AI Capabilities

AI capabilities involve the recognition of patterns in a set of data, which is processed by algorithms. These patterns can then be used to make predictions or create content. Many of us have interacted with AI through the use of Siri, Alexa, and recommendations from Netflix and other services (Calhoun, 2023). Our behavior online (and the data we provide through clicks and views) allows certain sites and applications to customize our experience, including the ads we see. A great deal of attention is being paid to generative AI, such as ChatGPT and similar tools. It uses conversational prompts (provided by users) to generate text-based information. It is important to note that ChatGPT and other Large Language Models (LLMs) do not engage in any actual “thinking.”  Rather, they are trained on large databases of information and have the ability to recognize patterns and to predict text (Shankland, 2023).

Likewise, LLMs are not capable of intent.  Human communication relies upon our ability to interpret language as inherently conveying meaning and intent. But generative AI communication does not include intent on the part of the language model. As tools built on LLMs become increasingly fluent in using language to communicate, it becomes more difficult for human users of AI to remain aware that the interlocutor at the other end is just a machine that has been trained to predict the most likely words to use, and that any intent we assign to those communications is solely our own (Bender et al., 2021).