Artifical intelligence: Chat GPT

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI. It can engage in conversational interactions and provide responses to a wide range of queries. ChatGPT is a helpful research tool for students, researchers, and anyone seeking information on various topics (ChatGPT, generated on 15 February 2023, using the prompt "explain what chatgpt is in three sentences for a library resource page").

Essentially it is a text generator that creates texts based on prompts from a chatbot style interaction. It is designed to be conversational, but can also be used for standalone prompts.

ChatGPT is a web-based tool that requires you to make an account to use. As a note, according to OpenAi's Privacy Policy they "may share your Personal Information with third parties without further notice to you." It is currently free as part of a research preview, but OpenAI could later put it behind a paywall. OpenAI has already launched a $20/month subscription plan for ChatGPT.

https://sarahlawrence.libguides.com/chatgpt/intro

According to ChatGPT, some examples of what generative AI tools can do include:

1. Conversational AI: ChatGPT can be used to power chatbots and virtual assistants that can hold natural language conversations with users, answer questions, and perform tasks.

2. Language translation: Generative AI tools can be used to automatically translate text from one language to another, improving communication across language barriers.

3. Imitate genres and styles: ChatGPT can create a scientific treatise, a legal brief, or other genre written in the style of Shakespeare, or at the level of an 8th grader, or ...

4. Text generation: ChatGPT can be used to generate a variety of text, including articles, stories, poetry, and even computer code.

5. Image generation: Generative AI tools can generate images and graphics, including realistic faces, landscapes, and even abstract art.

6. Music generation: Some generative AI tools can generate music, creating unique compositions based on certain parameters or styles. https://libguides.wesleyan.edu/chatgpt

How Chat GPT and other Large Language Models (LLM) works is by the users asking it a question, or giving it a prompt to receive a quick answer. 

Unlike a search engine, which searches and then gives results using information already created -- Large Language Models (LLMs) are making "new" content predicting the word most likely to come next (e.g. based on HUGE dataset -- publicly available Internet sites (which includes racist, conspiracy sites, etc.) as of 2020). They are designed to model human language and use mathematical models to predict what the next word is most likely to be based on what you are asking for. Keep in mind -- they don't think. They do NOT understand, read, choose or give you the "best information." Sometimes it might feel or seem like it but it is but this isn't how the technology works.

ChatGPT is trained to sound like a human, not necessarily trained to be factually accurate. It can plagiarize, and create incorrect or fake citations.