Can ChatGPT cover a live event better than a Vail Daily reporter? Decide for yourself – Vail Daily
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jlaconte@vaildaily.com
The Vail Symposium on Wednesday played host to one of the most exciting forms of modern conflict — man versus machine — in an interactive event focused on exploring the power of ChatGPT, the most popular form of emerging AI technology.
Man versus machine folklore dates back to the Industrial Revolution, with famous examples like Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” novel, or the legend of railroad worker John Henry facing off against a steam-powered drill, but more contemporary, real-life examples include Deep Blue, the computer that defeated chess champion Garry Kasparov in 1997, or the Watson computer system, which defeated Jeopardy champions Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings in 2011.
The Vail Symposium’s event featured acclaimed speaker Clay Jenkinson, who delivered a lecture on AI while a reporter from the Vail Daily (myself), alongside a ChatGPT expert (Kyle Cureau), covered the lecture, producing stories about it live on the spot. The audience was then treated to live readings of those stories, and in a hilarious twist, the ChatGPT story was read to the audience in a mimicked version of Jenkinson’s voice, which an AI platform was able to replicate based on several samples it had received of Jenkinson’s podcast, “Listening to America.”
Below are the stories that ChatGPT and the Vail Daily produced for the audience.
By John LaConte
Renowned speaker Clay Jenkinson has spent a lifetime acquiring genuine intelligence on a variety of issues. On Wednesday, however, the Oxford University Rhodes Scholar was interested in a different form of intelligence — that of the artificial variety.
Jenkinson, in speaking to a crowd of 40 at a Vail Symposium event in Vail, asked the question “What is a writer’s (and reader’s) role in a ChatGPT world?”
The answer Jenkinson landed on was not an encouraging one for higher education.
“There’s no good news here, there is only bad news for higher ed,” Jenkinson said.
Using Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” as an example, Jenkinson asked Chat GPT “Why does Hamlet delay?” The essay he received, in near-instantaneous turnaround, would receive a B+ in his class on Hamlet, he said.
“Now a student can produce this plausible B-grade essay anywhere in America without reading Hamlet,” Jenkinson said.
But there were giveaways that the essay had been AI created, Jenkinson said.
“The way I would detect it is there is no typos,” he said to a room full of laughs.
Jenkinson described a world where professors assign essays, and students produce papers using AI, as a “post-literate” era.
“Now that these tools exist, they’re changing everything,” he said.
Jenkinson also described the current era as a post-truth era in which thought, public opinion, and even elections can be manipulated using AI. Using the defeat of Slovakian politician Michal Šimečka as an example, Jenkinson described how AI contributed to his defeat.
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“(Šimečka) lost to a far-right candidate because they had created fake audio of him saying he rigged the election,” Jenkinson said. “He also made some nasty remarks about beer, and that really upset the electorate!”
Jenkinson’s style as a speaker is witty and humorous, playing off audience reactions in crafting his words. He’s known to portray a variety of characters from history in his lectures, bringing to life characters like Thomas Jefferson and Theodore Roosevelt. At a Vail Symposium event in August, he portrayed Robert Oppenheimer, complete with pipe and fedora.
But could Jenkinson himself, and speakers like him, one day lose their live engagements to holograms who look and sound like him? It’s a suggestion he appears to both fear and embrace.
“I offered to sell my voice to the Vail Symposium for a Ford F-150 and they declined,” he said.
Based on inputs from Kyle Cureau of Crone.ai
In a world increasingly driven by technology’s relentless march, Clay Jenkinson’s recent symposium lecture served as a poignant reminder of the challenges and opportunities that lie at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and the humanities. The lecture, a part of an interactive program featuring a real-time comparison between a human journalist and AI-generated content, offered an unexpected yet profound insight into the future of education, literature, and truth itself.
Jenkinson, a renowned humanities scholar, started his lecture with a simple yet evocative symbol of technological evolution: a 9-pound rotary phone from his childhood. This anecdote not only set the stage for a journey through technological advancement but also underscored the rapid pace at which our world has transformed. From a device that was once tethered to a wall, serving a single purpose, to the multifaceted smartphones of today, Jenkinson illustrated how technology has expanded our capabilities beyond what was once imaginable.
The heart of Jenkinson’s lecture delved into the implications of AI on the humanities and higher education, drawing parallels to the Gutenberg revolution in its potential to redefine our engagement with knowledge and creativity. The comparison between the past and present, illustrated through the evolution from rotary phones to smartphones and the shift from manual car manufacturing to automated processes, set the stage for a deeper exploration of AI’s impact.
However, the most unexpected insight came not from the technological feats AI can achieve but from the ethical and philosophical questions it raises. Jenkinson’s recounting of deepfake technologies and their real-world consequences, such as the fabricated audio that led to a Slovakian politician’s electoral defeat, painted a stark picture of a “post-truth” era. This era, where AI-generated content — from fake nudes of celebrities to counterfeit Drake songs — can blur the lines between reality and fabrication, demands a reevaluation of our relationship with truth and authenticity.
The lecture’s focus then shifted to higher education, posing a critical question: What happens when AI can synthesize knowledge and creativity in ways that challenge the very need for traditional educational structures? Jenkinson’s example of a student tasked with writing an essay on “Why did Hamlet delay?” illustrated how AI, through tools like ChatGPT, can produce work that competes with, or even surpasses, human effort without the foundational experience of engaging with the material. This scenario not only highlights AI’s potential to disrupt educational norms but also raises concerns about the depth and authenticity of learning in a world where AI can provide shortcuts.
Jenkinson’s closing challenge, to write a classical English sonnet, encapsulated the lecture’s overarching theme: the need for a critical reevaluation of our relationship with technology, literature, and education. The comparison of AI-generated content to human creativity underscored a crucial point: while AI can mimic the forms of creativity, the depth, intentionality, and personal engagement that define true artistic and intellectual endeavor remain distinctly human.
As we stand on the cusp of what Jenkinson terms a new Gutenberg revolution, the lecture serves as a clarion call to navigate the burgeoning relationship between AI and the humanities with caution, curiosity, and critical engagement. It’s a reminder that, in this rapidly evolving landscape, our greatest challenge is not merely to adapt but to do so in a way that preserves the integrity, depth, and humanity of our cultural and intellectual pursuits.
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