ChatGPT and the Volcano Dinosaur Cake

My son wanted a dinosaur cake with a volcano for his party, which was now less than two days away. I had procrastinated on planning how to do it. I knew I could ask my sister for advice. She has baked some beautiful and delicious cakes over the years as a side hustle, so I trusted her to have good ideas quickly. She sent me her recommendation to mold rice krispie treats into the shape I wanted, then encase that in modeling chocolate. She sent me her go-to recipes, and I had a plan.

But that took a while. While I waited for her to respond, I also reached out to our new robot overlord, ChatGPT. By the end of the third prompt-response cycle, I had gotten several possible ways of doing the same thing (including rice krispies and modeling chocolate). One more prompt and I had a shopping list.

My sister has honed her skills of cake making over years of practice. Had she made the cake I had in my head, it absolutely would have looked better than what I made, but with ChatGPT, I could feel like an expert in virtually no time, without needing anyone else’s input, and it still tasted good and thrilled my son.

What trade-offs might we be accepting for Generative AI?

If you’re reading this, chances are you know some of the promises of what ChatGPT and other Generative AI tools can do. I’ve used ChatGPT in a few different situations over the last couple months and am amazed at it’s potential.

What I feel nervous about is how I’m seeing parallels in the pattern of rushing to accept and integrate new technology without understanding of how it affects people. Think of how the prevalence of smartphones have re-made our ability to focus, to connect with others, and our discomfort with uncertainty.

I’ve seen several big-picture, economically-focused articles of how this will multiply what workers in some industries can produce, and therefore allow companies to drastically rewrite job descriptions and cut jobs. However, applying my lenses as a Christian, former teacher, and notoriously slow processor, I’m more concerned about different questions that I’m not seeing many people discuss:
1. How will embracing technology like this change us?
2. What will it take away from us and compel us to keep doing?
3. Is there a way for humans to flourish in spirit, mind, and body through this technology? If so, under what conditions?

I’m hoping to explore those questions in the next few weeks through some other writings. I hope you’ll follow along and write back.