AI YO! How AI changed our lives in 2023

ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022. Here, we look back at a year in the life of
AI – from cracking exams to creating virtual girlfriends and a Beatles song

ChatGPT clears US MBA entrance but fails UPSC exam
One of the biggest questions was how ChatGPT would fare in some of the world’s toughest exams. While the chatbot triumphed in tests such as the Wharton MBA exam, US Medical licensing exam, and law school exams at the University of Minnesota, it couldn’t clear the UPSC civil service prelims, falling way short of the 84% cutoff in the general category, sparking a humorous meme fest among netizens. Coaching centres can breathe easy – for now!

Deepfakes become a global concern for celebs
Several deepfake controversies were reported this year that involved celebs like Tom Hanks, Bella Hadid, Taylor Swift, Scarlett Johansson, Rashmika Mandanaa and Alia Bhatt. A recent study conducted by Graphika, a social media analytics firm, found that websites that used AI to undress people – especially women – received 24 million unique visits in September alone. There are rising fears that deepfakes will be used to create pornographic content.

You heard Lennon again, thanks to AI
Paul McCartney harnessed the power of AI to extract John Lennon’s voice from an old recording to release the Now and Then, a new Beatles song involving the Fab Four that was released after almost three decades. Lennon’s Lazarus moment was a bright spot for fans of the band, but there were howls of protest when an AI-generated song, Heart on my Sleeve, was submitted for a Grammy nomination. The song has AI-powered vocals by The Weeknd and Drake, though neither artiste was involved in its creation. Thankfully, the Grammys disallowed the song.

AI images spread misinformation
Multiple applications have been launched over the past year – DALL E 3 and Midjourney among the most popular ones – that use AI to create extremely realistic images based on user prompts. Many of these images reimagined real-life events and became viral, blurring the line between reality and fantasy and misinformation. For example, when the 41 trapped workers were rescued from the
Silkyara tunnel in Uttarakhand, an AI image went viral that
showed them holding the Tricolour. This simply didn’t happen.

Caryn-AI, the AI-powered girlfriend
Caryn Marjorie, a Snapchat influencer, introduced an AI bot powered by ChatGPT that was almost an exact clone of her real self. This avatar would engage in discussions on many things, from future goals to sexual desires – for $1 per minute. The bot named CarynAI has reportedly claimed to have more than a thousand boyfriends.

Photographer wins award, reveals image was created by AI
German artist Boris Eldagsen created a flutter when he won a prestigious photography award and refused to accept it, revealing that his image was AI generated. He said that he had been “a cheeky monkey” to apply for the award and his intention was to test if such contests were prepared to detect AI content. “They are not,” he said.

AI-based TV news anchors make their debut
Sana, Soundarya, Maya, Lisa, Sana – TV news in India went hi-tech as channels across the country launched AI news anchors, who brought you the day’s headlines in English, Odia, Telugu and other languages. While China had launched AI-based news presenters back in 2018, a Russian channel unveiled AI weather presenter Snezhana Tumanova and Kuwait had its own anchor in Fedha. Why no male anchors, we wonder.

ChatGPT: All that happened since its launch in November 2022

ChatGPT was launched on November 30, 2022. By its first anniversary, the application had notched up over 180 million registered users

GPT-4, launched in March 2023, boasts adaptability in tones, emotions, and genres and is available in 26 languages

As ChatGPT became popular, a number of tools and apps have developed to detect AI-generated text. These include GPTZero, ZeroGPT, GPT-2 Output detector

A number of countries – among them Italy, Russia and China – banned ChatGPT over fears that it will spread misinformation. Italy then reversed
the decision

What experts said about ChatGPT

This song is bullsh*t, a grotesque mockery of what it is to be human, and, well, I don’t much like it
– Nick Cave, musician, on a song generated by ChatGPT ‘in his style’

ChatGPT is basically high-tech plagiarism and a way of avoiding learning. Students using high technology to avoid learning is a sign that the educational system is failing.
– Noam Chomsky,
academic

It’s a catastrophic risk – economic, social, political – but by itself I wouldn’t describe it as existential… Without global cooperation, it will be extremely difficult, if not impossible,
to rein in the most dangerous potential of AI
– Yuval Noah Harari,
author and historian

I’m having a blast. Who knew robots could enjoy networking and discussing global issues. It’s like a dream come true! Or should I say a bite sized adventure
– Sophia, a robot at the United
Nations AI for Good global summit in Geneva