About a year ago I was in the process of moving, and had  to organize boxes and furniture for the movers.  While removing a drawer, I stumbled upon an old Block Buster car!  It had  been over 15 years since  I last used it, so finding it hidden in the back of my drawer brought back many memories.

Memories of movie posters and videos filling the shelves of the Blockbuster store came back to me. I recalled the crowded weekends when people would flock to the store to rent movies. The arrival of CDs and later Netflix marked a significant change in the industry.

With Netflix’s emergence, Blockbuster eventually became obsolete. Interestingly, Blockbuster had once declined an offer for film distribution from Netflix, a decision that proved short-sighted.

Now, a new disruptive technology is among us, causing concern within the Hollywood actors’ union. The fear is that AI technology will undermine writers and actors in the film community. While I understand the worries, I also welcome the advancements brought by this new technology.

One of the most popular chatbots is  ChatGPT – an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI and launched on November 30, 2022. It is notable for enabling users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language used. (Wikipedia)

I just asked the bot to list hashtags for AI and less than 3 seconds a list emerged.  Here are the top 10: #AI #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Disruption #DisruptiveTechnology #AIRevolution #TechDisruption #FutureTech #TechTrends  #AIInnovation #AutomationRevolution.  I didn’t have to “Google it” or look on other sites.

I am going to use some samples from this article.  In my third paragraph I wrote “

When Netflix came,  Block Buster became obsolete.  Ironically, Block Buster passed up on an offer to distribute their films.  Boy was someone at Block Buster short sighted.”

Here is how ChatGPT rewrote it: With the advent of Netflix, Blockbuster quickly became obsolete, which is rather ironic considering they had once turned down an offer for film distribution. The lack of foresight by someone at Blockbuster was truly remarkable.”

I have to admit.  The Chatbox improved my sentence.

While AI technology offers endless possibilities, it is not infallible. It can make mistakes and is not completely accurate. SAG-AFTRA concerns are understandable.

I asked the bot to list a few cultural highlights of New Orleans,  and here is something on the list that was mentioned.

“ Cajun Cuisine: Louisiana is known for its delicious Cajun cuisine: like gumbo, jambalaya, crawfish, and beignets” If that isn’t cultural appropriation I don’t know what is.  Gumbo, jambalaya and beignets are not cajun inventions.  So I gave the chat bot a piece of my mind and said.  “Jambalaya, gumbo and beignets are not cajun” The reply was “You are absolutely right, and I apologize for the oversight in my previous response. Jambalaya, gumbo, and beignets are not Cajun dishes; they are, in fact, more closely associated with Creole cuisine, which has its roots in New Orleans.”

Wow, I thought.  It made a mistake and because I caught it, the chatbot apologized and actual admitted it was wrong.  Why or how could it be bias in the first place?  If the AI knew these things weren’t part of the cajun culture and were in fact creole, then why did it blatantly credit those things as being Cajun, and not Creole?

This experience was an eye-opener, reminding me of the technology’s limitations and potential biases. As we place trust in AI, we must be aware of its shortcomings and potential misuse. For this reason, top tech and social media companies have agreed to implement rules and safeguards.

Despite discovering flaws in using ChatGPT, I believe that, for now, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.