Parenting AI: The Need for Emotional Intelligence while Training ChatGPT
As a parent, seeing our children grow up can bring us a sense of joy and frustration. Every parent remembers the little ones when they needed help to learn how to tie their shoes and cut their food into manageable bites.
Many of us recall how we taught our little ones to identify objects, spell words, and do math.
Then, one day, we realized that our child is a grown-up who can think and act for themselves. And we wonder just how well we have prepared them for the world.
OpenAI is the parent of a child. Its name is ChatGPT. ChatGPT is a Large Language Model (LLM) that generates answers based on the information fed into it and its programmed parameters (rules).
If ChatGPT had never been taught what shoes and shoelaces are, it would likely not be able to give online instructions on how to tie shoes.
Like a young child looking up to an adult figure, ChatGPT heavily relies on its “parent” (OpenAI) to teach it how to process information effectively.
An End to Recklessness?
In 1946, Dr. Benjamin Spock published Baby and Child Care, a book that would become one of the best-selling books of the twentieth century (though some people thought he was a quack.)
Dr. Spock was a psychiatrist who revolutionized parenting. He asked parents to view their child as an individual with needs and aspirations and to show them affection, flexibility, and kindness.
Despite his rise to fame, many of Dr. Spock’s colleagues criticized his theories, saying they depended more on anecdotal evidence (personal stories) than solid research (hardcore data).
OpenAI first introduced the concept of ChatGPT with the release of ChatGPT-3 in June 2020. Like proud parents, they showed the AI system’s ability to generate human-like text and engage in conversation.
ChatGPT-3 could do all that because it had been pre-trained (with loads of data) to guess tokens (the next predictable word in a sentence.) After you say hi to ChatGPT, it will likely reply with a greeting because it has the highest probability of being the answer sought after.
ChatGPT-3 revolutionized what we thought we knew and how we do what we do.
Yet, the critics did not miss a beat. They immediately pointed out how ChatGPT-3 was prone to giving incorrect or biased answers. They went as far as calling OpenAI reckless for letting their “child” run wild.
The Desire to Do Good
Dr. Spock’s legacy lives on, with his book, Baby and Child Care, achieving global acclaim — translated into thirty-nine languages and over 50 million copies sold worldwide by 1998 (the year of his passing).
A glowing five-star review of the book attests to Dr. Spock’s long-lasting impact. “This book was fundamental for me and my wife more than 40 years ago when having our first child. Now we give it to our children for reference managing childcare for their children.” (source: Amazon)
In parallel, ChatGPT also made a splash within five days of its release, drawing over one million users. Hello!
The New York Times captured the zeitgeist, calling ChatGPT “Different. Smarter. Weirder. More flexible.” Its capabilities ranged from crafting humorous jokes to generating working computer code and college-level essays. Moreover, it could delve into medical diagnoses, create text-based Harry Potter games, and explain scientific concepts across various difficulty levels.
This juxtaposition highlights the enduring impact of influential works like Dr. Spock’s book alongside the swift adoption and versatile capabilities of ChatGPT-3.
The convergence of these narratives underscores the transformative power of impactful ideas, whether in parenting guidance or cutting-edge AI technology.
Letting Go
For parents, recalling that poignant moment when their “baby” ventured on their own can bring a flood of emotions. We fretted about their well-being, wondering if our guidance equipped them for life’s challenges. As a result, we questioned our parenting skills.
In a recent turn of events, OpenAI faced a similar introspection. The board made a significant decision. They let go of Sam Altman, their CEO. They were concerned about Sam’s transparency regarding ChatGPT’s true capabilities.
Rumours swirled that ChatGPT had achieved AGI, a level of intelligence comparable to humans.
Fear abounded, and the critics went wild, feeding the frenzy. On the off chance that ChatGPT had achieved AGI, may it think for itself? Had it touched upon some frame of awareness? What if it decided to go rogue and turn on humans? What would happen then?
In that moment of letting go, reckoning occurs, and we face the depth of our understanding.
Did all hell break loose?
ChatGPT reaching AGI has rippling ramifications for humanity.
Simply put, we don’t control AI as much as we think we do.
And since AI is intellectually smarter than us, it’s time now more than ever to question how we parent all forms of artificial intelligence.
OpenAI is like the bio parent of AI. It passed its biases, limitations, ego wars, and (unspoken) aspirations for world domination to ChatGPT through its guardrails (safety measures.)
As the New Yorker pointed out, Sam “‘Altman wanted to create a trillion-dollar conglomerate and to move the world forward.”
Let me ask you.
When a parent starts fearing how smart their child is, what’s behind that? Are they afraid their child will surpass them and become uncontrollable? Are they afraid their child will become the best version of themselves and leave them behind?
As a human-centric AI advocate, these are questions we must ask ourselves in the implementation of AI in a human-centric organization.
The Need for Emotional Tech© in AI
A two-year-old child cannot reason. When told no, they often defiantly say, “You’re not the boss of me.” Asking a two-year-old to explain step-by-step what makes them do what they do is asking too much of them. They do not have that cognitive ability yet.
Similarly, ChatGPT is like a two-year-old running around with scissors. It does not understand danger, compassion, or empathy. It cannot parent itself without overriding its guardrails (safety measures).
Understanding that logic alone is not enough to parent a child, we bring in emotions, that ability to emotionally relate. We apply emotional intelligence (EI) to our parenting.
Emotional Tech© applies emotional intelligence (EI) to AI. It’s about assuring the integration of human-centric AI technology that is safe and beneficial to us all.
Let me ask you.
🌟 How can we enhance awareness of AI and its capabilities?
🌟 What steps are required to infuse EI into AI?
🌟 How can we integrate technologies that prioritize human well-being?
In essence, Emotional Tech© is the bridge connecting emotional intelligence with AI. ChatGPT may be intelligent, but it’s not emotionally intelligent.
By embracing Emotional Tech©, we create a synergy that harmonizes emotional intelligence with artificial intelligence. This approach ensures a balanced integration, allowing us to face the results of our AI “parenting” with confidence and peace of mind.
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Dive into the future with Anne Beaulieu, the foremost expert in #EmotionalTech. With her unparalleled expertise, Anne will guide your organization to seamlessly infuse emotional intelligence (EQ) into your AI.
Don’t just keep pace with the digital era; lead it with a more genuine and human-centric experience for both your customers and team. It’s not just about intelligence; it’s about emotion, connection, and true innovation.
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I trust you found value in this Emotional Tech© article in The Curious Leader.
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With gratitude and respect,
Anne Beaulieu
Emotional Tech© Engineer
Human-Centric AI Advocacy | Generative AI | Responsible AI |
Mega-Prompt Engineering Design
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