Find a starting point with generative AI

I visited with many of you last month at the annual TPA Convention in Denton. AI was the hot topic of much discussion. Some of us are more versed in the use of generative AI than others, and that’s okay.  This rang true to me when a publisher asked, “Could you show me how this AI stuff actually works? All I know about AI is what Google and Facebook are showing me.” 

By AUSTIN LEWTER, Texas Center for Community Journalism

Alas, we don’t know what we don’t know. And, in the world of generative artificial intelligence, there is quite a bit we don’t know because it is changing daily.

My friend’s inquiry reminded me that we are all coming from different starting points and it might behoove us to slow down and discuss, “just what is generative artificial intelligence? How does it work? What are the implications?”

Most of us had never heard the term “generative AI” until November 2022 when a product called ChatGPT dropped on the internet. 

It is certainly not the only platform for generative AI — there are countless others— but it is probably the most ubiquitous. You may have never used it, but you have heard the name. 

I was somewhat hesitant of generative AI at first. College professors the world over were shocked by a whole new way of cheating among students. I figured college students had always found a way to cheat. Yes, we do our best to catch them and, most often, we do  — so the threat of new ways to cheat didn’t phase me. 

A few months later, in the spring of 2023, I was on Southwest Airlines flight from San Antonio to Dallas when I struck up a conversation with the man next to me. He was a public school IT professional who had been at a training session about generative AI in the classroom.

“Do you know much about ChatGPT?” he asked. 

I shrugged. “Not really,” I said. “I just doesn’t seem like that big of a deal to me.” 

He was shocked. “Oh, it is a big deal,” he said. “In fact, it is the only deal. Shrugging it off like the next flash in the pan would be like shrugging off the internet in 1995. Generative AI is the next evolution of the internet. We can’t ignore it.” 

He explained the difference between AI and generative AI. Artificial intelligence is nothing new. Common everyday tools like Spell Check and GPS are forms of AI. We’ve been using them for years. What sets ChatGPT (and all forms of Generative AI) apart is the fact that its responses have never been generated before and never will be again. Seconds apart — and the responses may both be correct, but they will certainly be different. And those exact responses will never be created again for anyone. 

“Every response is unique,” he said. “So, unlike traditional forms of plagiarism – copying already published work — it’s hard to peg a student for cheating, because there is no previous work to compare it to.” 

I began wrapping my head around what he was saying. 

“So you can imagine the implications for journalism,” he said. “As a journalism professor, you need to know about this because your students already do.”

He then offered to show me.

“What is something you lecture about all the time?” he asked. “Ad nauseam?”

I told him the inverted pyramid style of writing. 

He pulled out his phone, mid-flight, opened the ChatGPT app and entered, “lecture notes inverted pyramid style of writing.” He handed me the phone and said, “What do you think about this?” I scrolled the response. 

“I think I am out of a job,” I said. 

He nodded. 

The response was passable, legit and well crafted, something I could produce for presentation in any news writing class without question. 

“And that specific response will be a little different the next time you ask it the same thing,” he said. 

A few weeks later, a student editor came to be concerned. She was convinced a student had used ChatGPT to write a column. 

I questioned her veracity. “It just reads like AI,” she said. “You can tell. Professors need to get up to speed on AI. You need to know what it looks like and how to use, because students know. And we are using it.” Between her and my airplane colleague, I was sold. 

So, how did I start learning the ins and outs - the pros and cons — the ups and downs? 

I opened the free version of ChatGPT and started experimenting. That’s a good starting point for anyone, so start there. 

Go to ChatGPT.com and ask it something about which you consider yourself an expert. Gauge the response and then ask it the same question again. Compare the two. 

Your initial response might be the same as mine, “I think I’m out of a job.” 

But only by exploring its capabilities can we fully understand the pitfalls and (yes) virtues of the next evolution of the internet.