ChatGPT has flooded global headlines in recent weeks, demonstrating a variety of ways users of the artificial intelligence tool can replicate human tasks, from creating sophisticated computer code to writing academic papers. What is the good, the bad, and the ugly?

But what is ChatGPT exactly?

What is ChatGPT?

ChatGPT has been trained on massive data sets, and has been described as one of the most powerful language processing models developed.

It is a highly articulate artificial intelligence application that can write anything from Emerson to code as well as poetry to jokes, sales emails, business plans, college essays and even a piece of original fiction in any author’s style.

What sets it apart from previous AI chat tools is how it can respond to user prompts in natural-sounding language, answers that could easily be mistaken for a chat with a real human.

ChatGPT uses a combination of natural language processing, machine learning, and graph theory to measure a chatbot’s ability to understand customer inquiries and provide accurate responses.

The application was launched in November 2022 by the San Francisco-based Artificial Intelligence Research Laboratory OpenAI.

What is OpenAI?

OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company founded in 2015 by Tesla (TSLA) and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and former Y Combinator president Sam Altman.

Silicon Valley tech experts like Peter Thiel and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman are also behind the innovative research company.

The company’s website states that its mission is to develop friendly Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and ensure that it is used safely and profitably.

The OpenAI blog states that, “OpenAI is a non-profit artificial intelligence research company.

“Its mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.”

OpenAI works on projects related to natural language processing, reinforcement learning, unsupervised learning, generative models, and robotics.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine already uses an older version of GPT (Generative Pre-Trained Transformer) to provide automatic search suggestions for users.

GPT was integrated with Bing in 2019 on the back of a $1 billion investment in the California startup.

Microsoft investing in OpenAI in 2019

The deal between Microsoft and OpenAI was a multi-year partnership with Microsoft investing $1bn in OpenAI.

The partnership aims to advance artificial intelligence capabilities, democratize AI, and create artificial general intelligence (AGI).

AGI is the name given to an artificial intelligence system capable of performing any task that a human is capable of, not just one focused on specific tasks.

OpenAI and Microsoft plan to work together to develop new Azure AI supercomputing technologies and will create a “Microsoft + OpenAI” Azure AI platform for developers and businesses.

Threats to Google’s Search Business

The New York Times reported that Google was so concerned with ChatGPT’s capabilities that it issued a “Code Red” to ensure the survival of the company’s search business.

Israeli cyber-security company Checkpoint says the technique can create phishing emails capable of carrying malicious payloads.

Checkpoint researchers used AI technology that claims it can generate anything from poetry to academic essays.

ChatGPT states that it “lowers the bar for code generation,” which means it can help less skilled hackers to launch cyber attacks.