ChatGPT: Just the Infinite Monkey Theorem with a Modern Twist?

Are we in the best of times or the blurst of times?

“It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times … you stupid monkey!” — Charles Montgomery Burns

After the initial hype, by now you are probably feeling ChatGPT is no better than 1,000 monkeys with 1,000 typewriters. Well, the good news and the bad news is you are wrong.

To most, ChatGPT is just the typewriters.

And WE are the stupid monkeys.

So to all you stupid monkeys, be afraid, be very afraid.

As with all things, there will be winners and losers. The losers will be the stupid monkeys and the winners will be the intelligent primates.

Well, who are the intelligent primates I hear you ask. Simple. The intelligent primates are the subject matter experts. To the experts, ChatGPT is a powerful tool that can make their lives much easier by taking care of a lot of the grunt work. (And probably replacing the need to look after several less intelligent monkeys currently doing the grunt work.) Just like any other tool, true subject matter experts can get the most out of ChatGPT by asking them the right questions and most importantly, being able to distinguish the useful parts from the utter gibberish.

To the lesser primates though, your time is rapidly running out as you will soon be competing against an infinite version of yourself that never sleeps or eats but will always do what they are told and is constantly improving. Your only path to salvation is to become a true subject matter expert yourself. Unfortunately, there are no shortcuts to becoming an expert; you can no longer fake it till you make it. Because the one thing you can’t fake is experience. Experience that can only be exchanged with the payment of time.

So to some of us, this IS the best of times. But to others, this may become the worst of times … or at the very least, the blurst of times.

Key Takeaway: AI language models won’t help you become an expert but once you are an expert it can help unleash your productivity.

Lawrence

28/02/2023

p.s. This article was written 99% by primate.