How will ChatGPT transform creative work? – podcast

ChatGPT has been causing a stir since its launch last year. The chatbot's ability to produce convincing essays, stories and even song lyrics has impressed users, and this week attracted a multibillion-dollar investment from Microsoft. Ian Sample speaks to Prof John Naughton about how ChatGPT works, hears from author Patrick Jackson about how it will change publishing, and asks where the technology could end up

After launching in November, ChatGPT became an immediate hit that has both entertained and alarmed its users. Given a command or question, the chatbot is able to return convincing essays, simple recipes and even life advice in a matter of seconds. This impressive feat is performed by a large language model that lies behind its interface. Using a staggering amount of text drawn from the internet, the model builds up words and sentences based on statistical probability. It's been described as a vastly scaled-up version of predictive text messaging. The result is a technology that has attracted a multibillion-dollar investment from Microsoft, and got many wondering how viable their jobs might soon become.

Ian Sample speaks to the Observer columnist Prof John Naughton about how ChatGPT works and what could be next for this technology, and hears from the children's author Patrick Jackson on how he plans to use it and why he's enthusiastic about how it could change his work