Generative AI: How will the new era of machine learning affect you?

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ChatGPT, a query-answering and text-generating system released at the end of November, has burst into the public consciousness in a way seldom seen outside the realm of science fiction. 

If you type a query into ChatGPT, it will respond with a short paragraph laying out the answer and some context. Ask it who won the 2020 US presidential election, for example, and it lays out the results and tells you when Mr Joe Biden was inaugurated.

Foremost is the reliability problem. The computers may come up with believable-sounding answers, but it’s impossible to completely trust anything they say. They make their best guess based on probabilistic assumptions informed by studying mountains of data, with no real understanding of what they produce.

t might teach the AI how to “generate deceptive but believable things that actually fool humans,” he says. “The fact that truth is so slippery, and humans are not terribly good at it, is potentially concerning.”

For anyone deliberately trying to mislead, the machines could become misinformation factories, capable of producing large volumes of content to flood social media and other channels. Trained on the right examples, they might also imitate the writing style or spoken voice of particular people. “It’s going to be extremely easy, cheap and broad-based to create fake content,

jobs that involve a substantial element of design or writing are at risk.

Presented with songs written by ChatGPT to sound like his own work, singer and songwriter Nick Cave was aghast. “Songs arise out of suffering, by which I mean they are predicated upon the complex, internal human struggle of creation and, well, as far as I know, algorithms don’t feel,” he wrote online. “Data doesn’t suffer.”

Qns: 

1. To what extent is artificial intelligence replacing the role of humans? (Cam. 2019)

2. How far is science fiction becoming fact? (Cam. 2017)

Get children to assign ChatGPT homework and critique its response

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Interesting BANG: 

“Goodbye, homework,” tweeted Mr Elon Musk after the launch of ChatGPT, a bot that writes plausible answers and even rhyming poetry.

Rote learning still has its place, in times tables and languages, for example. But while I adored learning anthologies of poetry, my ability to recite these verses says nothing about whether I am a critical thinker.

LQ – learnability quotient – as the new IQ. LQ is essentially a measure of adaptability, of our desire and ability to update our skills throughout life.

Fans of generative AI believe it can complement human beings, not substitute for us. To make that true, we must keep up.

Singapore Government’s list of desired outcomes at primary and secondary level includes “moral integrity”, “cooperation” and “lively curiosity” – which robots do not have

Exams are still our best way to gauge what children have learnt. But what we test needs to change, drastically. If it prompts a wholesale rethink, that in itself is a powerful legacy for ChatGPT. 

Qns: 

1. To what extent has technology had a negative impact on the skill levels of people? (Cam. 2010)

2. Should examinations be abolished?

3. Do electronic devices, such as tablets or smart phones, help or hinder students in their studies? (Cam. 'O' lvl 2015)

How ChatGPT robs students of motivation to write and think for themselves

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whether AI, more generally, threatens student writing skills, the value of writing as a process, and the importance of seeing writing as a vehicle for thinking.

At some point, if you depend on a predictive text (program), you’re going to lose your spelling abilities.” 

AI tools can also affect a person’s writing voice. One person in my survey said that with predictive texting, “I don’t feel I wrote it”.

Crafting written work should be a journey, not just a destination.

Qn: To what extent has technology had a negative impact on the skill levels of people? (Cam. 2010)

Posting videos of children crying and people having meltdowns a poor idea

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In 2020, Ms Amanda Morgan found photos of her then six-month-old daughter taken from her Facebook and Instagram pages and shared on websites featuring paedophile content. Lurking on the Internet are all kinds of danger – voyeurs, predators and other unsavoury characters.

With social media, we live a large part of our lives in a public space. We can easily sleepwalk into oversharing, without realising the content we share can compromise the privacy of others, beyond our immediate family circle.

social media provides people with “a shroud of anonymity, lowering the barrier to initiate or participate in public shaming”, and “magnifies the reach of such public-shaming acts to a wider audience”.

When dealing with stress, pain and heartbreak, time is needed for wounds to heal. Turning the experience into social media fodder can interrupt this crucial healing process.

Our camera “eats” before us as we snap photos of our lunch before digging into it, and our holidays are spent chasing Instagrammable moments.

A global study by international think-tank DQ Institute in 2018 showed that 85 per cent of Singapore children aged eight to 12 are active on social media.

For qns on social media and privacy

Qn: To what extent has social media devalued true friendship in your society? (Cam. 2021)

You are pointing your camera the wrong way

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“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera,”...Today we understand something essential about the grim existence of the poor nearly a hundred years ago in part because Lange, a successful portrait photographer, turned her lens away from wealth and used it to capture suffering. Even for the people of her time, her work was revelatory, urging downcast eyes to look up and out, to see – and truly register – the struggling.

The greatest danger in flipping the camera towards ourselves is not miscalculated risk or the loss of self-esteem. The greatest danger is what happens when we make ourselves the centre of the photograph, the centre of the world itself. 

it would help if we stopped looking at our own faces and turned instead to documenting the vanishing natural world in all its manifestations. Perhaps that change would change us in more essential ways, too. Would we finally learn to love the magnificent planet we were born to inhabit? Would we fight to save it?

The ordinary world would take our breath away if only we paused our podcasts, took our earbuds out, and listened to the wind in the pines. If only we looked up from our screens. We need only to point our cameras out and let them teach us to see.

Qn: ‘The arts are nothing more than a luxury.’ How far is this true of your society? (Cam. 2021)

Indonesia summons Sweden envoy over Quran burning

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Mr Paludan, who has already been convicted of racist abuse, provoked rioting in Sweden last year when he went on a tour of the country during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and publicly burned copies of the Quran.

Qns: 

1. Does religion still have a role in the modern world? (Cam. 2022)

2. ‘In a free society, there should be no restrictions on freedom of speech.’ Discuss. (Cam. 2020)

Deepening social bonds through arts, culture important in tackling future challenges: Edwin Tong

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Singaporeans must engage in the arts, culture and heritage to foster understanding and empathy across generations and build inclusive shared experiences with fellow citizens, adding that the arts and culture offer opportunities to develop strong friendships and mutual trust.

traditions such as Chinese New Year reunion meals and boisterous lohei sessions (tossing of raw fish salad) are part of Singapore’s intangible cultural heritage and represent values important to Singaporeans. “Our values make our society resilient in difficult times

SCCC announced that it plans to launch an online repository of curated content from mid-2024, to serve as a go-to source of information for those who want to learn about Chinese culture.

Qns:

1. ‘The arts are nothing more than a luxury.’ How far is this true of your society? (Cam. 2021)

2. How important is it for people in your society to retain a sense of tradition? (Cam. 2010)

From hongbao to joss burning, what price tradition?

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(This is a useful read; drop me a note if u wish to read it but can't access the above link)

Qn: How important is it for people in your society to retain a sense of tradition? (Cam. 2010)

NUS develops haptic gloves that convey touch and grip for more lifelike virtual simulations

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In training, the sense of touch is crucial for medical students as they need to learn how to use surgical tools or use their hands to feel for health issues, like tumours or liver problems, said Professor Lim. “But it can be hard to find patients (with these health issues) and get them to come in to help with training,” Prof Lim said. “Now, educators can provide a similar experience for trainees using our haptic gloves to experience such scenarios.”

Qn: To what extent has technology had a negative impact on the skill levels of people? (Cam. 2010)

Nobel laureate urges scientists to leverage on people’s trust in them to tackle misinformation

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In Singapore, there have been instances of people circulating fake news online about Covid-19 vaccines. For example, in 2021, Singaporean Cheah Kit Sun published a blog post entitled Do Not Participate In A Society That Rejects You on various platforms. The post, which falsely exaggerated the dangers of the vaccines, was issued correction directions under the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (Pofma). Consequently, it had to carry correction notices specified by the Pofma Office.

“There is freedom of speech in democracies, but freedom of speech stops when you cause damage to the public,”

example of former doctor Andrew Wakefield, who had published a now widely discredited article linking the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine to autism, Prof Ciechanover said that when preventable deaths occurred because of falsehoods circulated by physicians and scientists, it was “equal to murder”.

For qns on freedom of speech, social media and science....

Qn: ‘In a free society, there should be no restrictions on freedom of speech.’ Discuss. (Cam. 2020)

Luxury riverboat cruise on the Ganga raises environmental fears

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Qn: In your society, how well are the demands of the economy and the environment balanced? (Cam. 2015)

New Delhi blocks BBC documentary on PM Modi from airing in India

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Relate to Singapore's banning of the film "To Singapore, With Love"....

Qn: ‘In a free society, there should be no restrictions on freedom of speech.’ Discuss. (Cam. 2020)

Six journalists detained over footage that shows South Sudan president seemingly wetting himself

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For qns on freedom of speech.....

Pakistan strengthens laws against blasphemy

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For qns on freedom of speech and religion....

Girls in India forced into prostitution after being made to ‘marry’ deity

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Qn: Does religion still have a role in the modern world? (Cam. 2022)

Aquaman star Jason Momoa warns Sundance Film Festival of deep-sea mining peril

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For qns on the environment and celebrity influence.....

Don’t ban ChatGPT in schools, but teach with it

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One high school teacher told me that he used ChatGPT to evaluate a few of his students’ papers, and that the app had provided more detailed and useful feedback on them than he would have, in a tiny fraction of the time. “Am I even necessary now?” he asked me, only half-joking.

There are legitimate questions about the ethics of AI-generated writing, and concerns about whether the answers ChatGPT gives are accurate. (Often, they are not.) 

Even ChatGPT’s flaws – such as the fact that its answers to factual questions are often wrong – can become fodder for a critical-thinking exercise.

instead of sharpening their skills by writing essays about The Sun Also Rises or straining to factor a trigonometric expression, today’s students might simply ask an AI chatbot to do it for them.

the work students turn in should reflect cogitation happening inside their brains, rather than in the latent space of a machine learning model hosted on a distant supercomputer.

Tools like ChatGPT are not going anywhere; they are only going to improve, and barring some major regulatory intervention, this particular form of machine intelligence is now a fixture of our society.

Qns: 

1. To what extent is artificial intelligence replacing the role of humans? (Cam. 2019)

2. To what extent has technology had a negative impact on the skill levels of people? (Cam. 2010)

3. Do electronic devices, such as tablets or smart phones, help or hinder students in their studies? (Cam. 'O' lvl 2015)

Resolved to earn more money in 2023? Richer doesn’t mean happier

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Having access to material comforts and major conveniences can certainly make life more manageable and enjoyable.

Singapore, with the sixth-highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in 2022 globally....it was ranked 27th happiest among 146 societies and the second-happiest Asian society in 2022 after Taiwan.

But beyond a certain income threshold, once there are no more material deprivations to soothe, having more money doesn’t automatically translate into greater life satisfaction.

The Kingdom of Bhutan, sometimes referred to as the happiest place in the world because of its unconventional measure of Gross National Happiness, is also among the poorest in the world.

Perhaps these exemplary cases of happiness amid relative deprivation are set in contexts where the great majority in society are also equally deprived, and thus, there is less inclination to keep up with the Joneses..... social comparison drives envy and generates unhappiness. In contexts where there are fewer or no opportunities to compare themselves with others who are financially better off, people feel grateful for their skills and take pride in their accomplishments.

why some high-income societies with visible levels of inequality breed envy and unhappiness....happiness decreased with a higher Gini coefficient.

The hedonic treadmill suggests running endlessly after that rainbow could take the wind out of us. This concept suggests that the more we acquire, the more we desire, leading to an endless cycle of striving and longing.

A 2022 survey on salary and bonus expectations by human resources solutions agency Randstad found that over 40 per cent of workers in Singapore would rather continue working remotely than receive a bigger bonus. 

Qns:

1. How far is the pursuit of happiness the most important human goal? (Cam. 2021)

 2. 'Salary is everything when choosing a career today.' Do you agree? (CJC Promos 2022)

Return of Benin Bronzes to Nigeria marks first step in Germany’s restitution of looted artefacts

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Qn: ‘Works of art which have been removed from their country of origin should be returned.’ Discuss. (Cam. 2018)

Teachers v ChatGPT: Schools face new challenge in fight against plagiarism

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Teachers in Singapore say they will likely have to move from assignments requiring regurgitation to those that require greater critical thinking, to stay ahead in the fight against plagiarism. This comes on the back of the rise of ChatGPT, an intelligent chatbot that is able to spin essays and solve mathematical equations in seconds.

The bot made headlines in December when a student from a South Carolina university was allegedly caught by his professor for using ChatGPT to write a 500-word essay on philosopher David Hume and the paradox of horror.

Checks by The Straits Times show that ChatGPT is able to tackle A-level general paper questions, write and spot errors in blocks of code, and solve maths questions taken from examination papers

instead of an assignment requiring arguments for and against capital punishment, we could ask our students to apply the arguments in a particular case. AI can’t do something that original yet,” he said. “That creativity is what will make them valuable contributors after graduation in a world saturated with AI.”

ChatGPT might even fare better than students in regurgitating content, as its use of grammar is consistently sound.

For qns on AI, technology and education.

Qn: Do electronic devices, such as tablets or smart phones, help or hinder students in their studies? (Cam. 'O' level 2015)

China accuses US of distorting facts about aircraft clash

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Sometimes, conflicting reports in the media makes it difficult for the truth to emerge....and in this case, it is not the media which is lying, but one of the two parties concerned in the news....Actually, it may not even be lying per se, but a matter of how each party views the issue from their own lens. In short, what the truth is can be quite complicated to unpack and define...

The US military said...a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter jet had come within 3m of a US Air Force RC-135 aircraft on Dec 21....But China’s Southern Theatre Command, said in a statement late on Saturday that the United States had misled the public about the incident....

Qn: Can the media ever be relied upon to convey the truth? (Cam. 2003)

Removal of Mid-Year Exams in Singapore

Note the opposing views (i.e. rebuttal) in this pair of links

1) Voices of Youth: Survey students to see if removal of mid-year exams reduces stress

The removal of mid-year exams also results in many students cramming a whole year’s worth of work into the one or two months preceding the end-of-year exams, rather than spreading out the workload across the year as they would when there are mid-year exams. That does not reduce the academic stress students experience; it only delays it. It could even exacerbate the problem.

2) Forum: Aim of removing mid-year exams is to strengthen students’ intrinsic motivation to learn

The removal of mid-year examinations is not intended to reduce stress per se, as the causes of stress are multi-faceted. It is aimed at freeing up time to pace out learning and support the use of more varied learning activities.

Why you should not turn your hobby into work

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Consider this argument (in title above) as a rebuttal to the oft-cited point that "Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a single day in your life' (allegedly by Confucius or Mark Twain)

See also how this guy put it HERE:  “I enjoy playing the piano and also my other hobbies such as playing the guitar, skateboarding and BMX riding, but for me, these activities are a way to escape and de-stress, so I would rather not turn it into a career.”

A hobby, by definition, is supposed to be something you pursue outside of your job for relaxation.

Of course, you can have hobbies that are mentally or physically challenging, such as chess or hiking. However, a hobby is no longer a hobby once you add a price tag and start to sell your wares to consumers. That is a job. 

As this became my full-time career, the work, despite being aligned with my areas of interest and skill, lost the fun factor that motivated me in the beginning.

Qn: 'Salary is everything when choosing a career today.' Do you agree? (CJC Promos 2022)