Chat GPT is gaining popularity among students. This is because the breakthrough technology development provides considerable convenience for students' learning. It's not just for the students. With the advent of Chat GPT, discussions on future methods of education and job prospects are changing. Professor Kwon Hyeok-Cheol said, "Chat GPT refers to an infinite possibility, challenge, and fear." 

On May 9th and 23rd, “Channel PNU” met Kim Tae-Ho (Prof. of Language & Information, PNU) and Kwon Hyuk-Chul (Prof. of Computer Science & Engineering, PNU) at their lab to hear their opinions on the technological development and limitations of Chat GPT, and how to use it in the future.

■Kwon Hyuk-Chul (Prof. of Computer Science & Engineering, PNU)

Q. What is the most noticeable part compared to the existing AI chatbot services?

A. The most significant advantage of Chat GPT is learning easily through reinforcement learning. For example, Icelandic did not have enough users to learn but after reinforcement learning using 100 sentences in Chat GPT, recently, it has dramatically improved performance. Existing translation programs require a large amount of data, which would have taken at least two to three years, but Chat GPT learned it in a short period. In the case of the existing AI chatbot services, the rules are used within the set data, so even if the questions are slightly different, they cannot answer it. Therefore, developers have to predict how they will ask questions and pre-enter information. But Chat GPT is so adaptable that it answers almost every question. 

Q. ChatGPT has a lot of influence now. What do you think?

A. Like my students, I am also aware of the global influence of Chat GPT through mass media. Most importantly, this technology can produce results that exceed human capabilities. Existing artificial intelligence technologies could only solve problems in certain areas. However, Chat GPT can also solve unspecified areas difficult for humans to solve through learning. Recently, only through Chat GPT, we can envision a much higher level of programming than the third year of our department (Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering). Chat GPT can convert a program from C ++ to Python, that took at least a month in our lab, in 30 minutes. It may seem too much to say that “Chat GPT can do everything,” but I think the social influence of Chat GPT will be enormous.

Q. What do you think is the limit of Chat GPT?

A. The most significant limitation is that Chat GPT can respond with an untruth. Chat GPT tries to generate answers somehow based on the most likely information it has. As a result, it inevitably gives false information. This phenomenon is called “Hallucination.” For example, when asked about me, Chat GPT collects and answers the average information of people named Kwon Hyuk-Chul, not me. Personally, I think it is impossible to overcome this part. 

Q. So, what kind of attitude do we need to prevent the possibility of disseminating false information?

A. Chat GPT cannot distinguish the information generated without the cooperation of the company that actually produces the production AI. In the end, the way to solve this problem is to use Chat GPT but raise the level of questions to get good quality information. How about opening a course of about 20 students per class and asking questions to Chat GPT? If students get information through Chat GPT and have time to discuss it, students will be able to improve their understanding of Chat GPT's answers. 

Q. There is also concern about the possibility that a generative AI such as Chat GPT will replace humans.

A. Artificial intelligence is going to make a lot of jobs disappear. We have to overcome this problem through societal corporatism. First of all, it is important to go in the direction of reducing simple labor. As there are disappearing jobs, new jobs must be created and harmonized. It's not easy, but for technology to work positively, societal corporatism must be reached. 

Q. How can students use Chat GPT properly?

A. I also use Chat GPT when preparing for lectures these days. This is because I can prepare for my lectures in a very short time. Instead, there may be misinformation, and I always use search engines together. Its purpose is to search for the information that I need in person and make sure that Chat GPT's information is true again.

It is important for students to make sure that the information they get from using Chat GPT is true. If possible, it would be effective for students to use methods such as discussing the authenticity of the information obtained through Chat GPT and asking it specifically. I think a person who has this learning method will be a necessary and talented person for the future of society.

■Kim Tae-Ho (Prof. of Language & Information, PNU)

Q. Unlike traditional AI and other artificial language processing methods, Chat GPT has natural language processing capabilities. Please explain the difference.

A. Artificial language and natural language can be thought of as computer language and human language, respectively. Artificial language is a language designed to give a specific command to a computer. Everything is regularized and works according to a fixed grammar, so it does not work if it does not fit the grammar. On the other hand, unlike artificial languages, there are many variations in natural language, which is a human communication language, and even if it is not fully grammatically correct, it usually works well. The vast amount of data learning and data processing power for natural languages is required for computers to understand human language. With the development of machine learning and deep learning technologies that are the basis of Chat GPT, Chat GPT is able to learn and process huge amounts of natural language data. Natural language processing technology has developed at a tremendous pace.

Q. How do you evaluate the current AI technology, including Chat GPT?

A. Before the advent of Chat GPT, I thought that AI's natural language processing ability was just a level that mimics human language. But when I first met Chat GPT, which emerged as a rapid growth of computer and AI technology, I was very surprised at its ability. I tried Chat GPT to correct the English writing assignments I gave to my students, and in less than 10 seconds, it completed the correction and produced almost perfect sentences. Using ChatGPT in my personal research paper, it showed a very high level of linguistic ability, such as partial correction of the paper and presentation of new vocabulary expressions. 

Q. What's the biggest difference compared to human language skills?

A. Many people say that Chat GPT has reached the level of using natural languages like humans, but there is a clear difference in the way humans and AI communicate. Humans recognize context and nonverbal expressions and consider background knowledge when communicating, but AI still has difficulties in this area. For example, “Yes” in Korean is used in various functions depending on the situation, and humans do not have much difficulty grasping the function. However, it may not be an easy problem for AI. Also, unlike humans, AI still has difficulty processing non-grammatical sentences instead of generating grammatically perfect sentences. 

Q. How should students use Chat GPT properly in the future?

A. The simple information-gathering work that humans have done so far can be done easily with Chat GPT. In recent years, AI technology has taken over much of the human role in education, such as language learning. The recently released AI conversation tutor “SPEAK” is one of these examples. People say that AI will replace humans. However, even before the advent of AI, the paradigm of the profession has continued to change, but now the pace is very fast. 

The change has already begun, so we need to develop our ability to actively utilize AI technologies such as Chat GPT. Also, there are still many things that AI can't do, such as the ability to think and judge for itself or create data. Chat GPT can work, but it is ultimately up to humans to check and judge the results. It is important to be aware of this and to conquer Chat GPT. People do not have to be afraid of using Chat GPT. Rather, if people actively use it for the right purpose, it will certainly help a lot.

Reporter Sim Se-Hee

Translated by Lim Chae-Kyung