Everyone is talking about ChatGPT, a new artificial intelligence (AI) that can write school essays, create programming code, and even make you sound good on Tinder!

But what is it? We've put together a straightforward explainer without technical language. Read on to discover why this new AI is busy changing the world in a big way.

What is ChatGPT?

Perhaps the best thing to ask ChatGPT this question. We did, and it answered:

"ChatGPT is a computer program that can have conversations with people. It was made by OpenAI and is good at understanding and answering questions about many different topics. It does this by looking at lots of text that it has seen before and using that information to come up with new text that sounds like a person might say."

Seriously, an AI chatbot wrote that. ChatGPT is the chatbot that connects to GPT-3, a new AI that understands natural human language and can reply, in writing, sounding like a human. They are two different things, but we'll refer to GPT-3 and ChatGPT as the same. Pretty much everyone else is.

I've used chatbots before. What's different about this one?

Chatbots are becoming pretty common. It feels like every second business website has a chatbot that pops up in the corner and asks if it can help. But most chatbots are just scripts that respond to keywords and predetermined answers.

AI chatbots can create entirely new answers and respond intelligently to your questions, and ChatGPT is the most advanced yet.

Why are people so excited about it?

There has never been something like this. ChatGPT can write coherent answers and even follow-up replies. You can tell ChatGPT to write 400 words about fish and chips recipes, and it will reply with a short essay discussing the dish and even giving you a recipe to follow. Here, we asked it to tell us in 50 words how to start exercising:

"To exercise, start by finding an activity you enjoy such as walking, jogging, cycling, or swimming. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate activity most days of the week. Gradually increase the intensity and duration of your workout. Remember to warm up before and stretch after exercising. Mix up your routine with strength training and flexibility exercises to target different muscle groups. Stay hydrated and listen to your body, taking rest days as needed."

Not bad, is it? ChatGPT's knowledge might seem generic, and it has a relatively limited amount of knowledge. Yet the critical takeaway is that ChatGPT is only the start. People are already using ChatGPT to write emails and even song lyrics, and many are using it to cheat on essays and job applications. Recently, Ryan Reynolds used it to generate an ad script.

But the most immediate impact is that this AI might change search engines, perhaps even end them.

What do you mean it could end search engines?

You can ask ChatGPT a question, and it provides you with an answer. You can also search with a question in Google or Bing, but you'll get a short summary and a load of website links. ChatGPT gives you a concise answer, and you can ask follow-up questions to refine the answer.

It's like having a conversation with someone—and that has search engines terrified. Google has already announced Bard, its answer to ChatGPT that will be part of that search engine, and Bing is planning to add ChatGPT to its search. (In fact, Bing's owner Microsoft is going whole-hog on ChatGPT, adding it to the Edge browser and the Office365 business suite.)

But we can take this further. What if you could just ask Wikipedia questions or visit your favourite news site and ask it about current events? ChatGPT and other similar AIs will radically change how we find and consume information. Some even ask if websites are in trouble since people might not need to visit them anymore.

I've heard people also do bad things with ChatGPT?

Unfortunately, there are already examples of how we can abuse this type of AI. The obvious one is that students use it to write essays for them. ChatGPT generates original text—it's not plagiarised from somewhere else. Some schools are already banning its use, but there is no reliable way to prove ChatGPT wrote something, so bans might not work. Some companies, including ChatGPT's creators, are working on watermarks to identify AI text.

ChatGPT can also write programming code (using another AI called Codex). It's very impressive and saves programmers a lot of time. Yet cybercriminals are also starting to use it to create dangerous software. They still have to know what they are doing. But ChatGPT saves them a lot of time and effort.

Some people have also used ChatGPT to cheat on job applications and (yes, this is real) generate smart-sounding answers on dating apps such as Tinder.

I've heard it's alive. Is that true?

No, that's not true. ChatGPT is very impressive and very smart. But it's not self-aware, and it doesn't understand the answers it creates. It's just very good at creating coherent answers from a lot of information. To us humans, that may seem like being alive, and some people have claimed it is. But that's wishful thinking.

Can it make mistakes?

ChatGPT can still make big mistakes. It can provide any errors in its data as facts. It's just a very smart, very fast machine. But here's what we should remember: it can generate a dozen scripts in a few minutes, and then we can edit the best ones until we have what we want.

Will there be more of these AIs?

There already are. Meta and Google have created chatty AIs like ChatGPT. You have probably already heard of AIs that can create incredible art (like Midjourney), and some AIs can create fake voices and even fake conversations (like this fake interview between Joe Rogan and Steve Jobs). A new iOs app called Poe already lets you chat with multiple AI chatbots.

Should I be concerned? Will it take my job?

That's the big question, isn't it? The answer is complicated. No AI is so good that it can replace a human. But an AI working with a human can do the job of many other people. In the long run, this will balance out and create new jobs. But in the near future, these AIs will reduce jobs in certain sectors.

Which jobs, nobody can really say. Nobody actively predicted that AIs would replace many artists, start writing school essays or get into business schools.

The intelligent approach is to not ignore these new AI programs. You can already use them for free, so take a look for yourself. Here are some resources to get you started:

• ChatGPT website
• Video: ChatGPT Tutorial - A Crash Course on Chat GPT for Beginners
• Midjourney website
• Video: The ULTIMATE Beginner's Guide to MidJourney AI Art

Vodacom's Very Own Chat Bot

He may not be at the same level as ChatGPT, but Tobi, Vodacom's customer service chatbot, will always give you the correct information you need regarding your Vodacom products. Whether you're on contract or prepaid, Tobi will assist you quickly and efficiently on WhatsApp, via text or on a call and when he doesn't have an answer, he will put you through to a human being who does.