“Stories, as we go forward, are still going to be the most important way we communicate. But, as we’ve gone through time, the way we tell those stories has evolved.” — Steven Spielberg
Life is about stories, and humans have been narrating them since time immemorial. From the caveman drawing hunting scenes on the walls to the medieval glass-stained windows telling biblical narratives of salvation, we have told our stories with our available technologies.
Revolutions have followed new technologies, like when the printing press helped spread the reformation in Europe. We are now at the edge of such a revolution. There will be winners and losers. The world will be different.
I still remember using a typewriter for my high school projects and a non-WYSIWYG WordPerfect editor for my master thesis.
Just like the discovery of a new tint allowed the caveman to tell better stories, ChatGPT is enabling us to improve our storytelling.
I do not adhere to the idea that the most immediate danger is that AI will just become sentient on its own. I believe that way before that what will happen is that some folks will use AI models to better themselves.
The student that is using ChatGPT to prepare the final essay for her class is one example. The job seeker using an AI to prepare cover letters is another. Heck, even the lonely dude trying to pick up a date over Tinder using an AI tool will have advantages over the ones that do not use it.
There are uses that give an unfair advantage, like creating an essay.
But if you use it to help your support team translate all their product knowledge base articles to almost every language on earth and provide a conversational interface into it, you will be advancing your team and helping your customers.
The high school student that suddenly has an always available, incredibly patient online tutor helping her understand the complex topics for her chemistry exam will learn better and probably have better grades.
Creating web pages and presentations using just a few prompts will give an advantage to anyone who knows how to interact with the AI system. A web page is, after all, our modern way of telling stories.
Digital, interactive, attention seeking, and overall, just a collection of words and images formatted using HTML.
Just like the discovery of iron allowed many cultures to own better tools and weapons that brought down the Bronze Age civilizations, LLMs will provide incredible advantages to those who use them wisely.
You can use it as a sounding board to bounce ideas off. It already answers with the bravado of a management consultant. And the width of know-how of its models might surprise you with novel concepts.
Storytelling just got more powerful. ChatGPT can write in many languages, also obscure ones. It can write concepts in different styles to help you choose the one that fits the message you’re trying to convey. It can evaluate styles and summarize texts for you.
Use it to come up with better titles for your stories, to get prompts to create digital art for them, or even to find the best quote to accompany them.
So, get your account set. A paid one ensures you have access always, and that you can use the most advanced model. Just as those tribes of cavemen who could paint had an advantage in transmitting their stories, anyone using this new tool wisely will be ahead.
And if you have a business case in mind, get your API key and start testing the waters. Don’t go the way the dinosaurs. Get ready to get better at telling stories. And have fun while doing it.