Columnist goes head to head with artificial intelligence

I have had a fear of artificial intelligence ever since I saw the Yul Brynner movie Westworld as a kid in theaters.

Then, of course there was HAL the computer taking over the spaceship in 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Matrix, I, Robot and Ultron in one of the Avengers movies. It's always the same, whether you call it artificial intelligence, robots, androids, replicants, whatever, they always seem to take over and much like Frankenstein's monster, want to destroy their creator...um, meaning us.

But all of my cheekiness aside, I've been very skeptical of the latest "breakthrough" in artificial intelligence known as ChatGPT. (There is also an art version). For those who don't know what I'm talking about, ChatGPT is described as a "large language model that uses artificial intelligence to hold text conversations with users that can feel natural, as if you were asking someone questions."

It's now being used by many who don't have the inspiration, talent, patience or muse to write anything themselves. Students have turned in ChatGPT-written term papers, letter-writers have used it to send letters to the editor and so I decided to see just how this thing works.

My idea? I would write a column and then I would have ChatGPT write a similar column using my style of writing, to see if I could write better than a chat-bot. This is my John Henry moment. No steel hammer, just my computer keyboard and my wit.

Let me know how I did.

Torres: ChatGPT is another step toward mankind's demise

Is it harmless fun or the harbinger of techno doom?

ChatGPT: AI responds doing its best John A. Torres impersonation

ChatGPT says being polite to AI has its benefits.

Contact Torres at jtorres@floridatoday.com. You can follow him on Twitter @johnalbertorres or on Facebook at facebook.com/FTjohntorres.

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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Columnist challenges ChatGPT to see who writes better