In the face of rapid adoption of text-based generative AI, such as ChatGPT, “keep calm and carry on” is one key message coming from Dr. Jimmy Lin, co-director of the Waterloo Artificial Intelligence (AI) Institute.
Drawing comparisons to handheld calculators that enabled past generations of mathematicians, engineers, and scientists to blaze new frontiers in their disciplines, Lin, who is also the Chair of the David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science, sees ChatGPT as an enabling technology for many workers, organizations, educators, and students. Specifically, he believes this level of generative AI capability will best support everyday tasks for individual workers, as opposed to replacing traditional jobs.
Lin foresees the immediate future characterized by a range of industry risks and uncertainties that could go two ways. On one hand, he can picture a scenario where there will be less demand for workers as ChatGPT and other generative AI tools perform traditionally human-fulfilled tasks more productively. On the other hand, he also believes there is a distinct possibility these and other rapidly evolving AI technologies will not only lead to the creation of new occupations, such as prompt engineering, but also unimagined business segments.
“Tasks involving the routine and predictable are going to be automated by AI, and tasks that demand creativity or require synthesis will be enhanced by AI,” said Lin. “Productivity will increase in both cases, but I’m not so sure that employment will increase, at least in current roles. There will be disruption, but as we know, the more things change, the more they will stay the same.”
ChatGPT has generated tremdendous interest around the world since its release in November 2022 by OpenAI, led by CEO Sam Altman (DEng '17). As an AI language model, ChatGPT has the ability to understand and respond to human language, which makes it a valuable tool for various applications such as customer service, language translation, and content generation. Recent advancements in natural language processing technology have greatly improved the accuracy and effectiveness of ChatGPT, making it an increasingly popular and reliable resource for those in industry, government, or academia.
To help organizations and individuals better understand and utilize the tools and technologies behind ChatGPT, Lin has partnered with WatSPEED for two new courses focused on large language models (LLMs).
For executive leaders and directors, ChatGPT and the Large Language Model Revolution, provides an overview of LLMs and their disruptive potential, including how to bring LLMs into and deploy them responsibly.
For data scientists, analysts, and developers, Foundations of Large Language Models: Tools, Techniques, and Applications, offers the skills needed to perform prompt engineering and fine-tuning, and understand LLMs as components in larger architectures for various machine learning paradigms. Participants also receive hands-on experience working with machine learning libraries and OpenAI’s GPT 3.5 Turbo API.