The planet is on fire for ChatGPT. Because the chatbot can process an astronomical amount of information in a few milliseconds, some “experts” love it, others fear for the future of work and the fate of humanity. Is this cocktail of enthusiasm and alarmism justified?
Fiction
The world of AI is certainly foreign to me. It is therefore only as a simple user that I express myself. So I chatted with ChatGPT to verify their information regarding a person I know well: myself. And what have I not discovered!
According to this new oracle, I am the author of an impressive number of books that I have never written and which simply do not exist. However, ChatGPT indicates the years of publication and the publishers for each of the titles. It reproduces the verbatim of rave reviews signed by French and English columnists. ChatGPT goes so far as to provide the table of contents and excerpts of posts it attributes to me. And when I ask him for his sources, he offers links that go nowhere. On the other hand, it omits to cite the books that I have actually written.
For more than an hour, the fabulous algorithm fantasized. His answers contained islands of truth in a sea of pure fiction. ChatGPT is mythomaniac!
Perversion
Because it boldly disseminates falsehoods, ChatGPT is dangerous. He might invent a scabrous past for someone and thus destroy his reputation, even his career. And, in a world already afflicted by propaganda and disinformation, it adds to the climate of distrust and participates in the empire of the fake. Far from easing social tensions, his delusions might contribute to chaos and confusion.
AI promises an information revolution. ChatGPT delivers the perversion of information. There is no doubt that the conversational agent will one day become an essential tool. But that day has not arrived. For now, let’s remember the slogan: “If it’s free, YOU are the product”.
