- Published
- 2023-02-12
- Venue
- Library Hi Tech News, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 26-29
- Cited by
- 1,350
- Open access
- Yes, green
- DOI
- 10.1108/lhtn-01-2023-0009
Abstract
Note: This paper was written and published in January 2023, within weeks of ChatGPT's public release, making it among the earliest peer-reviewed scholarly discussions of ChatGPT's implications for academia and libraries. It is best understood as a contemporaneous assessment of an emerging technology at a pivotal moment — capturing initial perceptions, possibilities, and concerns that have since been extensively debated and studied. The paper's interview with ChatGPT itself represents one of the earliest documented scholarly interactions with the tool in an academic context. For researchers studying the history of AI adoption in higher education and libraries, this paper offers a primary source perspective from the field's earliest engagement with generative AI. This paper provides an overview of key definitions related to ChatGPT, a public tool developed by OpenAI, and its underlying technology, GPT. The paper discusses the history and technology of GPT, including its generative pre-trained transformer model, its ability to perform a wide range of language-based tasks, and how ChatGPT utilizes this technology to function as a sophisticated chatbot. Additionally, the paper includes an interview with ChatGPT on its potential impact on academia and libraries. The interview discusses the benefits of ChatGPT such as improving search and discovery, reference and information services, cataloging and metadata generation, and content creation, as well as the ethical considerations that need to be taken into account, such as privacy and bias. The paper also explores the possibility of using ChatGPT for writing scholarly papers.