Generative AI tool usage and integration into academic and daily life is rapidly evolving. Please check here frequently for updated information (last update 11/19/24)! If you have any comments or suggestions, please contact us at tlrs@oxy.edu
Keep in mind: "...generative A.I., relies on a complex algorithm that analyzes the way humans put words together on the internet. It does not decide what is true and what is not." When AI Chatbots Hallucinate—The New York Times. (2023, May 8). Archive.Ph. https://archive.ph/07rpm
What is Generative AI?
Image source: Large language models An introduction to fine tuning and specialization in LLM's
Watch this short video to learn how large language models (LLM's) work. LLM's make predictions based on their training data. It's statistical- not magic!
Chatbot is a generic term for an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that uses natural language processing techniques to respond to user generated prompts. Chatbots have been created by Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Stanford University to name a few and have been around in some form since the mid 1960's. Remember ELIZA?
History of Chatbots Infographic (up until year 2016)
ChatGPT is a chatbot created by OpenAI and was released to the general public as a "research preview" in late 2022. It is a form of generative AI. The usage and interest in ChatGPT has been an active subject in the scholarly and news media since then.
GPT-4 was released in March 2023 and now powers ChatGPT Plus (paid version of ChatGPT) and is also integrated into Microsoft 365, the successor to Microsoft Office. Microsoft calls its generative AI Copilot. Amazon now has one for the workplace called Amazon Q.
OpenAI released in May 2024 GPT-4o which can accept audio and visual inputs as well as text and has access to the internet. In September 2024, OpenAI released GPT-o1 that takes its time to "reason" through complex math and science problems.
There are multiple GPT-4 class models. In addition to their training data, they have various levels of connection to the internet to include up to date information in their output. They can still "hallucinate" incorrect answers.