Noah is a long-standing member of Circle Square, our in-house IT support as well as our much relied upon provider of ‘IT in the Home’ services for members. Here, we share a little more about the man behind the screen and remind you of his patience and tenacity should you need assistance in solving IT headaches. 

Noah started dabbling in electronics at the age of 9 and funded his teenage years by repairing radios and TVs. He’s a Chartered Engineer and has spent most of his professional career designing, building and troubleshooting technology-based hardware and software products and systems. Now, semi-retired, Noah channels his IT experience into solving many of the problems that frustrate users, both private and business, of such equipment.

Noah enjoys problem-solving, getting a ‘kick’ out of exploring and learning to address new and as yet unknown challenges. He recognises that this may border on obsession, but he feels that, on balance, his clients benefit from it.  He finds satisfaction in the response of clients to seeing their problems resolved but also in watching clients become empowered to do the same for themselves. He hopes that working with you will restore a little more calm to your life.

Noah has four children and (so far) five grandchildren, the most distant of whom live in Perth, WA, from where he has been able to maintain remote access IT support during occasional visits (with the concomitant time zone difference!). He’s also a keen amateur photography and a founding member of Circle Square’s Photography Club.

We asked Noah to answer our quick-fire Q&A below:

1. What 3 words best describe you? Insightful, questioning, laid back
2. If you could offer your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be? Enjoy doing things well and don’t be concerned about apparent “success”
3. What do you consider to be your greatest achievement? Our children
4. Which person (dead or alive) would you most like to invite to dinner? Jony Ive
5. How has age strengthened your advantage? Better perspective on consciousness, life, truth and reality
6. What inspired you to join Circle Square? Noam

A perspective on ChatGPT and AI by Noah Freedman

As AI-powered tools like ChatGPT become more prevalent both at work and home, we approached Noah to share his expert insights on what AI is, what it does, and his predictions for its future.  Here is his perspective.

“Artificial Intelligence (AI) will transform the way we work and live.  Unlike a traditional computer, whose knowledge was put there by its programmers, AI systems “learn” through their own experience.   AI is not just a buzzword – it’s a game-changer.

ChatGPT is one of several competing AI systems, including Bard from Google, collectively known as Generative AI.  ChatGPT is designed to hold conversations with human users.  It has been trained both through supervised learning and by reinforcement from the conversations that it holds.  Its source material is immense – effectively the entirety of text accessible worldwide via the Internet, estimated at trillions of pages.

ChatGPT was launched in November 2022.  By January 2023 ChatGPT had reached over 100 million users, making it the fastest-growing consumer technology application to date.  While ChatGPT’s original function was to mimic a human in conversation, it is much more versatile than that.  It has demonstrated that, in the arts, it can compose music, poetry, and song lyrics.  In education, it can write student essays, answer test questions, and translate and summarize text.  Whilst in technology, it even has the ability to write and debug other computer programs.

ChatGPT can interpret questions and requests expressed in everyday language. However, ChatGPT is not a “person”, and it lacks any core of ethics or responsibility.  It has learned what its responses should look like, but it has little basis on which to decide if its responses are true, fair, or balanced.  Many instances have been reported of credible-looking answers that turn out to be entirely bogus, or of statements that are offensive or biased.

The world’s biggest companies are investing huge resources to improve ChatGPT and other Generative AI systems to address their perceived weaknesses.  New and better versions exist already, although most are not yet accessible to the general public.

What to do? Use it!
ChatGPT was not designed for use by an elite group of technologists.  It is entirely accessible to mere mortals like us.  If you haven’t done so already, do try it!

Register at https://chat.openai.com/auth/login.

These are the helpful “tips” that you will receive once signed in:

• “Ask away – ChatGPT can answer questions, help you learn, write code, brainstorm together, and much more.
• Don’t share sensitive info – Chat history may be reviewed or used to improve our services.
• Check your facts – While we have safeguards, ChatGPT may give you inaccurate information. It’s not intended to give advice.”

A real example . . .
I asked ChatGPT: “What are the implications of using ChatGPT?”
This was the answer in less than 10 seconds!

“Using ChatGPT, or similar AI models, comes with various implications:

1. Privacy Concerns: AI models like ChatGPT store the data used to train them. This can raise privacy concerns, as the data may include personal information from users. It’s important to have strict data handling and privacy policies in place.
2. Bias and Fairness: ChatGPT can inadvertently perpetuate biases present in its training data. Developers must work to reduce biases and ensure fairness in the model’s responses.
3. Misinformation: ChatGPT can generate false or misleading information. It’s important to validate the information generated and not rely solely on the model for critical decisions.
4. Security Risks: There’s a risk of malicious use. AI like ChatGPT can be used to automate malicious activities, such as generating convincing phishing emails or impersonating individuals.
5. Dependency: Overreliance on AI like ChatGPT can lead to a decline in critical thinking and problem-solving skills. It may also discourage seeking human expertise.
6. Job Displacement: Automation of tasks that were previously done by humans may lead to job displacement, especially in customer service and content generation roles.

What will be the Impact?
The impact of Chat GPT is hard to predict, although many are willing to speculate – about both the threats and the opportunities that it promises.

The optimistic view
AI will prove to be a powerful tool for many people, both in work and in life, improving their capabilities and expertise, and providing a boost to the overall economy.  It will dramatically ease and improve communication between ordinary people and computer systems, in services such as voice response, customer support, information search, and translation.

The pessimistic one
Mechanisation transformed society from agricultural into industrial.   Automation and robotics have replaced or changed many manual jobs.  AI could have the equivalent impact on a broad range of intellectual, administrative, and creative jobs.  The ease with which credible-looking text (and subsequently images and video) can be generated could amplify the phenomenon of “fake news”, undermine public confidence in published information, and hamper the evaluation of written work submitted for assessment, particularly in education.

I have little doubt that ChatGPT will drive changes in our daily lives as significant as those which have resulted from mobile communications or from the Internet and the World Wide Web.”