[BCMA] A chat about ChatGPT and Copilot

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv]

Greetings friends and colleagues,

Everyone is doubtless aware of the speed of technological change, with the
opportunities and challenges that these new systems offer us. Right now, we
can all use Artificially Intelligent applications, like ChatGPT and
Microsoft Copilot. They are free to use and are easily accessed.



*The reason for this message is to raise your awareness of the likelihood
of encountering false data in the future, whether you use these tools or
not.* It came to my attention a few days ago that Copilot was attaching my
name to the discovery of the Dragonfly Wing Fossil, simply because of my
position with the Museum. This is not true and could cause concern amongst
those in the know.* This sort of thing will continue to happen*, so please,
take care to verify strange facts wherever you encounter them (Facebook),
it could be just an A.I. fabrication.

ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are referred to as Natural Language
Processors, so you can type in questions using plain English. It can answer
almost any query; recipes, history, science, language, composition, coding,
etc. Interestingly, you can give it a set of parameters or conditions to
fulfill, such as "explain the topic of Reconciliation as it applies to
Canadian First Nations people in a manner that Grade 9 children can
understand". Within seconds, your request will be answered. These NLP's are
conversational so you can continue your query with a modifier like "tell me
more about that" or "give me another example".



The Large Language Model that is the engine of these systems is improving
constantly but in these early days, there are some quirks that can cause
problems. You will still see a vast difference in the answers to the same
query between the two systems mentioned here. If your use of an NLP is the
least bit critical, fact-check or otherwise test the validity of the
answers before adopting them.


(I resisted running this through AI to make it sound better, but you can do
that, too!)

Todd Davidson
Operations Manager
Princeton and District Museum and Archives
167 Vermilion Ave., PO Box 281,
Princeton, BC, V0X 1W0
250-295-7588
www.princetonmuseum.org
princetonmuseum at gmail.com



*We acknowledge **the Similkameen Valley **on which we learn, work, and
organize **is the ancestral, traditional and unceded territory of the
Similqmix People, and is home to the **Upper Similkameen Indian Band
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