DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — Coursera CEO Jeff Maggioncalda couldn’t believe his eyes when he initially “began pounding” on OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
- Maggioncalda stated that he uses ChatGPT regularly and intends to incorporate it into the firm’s course catalog.
- Nonetheless, he admits that ChatGPT “isn’t flawless” and “is absolutely dangerous” due to ethical considerations.
“It seemed like magic,” he told Insider’s Cadie Thompson at the 2023 World Economic Forum.
The former English major turned ed-tech executive was struck by the chatbot’s ability to “recombine word patterns” to “generate new concepts.”
“The first time I sat in front of ChatGPT, I thought to myself, ‘this is not conceivable,'” Maggioncalda remarked. He described ChatGPT as a “game changer” that is “blowing my mind,” and he now talks to it regularly and utilizes it as a “writing helper” and a “blog buddy.”
His interest in AI goes beyond personal applications. According to a Coursera spokeswoman, Maggioncalda intends to integrate ChatGPT into Coursera’s course catalog, which is expected to launch this year. ChatGPT, he claims, can be trained to speak like “the best academics in the world” using Coursera data.
Maggioncalda’s support comes as businesses experiment with AI tools such as ChatGPT to identify ways to incorporate AI capabilities into their goods and services. So far, Microsoft has stated that it would invest $10 billion in OpenAI and will integrate ChatGPT into its platforms.
ChatGPT has been used to compose Mozart-inspired piano music, write and draw a children’s book in 72 hours, and even respond to dating app matches.
Despite his enthusiasm for ChatGPT, Maggioncalda concedes that the AI “isn’t flawless” and that “it’s obviously unsafe” because it can create misleading replies.
After all, several businesses and AI specialists have highlighted ethical concerns with ChatGPT’s real-world applications.
Koko, a digital mental health firm, was chastised by public health and technology specialists for breaking informed consent laws after utilizing ChatGPT to generate replies for 4,000 customers as part of an experiment.
In response to these charges, Robert Morris, co-founder of Koko, told Insider that the experiment was “free” from the legislation and tweeted that users opted-in to conversing with peer supporters who utilized the bot to “help construct their comments.”
Similarly, legal experts voiced worries about ChatGPT’s possible usage in the courtroom when Joshua Browder, the inventor of the ChatGPT-powered app DoNotPay, stated that he planned to test his app’s “robot lawyer” in an upcoming traffic court case. Researchers also caution that ChatGPT may be trained using biased data, which might harm vulnerable populations.
ChatGPT has even been prohibited in New York City public schools due to concerns that it may increase student cheating.
Despite its flaws, Maggioncalda believes that “people are thinking about it in such clear binary, black and white ways” and that ChatGPT might be “a tremendous opportunity” for firms such as Coursera to offer more engaging learning experiences.
“You have to think critically about it,” he remarked. “However, it’s breathtaking.”
