“AI passes U.S. medical licensing exam.” “ChatGPT passes law school exams despite ‘mediocre’ performance.” “Would ChatGPT get a Wharton MBA?”
Headlines such as these have recently touted (and often exaggerated) the successes of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence tool capable of writing sophisticated text responses to human prompts. These successes follow a long tradition of comparing an AI’s ability to that of human experts, such as Deep Blue’s chess victory over Gary Kasparov in 1997, IBM Watson’s “Jeopardy!” victory over Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in 2011, and AlphaGo’s victory in the game Go over Lee Sedol in 2016.
The implied subtext of these recent headlines is more alarmist: AI is coming for your job. It’s as smart as your doctor, your lawyer and that consultant you hired. It heralds an imminent, pervasive disruption to our lives.