Science & Tech Spotlight: Generative AI
June 13, 2023
Generative AI systems—like ChatGPT and Bard—create text, images, audio, video, and other content. This Spotlight examines the technology behind these systems that are surging in popularity.
These systems are trained to recognize patterns and relationships in massive datasets and can quickly generate content from this data when prompted by a user. These growing capabilities could be used in education, government, medicine, law, and other fields.
But these systems can also generate “hallucinations”—misinformation that seems credible—and can be used to purposefully create false information. Other challenges include oversight and privacy concerns.
Why This Matters
Use of generative AI, such as ChatGPT and Bard, has exploded to over 100 million users due to enhanced capabilities and user interest. This technology may dramatically increase productivity and transform daily tasks across much of society. Generative AI may also spread disinformation and presents substantial risks to national security and in other domains.
