The narrative surrounding what generative pre-trained transformer (GPT) AI technology can do took hold rapidly.
Within only a year or so it has quickly felt like 80% of many of the writing tasks that much of life requires can be done in 20% of the time by GPT.
Everyone is trying it, which is great.
What GPT technology can do is genuinely game changing.
While what GPT technology can do is incredible, what GPT technology can’t do is almost as exciting.
And therein lies unlimited potential.
Let’s look at two things GPT technology can’t do.
AI Can’t Tell Your Story For You
AI can’t tell your personal story.
It can’t tell your personal story for the simple reason that it doesn’t know it.
GPT artificial intelligence technology requires pre-training. It’s what the “PT” stands for in “GPT”.
That’s why the tech does such a good job of generating text that is similar to text that has been created before.
Countless teachers have taught Year 8 students units on persuasive speech writing. All the work that has been done before means GPT tech will do a pretty good job of generating a Year 8 Persuasive Speaking Unit. It has so many examples available for pre-training that it can learn from.
Ditto a marathon training plan, a list of tasks for your cleaner or a full length spy novel with plot twists, drama and an unexpected ending.
The AI knows how to do these things because it has seen all of these things so many times before.
The AI can do it because it learns from all the examples it sees from people who have done it previously.
What the technology hasn’t seen is the unique events of your life.
Because it hasn’t seen the details of your life it can’t tell your story.
No matter how many stories the AI learning is given of people who share similar demographic features to yours, the AI can’t possibly know the minute details of your thoughts, feelings and experiences.
Your story is not purely an amalgamation of all the other stories of people who appear on the surface to be a lot like you.
Your story is so much more than GPT AI can possibly know.
And herein lies the power.
In a world becoming increasingly familiar with consuming content that is a generated version of what GPT AI has seen before, bringing distinctive experiences and unique perspectives will become increasingly essential.
There is so much more to be told than what the GPT AI can know.
Telling your story is something AI can’t do for you.
AI Can’t Take Action For You
Just like AI can’t know or tell your personal story, it can’t take action for you.
GPT technology is pretty good at telling us what we could or should do and how to do it.
It can help with decision making, goal setting, planning and instructions.
It can generate a business plan, a marketing plan, a fitness plan. Whatever plan you think you need.
And it can give you a breakdown of the steps to achieve it.
So much of what can be done in life has been documented extensively, so it isn’t much of a surprise that the necessary pre-training is available for GPT AI to learn from.
It might feel as if GPT technology can give you everything you need for success but what the GPT AI can’t do is take the necessary action to achieve something.
It can’t lift the weights, learn the instrument, start the business or make the effort required to become an expert at something.
It can tell you how to do it, but it can’t do it for you.
It can lead you to the water, but it can’t make you drink.
In a world where text can be generated and so much can be automated, it will be the action you take that will set you apart.
This is something AI can’t do for you.
Do the Things that AI Cannot Do
As GPT AI becomes ubiquitous, the technology is normalising the prevalence of text that is generated based on text that has been generated before.
It starts to feel like nothing is new.
In a world where nothing seems new, it is the things that AI can’t do for you that will make you unique.
Nothing is new except the story you tell and the action you take.
These are the things that AI can’t do for you.
Go and do these things.
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