posed another question in announcing the discussion: “How do our ideas about trust, authorship, authoritative sources, and deception adjust to this way of producing written — and for that matter, spoken — material? And in the end, how much do we care?”
Davis received his doctorate in linguistics from Stanford University, and his career since then has focused mainly on computational linguistics and knowledge representation. He taught courses on computational linguistics and information retrieval at Georgetown University for 15 years.
The Jefferson Center is a Rogue Valley nonprofit focused on using secular humanist values to engage with issues important to our community. Go to thejeffcenter.org for more information on this and future events in the Jefferson Center Salon Series.
Source: Jefferson Center news release. Email Ashland.news Executive Editor Bert Etling at betling@ashland.news or call or text him at 541-631-1313.
