OpenAI, the startup that launched the software at the end of 2022, noted on its website on Wednesday that ChatGPT was working “normally” again. (123RF)
ChatGPT, the hugely popular generative artificial intelligence (AI) interface that brought the technology to the forefront, went down for several hours on Tuesday, answering users' questions with meaningless sentences, a reminder that such systems are still in their infancy.
OpenAI, the startup that launched the software at the end of 2022, noted on its website on Wednesday that ChatGPT was working “normally” again.
On Tuesday afternoon — San Francisco time, where she resides — she announced an “investigation into reports of unexpected responses from ChatGPT.” A few minutes later, the Silicon Valley star confirmed that it had “identified the problem” and was “in the process of resolving it.”
Several users have uploaded screenshots showing erratic or incomprehensible responses from the generative AI model. This cutting-edge technology makes it possible to produce all types of content (text, sounds, videos), usually of amazing quality, based on a simple request in everyday language.
On a forum for developers using OpenAI tools, a user named “IYAnepo” noticed the “strange” behavior of ChatGPT.
“It generates words that are completely non-existent, deletes words and produces sequences of small keywords that are incomprehensible to me, among other anomalies,” he said. “You might think that I would have specified such instructions, but that is not the case. I have the impression that my GPT is haunted (…)”.
Another user, “scott.eskridge”, complained on the same forum that all of his conversations with the language model had “rapidly turned into nonsense over the past three hours.”
There is a copy of an extra copy of the interface's responses: “The purpose for the bit and the list is on the outsiders and the Internet on the phone and the person who works on it and currency. Next time you look at order, exchange, and truth, remember to give.
OpenAI did not provide further details about the nature of the incident, which reminds us that AI, even generative, has no awareness or understanding of what it is “saying.”
Gary Marcus, an artificial intelligence specialist, hopes the incident will be seen as a “wake-up call.”
“These systems have never been stable,” he wrote in his post on Tuesday. “No one has ever been able to develop security assurances around these systems.” He added: “The need is for entirely different technologies that are less ambiguous, more explainable, and easier to maintain.” And being correct – and therefore easier to implement – remains crucial.”
