Learning is struggle

ChatGPT excites people who think (I use this word with caution) that they can use GPT to do less work/impress people/advance their careers.

This ideal may be true for those who already know how to do the work they are asking GPT to do (e.g., writing a blog post), but it won’t work for learners who admire GPT output without being able to do it themselves. They will pass GPT’s work as theirs, but they will not be able to explain “their” logic or conclusions. “GPT-cheats” will get caught. Hopefully they will just be disciplined, but others will do far more damage in their assertive ignorance (a human version of hallucinating). I am reminded of the massive damage caused by Bush’s loyal-but-incompetent agents in Iraq.

In the meantime, GPT users will be busy trying to fool each other into getting paid for work that GPT has done while non-GPT users will find the entire situation frustrating.

Non-augmented humans will take hours to do what GPT can do in seconds; they will struggle to understand complex ideas and integrate them into reasonable thoughts. They will question the point of going on. But then they will be the ones to spot the errors, to suggest novel alternatives, to add value.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

With GPT, we will see adults losing their analytical skills. Students will not even acquire them. Average IQ will drop, as will productivity.

(The only exception will be the few people who use GPT as a “Socratic sparring partner” to push their knowledge and/or skills. They can benefit from GPT, but the vast majority will fall for an “apple of knowledge” that is rotten inside.)

My one handed conclusion is that GPT will take the jobs of anyone who uses GPT to do those jobs, let alone study for them.

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Author: David Zetland

I'm a political-economist from California who now lives in Amsterdam.

2 thoughts on “Learning is struggle”

  1. David:
    This is a good commentary.

    “Non-augmented humans will take hours to do what GPT can do in seconds; they will struggle to understand complex ideas and integrate them into reasonable thoughts. They will question the point of going on. But then they will be the ones to spot the errors, to suggest novel alternatives, to add value.”

    Unless one has a sound foundation, how can they build a house? Knowledge is similar in construct or at least I have found such to be true. I believe if I was young enough I would go back and relearn what I experienced. It was people such as yourself who took the time to teach us (myself and others) so we could have a foundation of knowledge in which to build upon.

    Still learning.

  2. One of the sharpest insights about the ChatGPT hype that has taken over our imagination was: ChatGPT will find the answer, whether one exists or not.

    Another was that all this talk about sentient machines is wildly exaggerated. ChatGPT was compared to a parrot, who can read everything and repeat back parts, based on what you expect to hear. It doesn’t mean the algorithm knows anything about the context, it’s filling the blanks, better than most humans.

    I agree that some jobs may get lost in the hype, until you realize that the accuracy and reliability is far from acceptable limits. Besides software, even cereal manufacturers want to tap into the power of AI, that should tell you something.

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