One of the puzzles about generative artificial intelligence is why the text it conjures is so long-winded. Why does ChatGPT produce 10 paragraphs when one would do? Another puzzle is how we will all behave when it proliferates. There is a chance that we are about to get a lot more terse. AI is stretching the reality gap between Silicon Valley and the rest of the world. Most of us are not yet firing up chatbots to write emails or carry out research. But tech companies think it is a foregone conclusion that we soon will. If they are right, the way we communicate is about to be transformed.
The turning point could be 2024. Plans are in motion to knit generative AI into our everyday lives, particularly at work. Google is about to release its AI model Gemini while Microsoft will be selling its AI-assistant Copilot. We could find ourselves surrounded by prompts offering to summarise meetings, write emails and fill in spreadsheets.
No one knows how the public will react. Governments fret about catastrophe. On Monday, President Joe Biden issued regulations that require AI companies to notify the government if they are developing models that pose a security risk. The UK’s eye-catching AI summit at Bletchley Park this week is likely to examine everything that could go wrong, from enabling fraud to facilitating attacks. But these sorts of outcomes will not occur immediately, if at all. Nor will the dreaded job losses. What will happen first is a shift in our own behaviour.