Lori Falce: Chatting with ChatGPT opens eyes on AI, journalism

The impact of artificial intelligence is a hot topic. Everyone wants to know what AI means for their industry and their jobs — including journalists.

We all know that innovation is amazing. It helped us reach the stars and travel the globe. It lets you play amazingly detailed games on an indispensable device the size of a candy bar that holds more technology than the first space shuttle. But historically, it also contributes to job loss as labor-­saving devices can change the need for people.

Some creative positions have felt safe from this until the advent of AI. A robot could weld a widget, but it couldn’t write a poem. Except now that’s not true.

“Ink spills across the page, words that will last an age. Journalism’s duty is to tell, the stories that we must compel,” wrote ChatGPT, an interactive large language model from OpenAI, when I asked it to write me a poem about news.

OK, that leaves me a little nervous, but not enough to start gaming out changes to my 401(k).

I am a Gen Xer, after all. I grew up with “WarGames” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.” I know that there is a difference between information and understanding. Finding words that rhyme and fit a certain number of syllables isn’t that hard.

So I asked it to write me an op-ed, just like I might any freelancer. Give me something on sports and politics, I typed into the message box, because in a sports town like Pittsburgh, this is a well I visit often.

It dutifully delivered seven paragraphs that would absolutely get my son an A in his English class but that I would return to a would-be columnist as flat and unconvincing. It does get points for speed, delivering the product in seconds, but I would argue that it reads like exactly that much time was spent.

I asked it to take a position. I asked it to argue whether rubies or sapphires were the better gemstone. Here we run into the problem of factual statements. ChatGPT came down on the side of rubies, calling them the more beautiful and durable.

“Rubies are a 9 on the Mohs hardness scale, which means they’re one of the hardest gemstones,” the AI wrote.

The problem is that both rubies and sapphires are made of corundum and are therefore the same on the Mohs scale. Ah well, ChatGPT will not be the first writer to bend a fact to fit its position in a submission to me — and probably won’t be the last. Upside, the AI didn’t get mad when I fact-checked it.

“You are absolutely right! I apologize for my mistake in my previous response,” it replied.

On the one hand, that shows growth beyond a number of human beings. On the other, it shows why AI still has a long way to go before it can replace us.

AI can work within the parameters of a request, but it can’t assess an event for what makes it important. Creative work is more than checking boxes. It is judgment calls and personal experience, and that’s not something that can be programmed. But don’t take my word for it.

“While AI language models like myself can be useful tools for writers, they will never fully replace human writers in creating works that are truly unique and meaningful. Instead, AI will likely be used as a tool to assist and enhance the work of human writers, making the writing process more efficient and effective,” ChatGPT wrote.

I’m glad the AI agrees, but the persuasive argument doesn’t really make me feel better about my job security.