Professor Berry Billingsley looks at reactions so far to Generative AI and public perceptions of what the future holds. 

“We’re in for a wild ride.” This comment is one of hundreds that have been shared with me as a I collect public perceptions of what lies ahead with Generative AI (Gen AI).

Most people I talk with expect chatbots like Bing Chat, Bard and ChatGPT to change our lives; a few people say they are already wedded to it. Many more people are using it routinely to help with work or study – mostly to gather information and in some cases for creative writing.

Attitudes to how well it’s working vary from “it seems stilted and repetitive” to “it’s inspirational and what’s going to transform our productivity”.

The most common request is for tips. Tips to spot texts and tests that have been created with Gen AI. Tips to use it more creatively or in ways that are outside the box and no one else is trying.

These are questions that interest me too. It’s a new technology for many of us and it can take our thinking in directions and formats that we’ve not tried before. Something that is insanely difficult in the real world can be done in an instant with a carefully worded prompt.

And it is with this spirit of adventure that we are opening our doors to an afternoon of knowledge exchange, where scholars, students, teachers, tutors and many more can come together to push the frontiers still further and take stock of what we have now.

We would be pleased if you can join us – for an afternoon of knowledge exchange on Thursday 14 September, from 2.30-5pm followed by an open lecture on using chatbots as companions and tutors – at 5.30pm

More details and registration at https://canterbury.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/ai-at-cccu-launch

Find out more information on the Discovery of AI event here.

Berry Billingsley is Professor of Science Education and leads the Epistemic Insight Initiative and the Future of Knowledge.