The GPT Whisperer

ChatGPT fell to Earth fully formed, primed to blow our minds.

They say you should always zig while others zag. That's especially true when it comes to content.

Which is why I'm writing about ChatGPT, an underground phenomenon that nobody else in the world is talking about. Seriously, I haven't seen a single person write about OpenAI. Not in the New York Times. Not in the Wall Street Journal. And certainly not on Twitter.

So, since nobody else is willing, I am giving my unqualified take on the AI revolution.

It took ChatGPT less than a week to reach 1M users.

Now reports have surfaced that declare Microsoft is preparing to invest $10B in ChatGPT's parent company, OpenAI, in a funding round that would peg the company's value at $29B.

Look at this Google trend. Absolute virality. Plus, there's a certain irony to viewing the rising success of a possible Google competitor through the lens of a Google analytics tool.

The popularity isn't completely shocking for those who've given the chatbot a spin. It's a magical experience. It's impossible to impress people these days with new tech — VR has yet to capture the imagination of the masses, appreciation for the seamless beauty of the iPhone is now taken for granted, and all the rest of our everyday tech is considered table stakes.

But that's because nearly every piece of technology we engage with came over the course of a years-long iterative process. We were able to see the kinks as they were ironed out.

ChatGPT seemingly fell to Earth fully formed, primed to blow our minds.

As with all good discussions of AI, a dominating narrative has emerged surrounding the risk of mass unemployment resulting from our new robot overlord.

If it can write legal briefs, emails, and research reports (god forbid blogs), then we're shit out of luck.

Of course, it's still the early days. Anyone who has tooled around with ChatGPT knows it isn't quite ready for prime time (though it's nerve-wrackingly close).

Still, judging from the ways in which proper responses must be carefully teased out of the robo-writer by asking the precisely correct questions, it gives hope for humanity after all. The querying will certainly improve; after all, early search engines were far from straightforward. However, it seems quite clear that it will give birth to a new type of skill (if not profession) in the coming years, even if it renders some obsolete…

The GPT Whisperer.

Those who train to know exactly what to ask the all-mighty AI 8-ball will be the ones with all the answers.

Those who fail to master this odd new dance will have to rely on their better-equipped peers.