ChatGPT: what can the extraordinary artificial intelligence chatbot do?

Ask the AI program a question, as millions have in recent weeks, and it will do its best to respond

Since its launch in November last year, ChatGPT has become an extraordinary hit. Essentially a souped-up chatbot, the AI program can churn out answers to the biggest and smallest questions in life, and draw up college essays, fictional stories, haikus, and even job application letters. It does this by drawing on what it has gleaned from a staggering amount of text on the internet, with careful guidance from human experts. Ask ChatGPT a question, as millions have in recent weeks, and it will do its best to respond – unless it knows it cannot. The answers are confident and fluently written, even if they are sometimes spectacularly wrong.

The program is the latest to emerge from OpenAI, a research laboratory in California, and is based on an earlier AI from the outfit, called GPT-3. Known in the field as a large language model or LLM, the AI is fed hundreds of billions of words in the form of books, conversations and web articles, from which it builds a model, based on statistical probability, of the words and sentences that tend to follow whatever text came before. It is a bit like predictive text on a mobile phone, but scaled up massively, allowing it to produce entire responses instead of single words.

The significant step forward with ChatGPT lies in the extra training it received. The initial language model was fine-tuned by feeding it a vast number of questions and answers provided by human AI trainers. These were then incorporated into its dataset. Next, the program was asked to produce several different responses to a wide variety questions, which human experts then ranked from best to worst. This human-guided fine-tuning means ChatGPT is often highly impressive at working out what information a question is really after, gathering the right information, and framing a response in a natural manner.

The result, according to Elon Musk, is “scary good”, as many early users – including college students who see it as a saviour for late assignments – will attest. It is also harder to corrupt than earlier chatbots. Unlike older chatbots, ChatGPT has been designed to refuse inappropriate questions and to avoid making stuff up by churning out responses on issues it has not been trained on. For example, ChatGPT knows nothing in the world post-2021 as its data has not been updated since then. It has other, more fundamental limitations, too. ChatGPT has no handle on the truth, so even when answers are fluent and plausible, there is no guarantee they are correct.

Prof Michael Wooldridge, director of foundational AI research at the Alan Turing Institute in London, says: “If I write a text message to my wife that starts: ‘I’m going to be ...’ it might suggest the next words ‘in the pub’ or ‘late’, because it’s looked at all the messages I’ve sent to my wife and learned that these are the most likely ways I’ll complete that sentence. ChatGPT does exactly the same thing on a massively large scale.

“These are the first systems that I can genuinely get excited about. It would take 1,000 human lifetimes to read the amount of text the system was trained on and hidden away in all of that text is an awful lot of knowledge about the world.”

As OpenAI notes: “ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers” and “will sometimes respond to harmful instructions or exhibit biased behaviour.” It can also give long-winded replies, a problem its developers put down to trainers “preferring long answers that look more comprehensive”.

“One of the biggest problems with ChatGPT is that it comes back, very confidently, with falsities,” says Wooldridge. “It doesn’t know what’s true or false. It doesn’t know about the world. You should absolutely not trust it. You need to check what it says.

“We are nowhere near the Hollywood dream of AI. It cannot tie a pair of shoelaces or ride a bicycle. If you ask it for a recipe for an omelette, it’ll probably do a good job, but that doesn’t mean it knows what an omelette is.” It is very much a work in progress, but a transformative one nonetheless.

Scary monsters: how virtual reality could help people cope with anxiety

Guardian science correspondent is put to the test in the panic-inducing VR world of a game that teaches breathing technique

Tethered to a chair, in a gloomy basement, I’m doing my best not to panic – by breathing in for four seconds, holding for seven, and slowly releasing for eight. But when a bloodthirsty monster appears at my feet and starts crawling towards me, I don’t need a dial to tell me that my heart is pounding, and I’m in imminent mortal danger.

Welcome to the future of anxiety treatment: a virtual reality (VR) game that teaches you a breathing technique to help calm your nerves, and then pits you against a monstrous humanoid that wants to eat you, to practise deploying it in genuinely panic-inducing situations.

Developed by researchers at the University of Cambridge, with help from a local video game company, Ninja Theory, the game is being tested as a means of teaching people a strategy to cope with everyday anxiety. For me, this could include filing a story for the Guardian, at extraordinarily short notice, or trying to get out of the door with two children, when I’m already running late.

“We are looking at anxiety as a thing that most people experience, as opposed to a specific anxiety disorder, trying to teach emotion regulation techniques that could be useful to most people at some point in their life,” said Lucie Daniel-Watanabe, a doctoral student who is leading the research.

Therapists often ask people to learn techniques, such as breathing techniques, in totally static and unengaged ways, and then say: ‘Try this while you’re stressed.’ But there’s no way of getting people to try it when they’re stressed in that therapeutic situation. VR allows you to completely manipulate the environment that people are in, which can be really useful in that regard.”

With the VR headset in place and a heart-rate monitor attached to my finger, I’m transported on to a rowing boat, on a tranquil lake at sunset. A soothing voice encourages me to breathe in, hold my breath, and exhale at the appropriate time points, and as I feel increasingly relaxed and my pulse slows, the boat moves gently forwards.

After about five minutes of this, I’m ready to begin the next stage of my training: the dungeon. Even though I know it’s just a game, the immersive nature of VR helps to suspend my disbelief, and I’m surprised to hear my heartbeat thumping in my ears. In the top corner of my vision, a small dial tells me that my heart is pumping significantly faster than when I was on the boat, which reminds me of what I am here for. I start to slow my breathing, and the dial creeps gradually downwards too – even when I hear a fellow prisoner screaming, and look to my left to see a body being dragged backwards out of sight.

Then, suddenly, the monster is in front of me, emaciated, grey-skinned, and blindfolded with a horrible smile on its mouth. I’ve been told that it can’t see me, but it can use my heartbeat to sense my location; the only way to avoid death is to use the relaxation technique to bring my heart rate down.

I try my best, but the monster is too close, and too horrible. Afterwards – once the monster has jumped on me, and the screen has gone black – Daniel-Watanabe tells me she deliberately put me on a more difficult level, because many of subjects she’s tested it on so far were too good at avoiding death.

Striking the right balance, not to mention validating the approach among larger and more diverse groups of individuals, could take some time. But other VR-based approaches are already being trialled within the NHS, for example to help people who are suffering from social anxietysocial anxiety or agoraphobia to practise everyday scenarios, such as being in the street or inside a shop, under the guidance of a virtual coach.

Partnering with a gaming company could take such experiences to a new level. Gamification of the process may also help motivate people to practise useful techniques, such as breathing exercises, rather than relying on internal motivation – “which, if you’re in a really rough place, might be hard”, Daniel-Watanabe said.

While she would never wish to see VR used in place of therapy, “it might be a resource that people could use if they were on a waiting list for cognitive behavioural therapy, to learn some basic techniques in the interim”, she said.

As for me, while I’d be reluctant to go back into that dungeon, the encounter has reminded me to try slow breathing, when I’m feeling stressed. Even an imminent deadline is no match for that monster.

Storm Reid Holds Hands with 'Super Sweet' Boyfriend Shedeur Sanders on 'Missing' Red Carpet

The actress and the college football player made their red carpet debut together at the L.A. premiere of her new movie Missing

Storm Reid is making it red carpet official with her beau.

On Thursday, the Euphoria actress, 19, celebrated her new movie Missing at its world premiere held at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Downtown Los Angeles, holding hands with quarterback Shedeur Sanders as they posed for photos together.

The 20-year-old college football player is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, and recently transferred to the Colorado Buffaloes, where his dad is head coach.

He's super sweet, super talented," Reid said of Sanders while speaking to Entertainment Tonight at the premiere. "I'm just glad to have him here supporting me."While it marked the first time they hit the red carpet together, Reid has quietly supported Sanders from the sidelines, most notably attending his last team's season-opening game (Jackson State) in Miami versus Florida A&M.

For the occasion, she shared an Instagram carousel that included various game images and showcased one where they posed inside the team's locker room together.

"2 can play this game!!!! congratulations @gojsutigersfb," she wrote in the caption.

Now that Sanders is about to embark on a new football journey in Colorado, she told ET she hopes to make it out to more games since she is currently enrolled as a student at the University of Southern California.

"I've been on set allllllll day, and I wanted to wait to get home to open this. Was a ball of nerves all day. I got my first college acceptance two weeks ago, but I've been waiting on this one for a hot minute. WE GOT INTO USC BABY," Reid wrote in a March 2021 Instagram post after learning she would be attending the school.

Her new film finds her in a leading role, with Nia Long playing her onscreen mom.

According to the film's synopsis, the film is a "roller-coaster mystery that makes you wonder how well you know those closest to you. When her mother disappears while on vacation in Colombia with her new boyfriend, June's search for answers is hindered by international red tape. Stuck thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, June creatively uses all the latest technology at her fingertips to try and find her before it's too late. But as she digs deeper, her digital sleuthing raises more questions than answers...and when June unravels secrets about her mom, she discovers that she never really knew her at all."

Amy Winehouse Biopic: See 'Industry' Actress Marisa Abela Channel the Late Singer in First Photo

Watch out everyone!" said director Sam Taylor-Johnson as she teased the upcoming film Marisa Abela is the spitting image of Amy Winehouse in the first photo from director Sam Taylor-Johnson's upcoming biopic Back to Black.

The Industry actress, 26, stars as the late singer in a photo the director shared on Instagram Friday, showing Abela rocking Winehouse's signature beehive hairstyle and large hoop earrings. Marisa Abela … watch out everyone! Cameras roll on Monday. Here we go!" Taylor-Johnson, 55, wrote in the caption.Abela shared the photo on her Instagram Story as well, adding a black heart emoji to her post.

She also posted a photo gallery to her feed, led by a snapshot of herself posing in front of a brick wall that boasted a stunning mural of Winehouse.

" 'And for London. This is for London. Cause Camden Town ain't burnin down,' " Abela captioned the post, quoting Winehouse's 2008 Grammys speech. She concluded, "I love you, Amy. ❤️"

The upcoming film will chronicle the late Grammy winner's "vibrant years living in London in the early aughts and her intense journey to fame," according to a press release obtained by Entertainment Weekly.

Taylor-Johnson, who directed the first installment of the popular Fifty Shades of Grey franchise, confirmed in July that she'd be directing Back to Black, which shares the name of the singer's second and final studio album.

"This is a dream movie to helm," the filmmaker wrote in an Instagram caption at the time while sharing a post from Deadline, which first reported the news. "I'm ready, let's go … #amywinehouse #backtoblack."

Writer Matt Greenhalgh wrote the screenplay, while Studiocanal is producing with Alison Owen and Debra Hayward, alongside Tracey Seaward, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The project has also received support from Winehouse's estate.

In a statement to EW, Taylor-Johnson said her "connection to" Winehouse, who died from alcohol poisoning at her home in London in July 2011 at the age of 27, "began when I left college and was hanging out in the creatively diverse London borough of Camden."

"I got a job at the legendary KOKO club, and I can still breathe every market stall, vintage shop and street," she continued. "A few years later Amy wrote her searingly honest songs whilst living in Camden. Like with me, it became part of her DNA."

Noting Winehouse's "genius," Taylor-Johnson added, "As a filmmaker, you can't really ask for more. I feel excited and humbled to have this opportunity to realize Amy's beautifully unique and tragic story to cinema accompanied by the most important part of her legacy: her music.

I am fully aware of the responsibility, with my writing collaborator Matt Greenhalgh I will create a movie that we will all love and cherish forever. Just like we do Amy," she added.

 

Jeff Beck’s 10 Essential Songs

The guitarist, who died on Tuesday, could make his instrument slash, burn and sigh. Listen to tracks released from 1966 to 2010 that reveal his range and intensity.

Songs could barely contain Jeff Beck’s guitar. It jabbed at tunes with brute-force riffs. It sparred with singers for the spotlight. It clawed at the limits of verses and choruses, screaming melodies of its own, making notes slide and wriggle; sometimes it scraped out funky, contentious rhythm chords.Yet in quieter moments, Beck’s guitar could also be startlingly tender, cherishing a melody or proffering teasing, insinuating undercurrents. Beck, who died on Tuesday at 78, was also a master of electric guitar tones, of amplification and distortion. He could make his Stratocaster sound icy, searing, slashing and otherworldly in the course of a single track.

With a career that began during the British Invasion, Beck at first tucked his guitar work into songs aimed for pop radio. But by the end of the 1960s, he was leading his own groups, backing his lead singers with roiling, slamming arrangements that made them shout to keep up; he was blasting his way toward metal. Beck’s instrumentals moved to the forefront in the 1970s, as his material shifted toward jazz-rock. But he never left behind the blues and rockabilly that had inspired him from the start.

Here, in chronological order, are 10 tracks that reveal Beck’s range and intensity.

The Yardbirds, ‘Over Under Sideways Down’ (1966)

The pushy, up-and-down, Eastern-tinged guitar line that opens the song, and the squirming guitar riff behind the chorus, turn this track from jaunty British Invasion pop into something far more urgent. Beck’s lead guitar takes over for the entire last minute, melding rockabilly and something like raga, leaving the rest of the band to whoop along.

Jeff Beck, ‘Shapes of Things’ (1968)

Beck’s supercharged remake of a Yardbirds song has Rod Stewart on vocals and a churning, whipsawing arrangement that rivals anything from contemporaries like the Who. The song gallops from the get-go, as Beck answers his own power chords with countermelodies high and low. The bridge rockets into double time, and after the final verse the band stages a neat slow-motion collapse.

Donovan with the Jeff Beck Group, ‘Barabajagal’ (1969)

Beck the bandleader, abetted by wailing backup singers including Suzi Quatro, catalyzed this rowdy song by Donovan, the normally soft-spoken flower-child troubadour. Beck’s electric guitar opens with twangy rockabilly syncopation, sets up the choppy piano groove and pointedly spurs things along. He really starts to wail toward the song’s free-for-all finish.

Stevie Wonder, ‘Lookin’ for Another Pure Love’ (1972)

Beck and Stevie Wonder shared songs and appeared on each others’ albums in the 1970s, and “Lookin’ for Another Pure Love” from Wonder’s “Talking Book” featured the guitarist at his most sweetly melodic in the song’s bridge. His solo eases up to a high note and then casually trickles down, continuing through the track to garland Wonder’s vocals with little slides and curlicues, reveling in the song’s sophisticated chord progression.

Jeff Beck, ‘Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers’ (1975)

Beck’s best-known ballad is an instrumental version of a Wonder song. He plays it with long-lined phrases and constantly changing nuances of tone: as a dialogue, as a keening lament, as bitter self-accusations, as an anguished plea, as a fragile chance at hope. From start to finish, it sings.

Jeff Beck, ‘Freeway Jam’ (1975)

Written by Max Middleton, then the keyboardist in Beck’s band, “Freeway Jam” is a brisk shuffle that materializes and fades out as if it’s excerpted from a jam session, though parts are clearly mapped out. It gives Beck room to peal some clarion melodies and then attack them with trills, bent notes, blues licks and dissonances. A live version featuring the keyboardist Jan Hammer, released in 1977, makes the tune even more gleefully frenetic.

Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart, ‘People Get Ready’ (1985)

Rod Stewart rejoined Beck for a remake of the Curtis Mayfield gospel-soul standard, “People Get Ready,” that starts out restrained but grows fervid. Beck offers a stately, fanfare-like guitar hook after the first verse, then engages Stewart more and more: taking over the melody with note-bending variations, surging up from below, goading Stewart to shout and leap into falsetto. Despite its dated 1980s production, the song finds the spirit

Jeff Beck, ‘THX 138’ (1999)

Could a player as physical as Beck handle the mechanical drive of electronica? Of course. A tireless programmed drumbeat drives “THX 138,” but Beck rides it in multiple ways: with an Eastern-tinged modal loop, with sustained power chords, with high blues lines, with ferocious stereo call-and-response chords, with a melody that leaps skyward. For all the gadgetry, human hands dominate this mix.

Jeff Beck with Jimmy Page, ‘Beck’s Bolero’ (2009)

Before he formed Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page was Jeff Beck’s colead guitarist, and then his successor, in the Yardbirds. In 1966 they collaborated to record “Beck’s Bolero,” written by Page, for Beck’s first solo single. This gracious latter-day reunion for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is noisy, flashy, virtuosic and over the top in exactly the right proportions.

Jeff Beck, ‘Over the Rainbow’ (2010)

For all his speed and dexterity, Beck never underestimated the beauty of a sustained melody. He played this Hollywood standard backed by chords from a string orchestra, sliding through the tune, holding back some notes and using tremolo on others, making every turn of the familiar song sound like a precious discovery.

 

Jerrod Carmichael burns Tom Cruise and Scientology with Shelly Miscavige joke

Jerrod Carmichael had a pitch for Tom Cruise and Church of Scientology in one of his Golden Globes jokes.

The comedian and host of Tuesday's ceremony referenced Cruise having returned his Globe statues in 2021 in the midst of controversy surrounding the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization behind the Globes.

"Backstage, I found these three Golden Globe awards that Tom Cruise returned," Carmichael quipped as he came on stage holding three awards.

Carmichael noted he was "just the host," then added, "but I have a pitch."

"I think maybe we take these three things and exchange them for the safe return of Shelly Miscavige," he said.

There were some awkward groans and a few gasps in the room even as some viewers may not have understood the joke.

Cruise is a longtime member of the Church of Scientology. Shelly Miscavige is the wife of Church of Scientology leader David Miscavige.

In 2013, after actress and former Scientology member Leah Remini raised concern publicly that Shelly Miscavige had not been seen out in public for some time, the Los Angeles Police Department said detectives had made contact with Shelly Miscavige and found her to be alive and safe.

The church issued a statement at the time accusing Remini of "creating this unne0cessary burden for law enforcement," adding it "was even more irresponsible given the entire episode was nothing more than a publicity stunt for Ms. Remini."

Cruise returned the best actor Globes he won for his performances in "Jerry Maguire" in 1997 and "Born on the Fourth of July" in 1990, and the best supporting actor award for "Magnolia" in 2000.

He did so amid criticism of the HFPA for its lack of diversity, specifically its lack of Black members, as well as ethical questions related to financial benefits to some of its 87 members brought to light in an investigation by the Los Angeles Times.

HFPA has said it has made sweeping changes including increasing its diversity by inviting in new members of color.

CNN has reached out to representatives for Cruise and the Church of Scientology for comment.

 

Former DMN critic Thomas Maurstad will mark release of new novel at Interabang Books

He’ll discuss and sign copies of ‘Mind the Gap’ on Jan. 19.Author Thomas Maurstad, a former Dallas Morning News pop culture critic, will celebrate the release of his new novel, Mind the Gap, with a reception at Interabang Books in Dallas on Jan. 19.

The reception begins at 5:30 p.m., and Maurstad will discuss the book and sign copies starting at 6 p.m. Interabang Books is at 5600 W. Lovers Lane.

Mind the Gap is set against th backdrop of Austin’s South by Southwest festival and features alternating chapters about  advertising whiz Justin Mayhaps and rising musician-video artist Ellis Presley, whose stories ultimately intersect.

Maurstad, who lives in Dallas, plans to release a collection of short stories, Flyover States, this year. He is working on his next novel, tentatively titled Dreaming of Sleep.

Those who wish to attend the Interabang Books event can send an.