Thanks to the generosity of the California State University system, those of us within it (staff, students, teachers, etc) are gifted with a free license of ChatGPT education. Since our own campus IT has rolled the service out, I’ve been using ChatGPT for all sorts of queries that would have otherwise gone to Google.
Because why slum through Google’s intractable ads just to click on the first result that may have the correct answer? For very specific questions, such as “Is 0.4 of an inch of rain considered heavy?”, ChatGPT simply rules. The service returns only the correct answer, super legibly, with not an ounce of advertising distraction. (I do realize I am essentially using the paid version. Surely the free version will eventually have ads.)
Is Google on the roller-coaster ride downwards? Not on my account. I still use it for more open-ended questions, such as inquiring about the qualities of a particular product. Soliciting multiples of results - to gather varying experiences and testimonials - is still better done with the traditional search engines.
What I do find interesting with partnership between the CSU and OpenAI is that it is a de-facto endorsement for students to use ChatGPT for their schoolwork. A few months before that would still be considered cheating. Obviously, students have been and are using AI LLMs since they’ve become available. They just have to be smart enough to edit the output and make it their own. It’s the stupid ones who don’t that get caught.
I do carry reservation about English students using it to write. That’s suppose to be purely the student’s own inspiration (and perspiration), isn’t it?
As well we should!