According to Michelle Donelan, artificial intelligence presents a significant opportunity for both the civil service and other areas
The new science secretary, Michelle Donelan, believes that artificial intelligence systems such as ChatGPT could provide a valuable contribution to Whitehall and offer a significant opportunity. She stated that although the civil service should utilize its own specialists, she did not dismiss the possibility of incorporating artificial intelligence in the future. ChatGPT, which OpenAI released for public use in November, has the ability to create a variety of written materials, including articles, essays, jokes, poetry, and job applications, in response to text prompts.
With the ability to comprehend the context of subsequent inquiries in a similar way to human conversations, it can respond to questions in a way that resembles human speech. Additionally, it can generate lengthy written pieces when prompted to do so.
The Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, Donelan, expressed to the Sunday Telegraph that technological advancements, such as ChatGPT, could create an entirely new job market, which could branch out into unanticipated fields. She emphasized the importance of exploring these possibilities while simultaneously ensuring appropriate regulation and precautions are in place. Donelan asserted that the UK must not shy away from these technologies but rather embrace and implement them to create employment opportunities. Regarding the potential use of ChatGPT in the civil service, Donelan suggested the need to evaluate the advantages, as any organization would.
The International Baccalaureate (IB) recently declared that students can include quotes from ChatGPT’s generated content in their essays. However, the IB emphasized the importance of students clarifying when they are quoting ChatGPT’s responses. The IB offers a distinct academic qualification, differing from A-levels and Highers.
Analysts report that ChatGPT achieved a user base of 100 million just two months after its launch in February. In January, the platform received approximately 590 million visits from 100 million individual visitors, as per data analysis conducted by Similarweb.
UBS investment bank analysts remarked that the growth rate achieved by the consumer app was unparalleled.
Sensor Tower, an app analysis firm, reports that TikTok took around nine months to reach 100 million users after its worldwide launch, while Instagram took over two years for the same achievement.
