If you’re a computer programmer or software engineer, then you may have been alarmed by the capabilities demonstrated by the Latest tech software in news - ChatGPT
Tell it to write a poem about trees in the style of Shakespeare, or an article about the applications of AI in industry, and that’s what you’ll get.
What has shocked many who make their living from writing software, however, is that it’s also capable of creating computer code. Tell it to do so, and it will happily create web pages, applications, and even basic games in any of a number of different programming languages. These include Python, C, and Javascript, some of the most commonly used languages for software development.
Novelists, copywriters, and journalists are confident that, while it may produce impressive results, ChatGPT is not yet at the stage where they are immediately worried about their jobs. The prose text it produces is lacking in personality, somewhat prone to factual errors, and created primarily with the aim of including all of the necessary information. This means that it doesn’t take into account whether its output is interesting, amusing, scary, or capable of provoking any other emotion that a writer may intend to convey. All of these factors are important if your writing needs to engage readers.
When it comes to writing code, however, none of that really matters – all that’s important is that the program that’s created does the job it’s supposed to do. It either works, or it doesn't. Interpreters that take human (or machine)-generated code and run it as applications won't give up reading it halfway through because it isn't interesting enough!
Are ChatGPT and NLP a threat to programming and software engineering jobs?
Despite all of this, it seems that current thinking is that ChatGPT and other NLP technology available today are not going to immediately make all coders, programmers, and software engineers redundant.
For a start, it can only create relatively simple programs. Ask it for something too complex – such as a sophisticated game or business application, and it will admit its weakness and tell you that the task is currently beyond its abilities.
Computers can't yet tell us, for example, what types of code or applications are needed to achieve what we are trying to do. Even if it knows this because we tell it, then ChatGPT, in particular, can’t (at the moment) attempt to create this software that specifically gives us as users a competitive edge over users of another piece of software.
For example, we can't tell it to "make me an e-commerce platform that's more effective at selling than Amazon." If we wanted this, then we still have to spend the time and effort to first work out what makes Amazon's platform so great and then find a way of doing it better
Due to this, ChatGPT (and other current NLP-based tools) still have limited effectiveness when it comes to creating software designed to give us an edge in business or, indeed, to compete with human creativity and ingenuity.
So how can ChatGPT and other NLP tools be used by programmers today?
Programmers that I’ve spoken to about ChatGPT – and potential future evolutions of the technology – tell me that rather than a threat, at the moment, it's a very valuable tool.
It can be used to quickly generate frameworks, and outline builds of applications, giving input into questions such as how data should be structured and what user interface features are needed.
What this means is that those of us who are able to work out how to take the newly-emerging breed of technology and use it to augment our own skills are likely to thrive. This means using it to automate the low-value, repetitive tasks that previously would have filled much of our time. At the same time, we have to work out how to best use the time this frees up to more effectively use the skills that computers can’t yet replace– creative thinking, strategizing, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence are some prime examples. Taking this approach to the disruptive emergence of AI tools and applications in our industry – whether you’re a computer programmer or a doctor – is the best way to make sure we stay useful and relevant in the age of AI.
