Not only is it here, it can have a conversation.
By: Troy Hagerty
If you’ve been paying attention to any tech blogs, websites, or newsletters since the end of November, you might have noticed a major uptick in mentions of a certain technology that appears to be taking the tech and business world by storm. Some are claiming that this is the next major advancement in technology we haven’t seen since the creation of smartphones. If ChatGPT rings a bell, then you’re at the ground floor on how AI can greatly impact our productivity.
ChatGPT is a chatbot developed by OpenAI which gained popularity online and on social media due to its ability to generate detailed, human-like responses. By using information sourced from training data, the chatbot can generate answers in simple-to-understand language on everything from creation of cover letters to for a job interview to even creating/analyzing functional code in many different scripting languages like C#, Javascript, or HTML.
I tested it out myself...
I wanted to see what it was capable of, so I turned my attention to how it could help internal auditors for ISO 27001. For my experiment, I asked it to create a study guide for the ISO 27001 Lead Auditor Exam. The response I got was beyond what I was expecting. I got a 10-point study guide for everything including the standard’s structure, ISMS requirements, relationships between other ISO standards, etc.
I was shocked. Just from a simple request, it was able to create that detailed of a response. I wanted to test it further to see if it knew about specifications in each control. This time, I asked it about physical security under Annex Control A.11. Again, I was floored.
...Whoa.
What makes this stand out to me is that within each chat created, ChatGPT’s responses are context based. In this case, I asked for clarification on what kind of questions I should ask a potential client. Since the chatbot knew I previously asked about ISO 27001, all I had to do was ask about the specific clause and didn’t need to mention the framework. That contextualization can make query creation/response much more streamlined. This could greatly increase the efficiency of the work of internal and external auditors who might need additional guidance on what types of questions to ask clients during their audits.
New Technology = New Fears
I can hear some people already saying that this kind of technology, while incredible, is a “job killer”. Some are even saying it’s the end of human developers or programmers. The sentiment extends to other fields as well. Look no further than the AI Image generation application Lensa. It’s currently the target of much controversy due to accusations of copyright infringement by multiple artists for using their art as a reference in the creation of images without the original artist’s permission. Opponents are also claiming that AI Art is running the risk of putting human artists out of business. Lensa’s creator company Prisma Labs responded to these claims in a tweet by saying, “As cinema didn’t kill theater and accounting software hasn’t eradicated the profession, AI won’t replace artists but can become a great assisting tool.”
Personally, I don’t agree with the statement that jobs will be lost with this technology. While the ability to create functional code in multiple coding languages is incredibly powerful, without context given from a user into the query, the response that you may get might not be optimized for your specific infrastructure. Without human input, the code isn’t sufficient. Automatically generated code might be functional, but it isn’t necessarily “fast”.
The additional challenge with technologies like ChatGPT is an ethical one. Like with all developing tech becoming a part of day-to-day life, many organizations have attempted to adopt a wide range of initiatives to establish ethical guidelines for the adoption of AI that could be beneficial to society. While there isn’t a fully agreed-upon framework yet, I believe it’s only a matter of time before one is developed and adopted just like how information security has multiple international frameworks helping to ensure conformity.
Keep an eye on ChatGPT and any relevant technologies. This feels like the tip of an iceberg we’re only just starting to see on the horizon.
Update (April 2023): Surprising no one, we’ve only just scratched the surface of what ChatGPT is capable of. GPT-4 is finally out for the public to use, and what we’ve seen so far is astounding. Here’s our full breakdown of GPT-4, it’s capabilities, and what this means for the future of AI and it's ethical ramifications.