Date: 21/03/2023

Relevance: GS-3: Science and Technology- Developments and their Applications and Effects in Everyday Life; Artificial Intelligence and its different forms.

Key Phrases: Generative Artificial Intelligence Technology, ChatGPT, Open AI, Multimodal, Online Interactions, Digital Platforms, Tamper-proof, Error-free, Safety tools and Features, Societal Reliability of the Internet, Data Privacy.

Context:

• Recently, OpenAI announced GPT-4, a newer model that is “multimodal” because it can perceive not only text but images as well.
• Generative artificial intelligence has become a buzzword this year, capturing the public’s fancy and sparking a rush among Microsoft and Alphabet to launch products with the technology they believe will change the nature of work.

What is Generative AI?

• Generative AI (GenAI) is the part of Artificial Intelligence that can generate all kinds of data, including audio, code, images, text, simulations, 3D objects, videos, and so forth.
• It takes inspiration from existing data, but also generates new and unexpected outputs, breaking new ground in the world of product design, art, and many more.
• The technology, it should be noted, is not brand-new.
• Generative AI was introduced in the 1960s in chatbots.
  • But it was not well known until 2014, with the introduction of generative adversarial networks, or GANs- a type of machine learning algorithm- that generative AI could create convincingly authentic images, videos and audio of real people.
• This newfound capability has opened up opportunities that include better movie dubbing and rich educational content.
  • But it also unlocked concerns about deep fakes, digitally forged images or videos, and harmful cybersecurity attacks on businesses, including nefarious requests that realistically mimic an employee's boss.

How does it work?

• Generative AI starts with a prompt that could be in the form of a text, an image, a video, a design, musical notes, or any input that the AI system can process.
• Various AI algorithms then return new content in response to the prompt.
  • Content can include essays, solutions to problems, or realistic fakes created from pictures or audio of a person.
• Early versions of generative AI required submitting data via an API or a complicated process.
• Now, pioneers in generative AI are developing better user experiences that let you describe a request in plain language.
  • After an initial response, you can also customize the results with feedback about the style, tone and other elements you want the generated content to reflect.

Where can it be used?

• Generative AI can be applied in various use cases to generate virtually any kind of content.
• The technology is becoming more accessible to users of all kinds thanks to emerging innovations like GPT that can be tuned for different applications.
• Some of the use cases for generative AI include the following:
  • Implementing chatbots for customer service and technical support.
  • Generative AI likewise can take notes during a virtual meeting.
  • It can draft and personalize emails, and it can create slide presentations.
  • Suggesting new drug compounds to test.
  • Improving dubbing for movies and educational content in different languages.
  • Deploying deep fakes for mimicking people or even specific individuals.
  • Writing music in a specific style or tone.
  • Writing email responses, dating profiles, resumes and term papers.
  • Creating photorealistic art in a particular style.
  • Improving product demonstration videos.
  • Designing physical products and buildings.
  • Optimizing new chip designs.

What are the benefits of it?

• Generative AI can be applied extensively across every area of the business.
• It can make it easier to interpret and understand existing content and automatically create new content.
• Some of the potential benefits to consider in implementing generative AI include the following:
  • Automating the manual process of writing content.
  • Reducing the effort of responding to emails.
  • Improving the response to specific technical queries.
  • Creating realistic representations of people.
  • Summarizing complex information into a coherent narrative.
  • Simplifying the process of creating content in a particular style.

What are the limitations of it?

• Here are some of the limitations to consider when implementing or using generative AI apps:
  • It can be difficult to understand how to tune for new circumstances.
  • It does not always identify the source of content.
  • Realistic-sounding content makes it harder to identify inaccurate information.
  • It can be challenging to assess the bias of original sources.
  • Results can gloss over bias, prejudice and hatred.

What are the possible concerns?

• It can provide inaccurate and misleading information.
• It is more difficult to trust without knowing the source and provenance of information.
• It can promote new kinds of plagiarism that ignore the rights of content creators and artists of original content.
• It might disrupt existing business models built around search engine optimization and advertising.
• It makes it easier to generate fake news.
• It makes it easier to claim that real photographic evidence of wrongdoing was just an AI-generated fake.
• It could impersonate people for more effective social engineering cyber attacks.

Way Forward:

• Continually assessing the potential consequences of generative AI models and making adjustments as needed to minimize any negative impact are necessary.
• Add adequate policy, regulation, awareness, and education to develop and use Generative AI services ethically and responsibly.

Conclusion:

• AI can not only boost our analytic and decision-making abilities but also heighten creativity.

Source: The Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. What is Generative AI? Also, mention the associated advantages and disadvantages of using it. (250 Words).