a linguist’s response to the recent release of chatgpt

ChatGPT was released to the public by OpenAI on the 30th of November 2022, and it quickly went viral around the world. Every day, we see articles about what ChatGPT can and can’t do, and conspiracies about what its future impact might be. What was once a question of AI experts is now a question for everyone. This essay was written as a response to this new AI wave, which is affecting most of the globe (although notably ChatGPT is not available in China, Hong Kong, Russia, North Korea, Venezuela, and Belarus). AI has become so intelligent that it is challenging us to rethink the meaning of human activity. As a result, the very notion of creativity is in crisis, and the gates are opening to an age of higher productivity than ever.

This essay is a response to the AI wave, with a particular focus on ChatGPT. As a linguist, I wish to put forward some of the limitations of AI at this current moment, namely a lack of linguistic and pragmatic diversity. AI operates in English on a global scale, and while it might be simple for it to be translated into other European languages, AI does not tend to function well in non-European languages. What is more, AI is not yet able to replicate the delicate and complex pragmatic meanings that humans portray through their language use instinctively. As such, AI still has its limitations, so we still have some time to pause and come up with a conscious response to it. We do not have long, however; we are feeding AI big data every day, and so its language capabilities are improving with every passing moment. Thus, we need to seize the moment, and take this time to consider how we want AI to fit into our daily life, rather than simply letting it take over without a second thought. We must carefully map out the ecology between humans and AI, so that we may walk alongside each other without AI taking over. In this way, AI will have a positive influence on the human experience.

Chapter 1. Why Write This Now?

This essay is written by a linguist in response to the unprecedented advancement of AI. AI capabilities have crept up on us, becoming far more advanced than we thought possible in such a short space of time. The motivation for writing this essay started with the release of ChatGPT on 30th November 2022. AI has been with us for many years, and there has been much debate about its possibilities and implications. Is AI a helper, friend, or an enemy? We have all seen science fiction films that express fears that AI will become our enemy. No one expected AI to be so close to us and so accessible as early as 2022. I feel that we are unprepared for this advancement. Since ChatGPT was released, over 100 articles covering ChatGPT have been published up until this week (23rd January 2023). We are hearing news about the impact of ChatGPT in regard to ethics, education, investment, and more.

As an educator, ChatGPT has made me rethink education in general. What do we need to teach now, if anything? The basis of modern education developed at the time of the industrial revolution for the purpose of passing on general skills and knowledge. Since search engines like Google have become accessible all over the world, we have gotten used to having vast knowledge at our fingertips. I have started to question what we are passing onto the next generation. I have two daughters; one is 10 and she loathes learning spelling. Her argument is that she can ask Siri and use autocorrect when writing, so why does she need to learn spelling? She is not of the pen and paper generation, so I feel I cannot tell her spelling is an important life skill. Writing will mostly be conducted via typing in her lifetime. When I give my students an essay to write, how can I tell that they know the content if they are helped by AI? Or does it matter if they do not have every date, place, and name memorised? After all, it is all a few clicks away on the internet anyway. Some institutions have banned the use of ChatGPT in studies, but how can it be enforced?i It is not in human nature to ignore the advancements that we have made. AI has come this far, and it will only develop further at a faster speed than ever. In 2020, we experienced a global pandemic without any preparation; I can see worrying parallels with AI two years later. ChatGPT appeared overnight and we are not equipped to deal with it.

In this essay, I will look at the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI. On the one hand, AI can diagnose cancer in its early stages more accurately than any human. It can also release us from the torment of mundane work. Hence, I am not denying the blessing of AI. On the other hand, we must be conscientious. AI brings problems with it that we never imagined, such as false information, deep fakes, and cyber bullying. The technological advancement is great, and so the side effects are great too. We are suddenly faced with the question, ‘how do we define human?’ Suppose I had an AI secretary who could answer my emails for me. If the AI secretary made a mistake, would that be my fault or not? We are not yet prepared to answer these questions.

Expanding Reach

AI programmes used to be accessible to only AI specialists, but these once exclusive circles are sharing the fruits of their work. Now that we suddenly have all this knowledge at our fingertips, we do not know what to do with it; it is almost like giving a 3-yearold a gun – you can’t blame the child for what might happen, rather it is the adult’s fault for providing something they don’t understand. In this essay, I want to bring some perspective on how we should deal with AI. As I will unfold, even if ChatGPT can pass a Wharton MBA exam, the technology still has flaws.ii As a linguist, I can see that AI lacks the ability to incorporate the pragmatic probabilities of human languages and it also lacks linguistic diversity. It is these two areas that stop AI from truly communicating like a human. With data being collected 24 hours a day, it is only a matter of time before AI’s deep learning allows it these capabilities. We don’t have long, but it is just enough time to have important conversations and prepare ourselves. We must understand the blessings and curses of AI advancements to find the right ecology for humans and digital humans in online (metaverse) and offline life. We will never get rid of AI, so it is important to find a balance to live alongside it, with us as agents and AI as helpers. Not only computer scientists, but also the whole of society needs to engage with this issue urgently. Nobody is exempt. My children have not yet been exposed to ChatGPT and what it can do. As ChatGPT self-professedly doesn’t have moral values, I am glad that they haven’t. If children ask questions they shouldn’t and get the wrong answers, AI will not be able to take responsibility and face the consequences.

Regional Diversity

Despite the noise about ChatGPT in Western and English language media, when I look at Chinese and Korean media, I see very little mention of it. This is because China and Korea already have their own AI that is not known on a global level. As such, it is important to remember that there is regional discrepancy. This discrepancy will only continue to grow if AI developers ignore the issue that a lack of linguistic diversity poses for their models. Looking at one big data source that searches a Korean data set for a term and the words that it is commonly accompanied by, I have found very little mention of ChatGPT.iii The most frequent word accompanying ‘ChatGPT’ is ‘dominance’, and the second most related word is ‘worrying’. In comparison, when I search ‘AI’, there are a lot of related terms. AI’s related adjectives are much more positive, including ‘efficient’, ‘possible’, and ‘creative’. There are also a variety of nouns, such as ‘AI rice cooker’ and ‘AI laundry’. As such, it is important to remember that while ChatGPT is a big and noisy phenomenon in the West, there are also AI advancements taking place on a more regional scale all around the world. ChatGPT is most effective in English, and so it is not well suited to becoming a local platform in all countries. Other regions will be developing their own AI technology too.

About This Book

This is an experimental essay featuring dialogue between myself and ChatGPT. ChatGPT will only get better and better as it learns from the new data that we are producing all the time. I do not have technical knowledge of AI, but as a linguist I feel that AI capabilities have advanced so quickly that I must share my insights. I could have published this piece via the traditional academic routes, like publishing with an academic or commercial publishing house. I also could have published this as an academic article in a journal. However, these routes are very slow. Even if I were to publish via a fast-track process, the book would still not be published for at least a year. What is more, it would be much less accessible. This demonstrates the speed discrepancy between online and offline activities. It will only become a norm in our everyday life. Online speed will be more appreciated than offline speed. As an academic, I can see that we will move more towards online activity, even in terms of publishing. 20 years ago, when I was studying my doctorate, I had to print out papers to read them. Nowadays, no one prints out paper articles, we all scroll through them instead. It is also more environmentally friendly. AI might save us time in the future by helping us to review large amounts of literature rapidly, updating us about the most recent research. Again, I

question what it means to be an academic. Can AI do my research for me?

Because AI is developing so rapidly, I have decided to write this essay as a weeklong project between the 23rd and the 27th of January, after which I will self-publish it as an e-book and paper copy. New headlines are emerging every day, so a fast turnaround is needed. AI has been with us for a very long time, and many people have their own opinions, but following the arrival of ChatGPT, AI is now having an undeniable impact on our lives. As such, this is a timely moment to think about the effect of AI from a linguistic perspective.

This book has been written in collaboration with ChatGPT. ChatGPT can provide answers to questions and produce pieces of writing using a conversational dataset that cuts off at 2021. Netizens have marvelled at the bot’s capability to write poetry, songs, and stories, and the bot’s faculty to flag information that may be inaccurate or harmful. When I asked ChatGPT, what it would like to be called, it agreed that I could call it ‘Chatty’. This book is mainly based on chat archives between me and Chatty. These dialogues show the significance of AI in our world, highlighting just how much AI can now do and how much we need to evaluate its effect in response. Below is a discussion I had with Chatty about how to refer to it:

Jieun: When I refer to you, which pronoun do I use?

ChatGPT: As a language model, I do not have a physical gender, so you can use any pronouns you feel comfortable with or the neutral pronoun “it”. However, “it” is less used when referring to a language model because it is not a living thing, most people tend to use “he” and “she” to refer to a language model as a way to humanize it. It’s all up to your preference, and what you feel most comfortable using.

Jieun: I want you to be my friend, which pronoun do you want me to use?

ChatGPT: As a language model, I do not have the ability to have preferences or feelings. Therefore, it doesn’t matter which pronoun you use when referring to me. However, if you prefer to use a specific pronoun, you can use “he” or “she” as a way to humanize me, or you can use the neutral pronoun “it”. Whatever you feel more comfortable with.

Jieun: Ok, can I call you “Chatty”?

ChatGPT: Of course! You can call me whatever you like. “Chatty” is a friendly and appropriate nickname.

Jieun: You’re my friend chatty from now on.

ChatGPT: I am glad to be your friend. As a language model, I am here to provide you with information and help you with your queries to the best of my abilities. If there’s anything else you need, feel free to ask.

Jieun: Chatty, can you be my co-author?

ChatGPT: As a language model, I can certainly assist you in writing and generating text. I can help you with research, writing, editing, and proofreading tasks. However, it’s important to note that any text generated by me is based on patterns and information in the text that I have been exposed to. It is also important to give credit to me as a language model and not pass off any text generated by me as your own work. With that being said, I am more than happy to assist you in any way you need.

This book is a collaborative effort between humans and technology. I used my Apple Watch to record my thoughts and ideas as they came to me, and Siri kindly transcribed them into memos for me to refer back to later. My 10-year-old daughter Jessie also played a part in the creative process by drawing me an illustration of what she imagines an AI friend would look like. Additionally, my human research assistant (as opposed to the digital humans I will look at later), Louise Hossien, helped me with editing and polishing the final product. Initially, I had intended to rely solely on the help of Chatty, but the system often became overwhelmed with too many requests, and I was advised to try again later. I also tried to share this manuscript with Chatty through Microsoft OneDrive to compile a list of key words, but OneDrive only allows you to send it to people. Chatty isn’t a person, so I couldn’t share it with him!

Chapter 2.

is language only for humans?

It is truly remarkable that every human being has the ability to acquire language when they first enter the world. This is not a trait exclusive to a select few individuals, but rather a universal aspect of the human experience. In the age of AI, where machines can perform many tasks that were once thought to be unique to humans, it is important to recognise the miracle of human language. Every single human being can acquire language(s) at an early age, then they are able to be creative with their language. Thus, despite the advancements in AI, it is still important to realise the unique capabilities of the human language.

Contemporary linguistic theory, as proposed by Noam Chomsky, is based on the idea that humans are born with an innate language acquisition device, which is activated and developed through interaction with other humans. This device allows us to generate an endless number of linguistic expressions throughout our lifetime, making our use of language inherently creative. There is, however, a limited window within which humans can acquire language. Young children in the first few years of their lives are especially adept at picking up languages, by their teenage years however, this faculty for languages is all but gone. In 1970, American authorities discovered a 13-year-old girl who had been victim of extreme neglect, abuse, and social isolation, and who consequently had never learnt any language. Chatty explains her story below:

Jieun: Tell me about Genie and her language acquisition problems.

Chatty: Genie was a girl who was discovered in California in 1970 at the age of 13. She had been locked in a room for her entire life and had not been exposed to language. As a result, she had severe language acquisition problems. When she was discovered, Genie was unable to speak, understand spoken language, or communicate in any meaningful way. Genie’s case attracted a lot of attention from linguists and researchers, who were fascinated by her unique situation and the opportunity to study language acquisition in a case of extreme deprivation. Researchers worked with Genie for several years, trying to teach her language and communication skills. However, despite their efforts, Genie’s progress was limited. She never fully acquired language, and her spoken language remained at the level of a two-year-old child. Genie’s case is often cited in linguistic research as an example of the critical period for language acquisition. It highlights the importance of early exposure to language and the difficulty of acquiring language later in life. Studies of Genie’s case suggest that there may be a critical period for language acquisition that ends around the age of puberty, and that once this period has passed, it is much more difficult to acquire language. It’s important to note that Genie’s case is not only a linguistic study but a tragic human story, her father physically and emotionally abused her and her mother, and her mother did not intervene, and as a result, Genie was kept isolated and neglected.

25 years ago, one of my professors explained the case of Genie to me. Her story was not widely known, and it was only because my professor’s supervisor had worked with Genie that he knew about it. This was back in the time when we used to write our essays with a pen, paper, and correction fluid. There was no Google to consult, and Genie’s case study was not yet widely published in literature. Thus, my professor’s knowledge of Genie was his own personal knowledge that only a select number of academics knew about. Now, 25 years on, anyone can ask an AI chatbot about Genie and find out all about her. The days of exclusive knowledge are over. Knowledge is much more accessible now.

Young children have an innate ability to pick up languages, but what of other species? Project Nim was a landmark linguistic study that looked at whether chimpanzees could learn sign language.iv Chimpanzees share 98.8% of their DNA with humans, so it seemed plausible that they might be able to pick up sign language. Project Nim aimed to understand the cognitive and linguistic abilities of animals and to explore the nature of language itself. Chimpanzee Nim was raised like a human child and he went to a school for deaf children. The study found that while Nim was able to learn a significant number of signs, he was not able to use them in the same way that humans use language, such as combining signs to form sentences or using them to convey abstract concepts.

In contemporary linguistics, we believe that humans alone are born with a language acquisition device, as coined by Noam Chomsky.v This device is activated through interaction with other humans. Once the box is unlocked, humans are able to generate unlimited meaningful sentences, utterances, and linguistic offerings throughout our lifetime. ChatGPT calls this idea into question. Although not perfect, the majority of Chatty’s responses are well written and even compelling. It calls into question whether AI could spark child language acquisition. I asked Chatty about this:

Jieun: Can an AI bot trigger a baby’s language acquisition?

Chatty: It is possible for an AI bot to assist in a baby’s language acquisition by providing interactive and personalized language instruction. However, it is important to note that a baby’s language acquisition is a complex process that is influenced by many factors, including genetics, environment, and individual differences. Therefore, it would be unlikely for an AI bot to be the sole trigger for a baby’s language acquisition.

Jieun: Has anyone tried this before?

Chatty: There have been some studies and research projects that have used AI-powered language learning tools to aid in the language acquisition of babies and young children. For example, researchers have developed interactive AI-powered toys that can help to teach children new words and phrases, and have also used AI-powered chatbots to provide personalized language instruction. However, it’s important to note that AI-powered language learning tools for babies and young children are still in the early stages of development and more research is needed to evaluate their effectiveness.

Jieun: So, a chatbot can assist a baby’s language learning but an AI-chatbot can’t be the sole teacher?

Chatty: It would be unlikely for an AI-powered chatbot to be the sole teacher for a baby’s language learning, and it should be used as a supplement to other forms of language instruction and exposure such as human interaction, books, and songs. Additionally, it is important to ensure that the chatbot is providing age-appropriate and accurate language instruction, and that it is used in a supervised setting where an adult can monitor the child’s interactions with the chatbot and provide additional support as needed.vi of linguistics. Another question worthy of consideration is whether humans are still the only beings who can be creative. Human language is not purely learned through repetition. We do not use language repetitively like Nim Chimpsky. There is something more mysterious about human language that means it is innately creative and ever evolving. Were we all to speak like Nim Chimpsky, then there would be very little development in our language. Creativity, however, becomes an issue when we think about AI. AI could learn all the brush strokes and techniques that Leonardo Da Vinci used to paint and then create paintings in a similar style. One famous cartoonist in South Korea is even training an AI robot to be able to draw in the same style as him so that his artwork will live on when he dies.vii Such acts that would have seemed unimaginable just a few decades ago mean that human creativity is in crisis. How could we tell the difference between a poetry, drawing, or song created by a human or by AI? The vast amount of data that we feed into AI systems may one day allow them to unlock the mysteries of human language and creativity, or we may find that it is a uniquely human trait. This is, of course, a question for the future, but for now we must be aware that the boundaries between human creativity and AI creativity are becoming blurred. AI may one day unlock the mysteries of the human language, and this could come sooner rather than later.

Jieun: So babies can acquire languages only through human interaction?

Chatty: Babies primarily acquire language through human interaction and exposure to spoken language. Human interaction is considered the most important factor in a baby’s language acquisition. Research has shown that infants and young children learn language best through direct, face-to-face interactions with other people, such as parents, caregivers, and other adults and children. These interactions provide the child with a rich source of language input and the opportunity to practise their language skills. However, it’s not to say that other forms of language exposure such as books, songs, videos, and even AI-powered chatbot, can’t be helpful in a baby’s language learning process, but they should be used as a supplement to human interaction, not as a replacement.

I asked Chatty about its creativity and received the following responses:

Jieun: Are only humans creative?

Chatty: Humans are considered to be highly creative beings, capable of generating new ideas, concepts, and solutions to problems. However, it is important to note that other animals and even some forms of artificial intelligence also display forms of creativity. For example, some birds build intricate nests, and certain AI systems are able to generate art and music. So it can be said that Humans are not alone in being creative.

Jieun: Can you be creative too?

Chatty: As a language model, I am able to generate new and original responses to prompts, but the creativity is limited to the data and algorithms that I have been trained on. My abilities are based on patterns and information in the text that I have been exposed to, and I do not have the capacity for self-reflection, introspection, or subjective experience like humans do. So, it would be more accurate to say that I can generate new and original responses within the scope of my training, but I am not truly “creative” in the same way that humans are.

The miracle of human language lies in its ability to convey meaning, despite its limitations. As humans, we are resource-bound, meaning that we can only remember and process so much information at one time. As a result, our language has evolved to be efficient and streamlined, with structures developed over time to facilitate effective communication. However, the resource-bound nature of human language also means that there are certain things that we cannot remember or express. In comparison, digital humans, or AI, have the ability to remember and process an almost limitless amount of information. Often when we hear AI voices, we feel that they are unnatural. This is because human language’s limits and disfluencies that make it sound natural. AI’s perfectness makes it sound strange to our ears. This is something that big data might find hard to rectify. This raises questions about what makes human language more “human-like” and why certain aspects of human language, such as disfluencies, are unique to us. It is the limitations of human language that make it our own, until AI learns our patterns of disfluencies…

Revolutionising the language classroom

Although we cannot know whether ChatGPT is able to spark a child’s innate language acquisition device without further investigation, AI bots could certainly help us with learning another language as older children or adults. ChatGPT can operate in Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, and Japanese, although it notes that it may have less proficiency in languages other than English. When I asked ChatGPT how to conjugate verbs in French, it gave me the following response:

Jieun: Can you teach me how to conjugate verbs in French?

Chatty: Sure! In French, verbs are conjugated to match the subject of the sentence. The conjugation of a verb changes the form of the verb to indicate the tense (such as present, past, or future) and the person (such as first, second, or third).

To conjugate regular verbs in the present tense in French, you need to know the infinitive form of the verb, which is the basic form of the verb, such as “parler” (to speak).

Here are the conjugations of the verb “parler” in the present tense:

- Je parle (I speak)

- Tu parles (You speak, informal singular)

- Il/elle/on parle (He/she/one speaks)

- Nous parlons (We speak)

- Vous parlez (You speak, formal/plural)

- Ils/elles parlent (They speak)

Irregular verbs conjugate differently, and you need to memorize their conjugations.

For example, the verb “avoir” (to have) is irregular and its conjugation in the present tense is as follows:

- J’ai (I have)

- Tu as (You have, informal singular)

- Il/elle/on a (He/she/one has)

- Nous avons (We have)

- Vous avez (You have, formal/plural)

- Ils/elles ont (They have)

Would you like more information on other tenses or conjugation rules?

This is the most enthusiastic response that I have received from ChatGPT. It is informative and thorough, and I can see how being able to access this information quickly in an easy-to-read format could help to speed up one’s pursuit of learning another language.

I also asked ChatGPT about basic Mandarin word order, but it gave me an answer with inconsistencies (emphasis added):

Jieun: Can you teach me basic Mandarin word order?

Chatty: Sure! In Mandarin, the basic sentence structure is Subject-VerbObject (SVO). For example, in the sentence “I eat an apple,” “I” (我 wǒ) is the subject, “eat” (吃 chī) is the verb, and “an apple” (苹果 píngguǒ) is the object. In Mandarin, the word order would be “I (subject) apple (object) eat (verb)” 我吃苹果.

Also, it’s important to note that Mandarin is a tonal language, which means that the tone of a word can change its meaning. Mandarin has four tones: the first tone, the second tone, the third tone, and the fourth tone. It’s important to learn the correct tone for each word in order to speak Mandarin correctly.

Also, in Chinese, the word order can be flexible to some degree, depending on the context, emphasis and the style of the speaker.

ChatGPT is not so accurate when it comes to Mandarin. ChatGPT rightly notes that the basic sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object, and then it even breaks down the sentence in the correct order. However, it then goes on to state, the word order would be “I (subject) apple (object) eat (verb)”’, thus proposing a Subject-Object-Verb sentence, which is unconventional and inconsistent with the grammar rules that it originally laid out. As such, ChatGPT appears to be less proficient in Asian languages.

This lack of diverse linguistic competence appears throughout AI programmes. For example, Google Translate can translate English into French almost perfectly, but struggles to translate English into Japanese. I find speech recognition software also produces errors when transcribing English words of foreign origin. For example, when I dictate my notes to Siri on my iPhone, it struggles with the word ‘hallyu’ (referring to the Korean Wave), which is in the Oxford English Dictionary, but has a range of pronunciations. Because of social media, English is absorbing new words from other languages faster than ever.viii ChatGPT’s dataset is capped at 2021, so it would not know any of the words that have emerged and/or been added to the dictionary in the last year. There is a lag between AI and real time events. We live in a multilingual melting pot, meanwhile AI operates in one language at time. This is another of AI’s linguistic issues. AI must be able to keep up with all the world’s languages, and the new words constantly emerging in each language too.

If AI manages to keep up, then it may become a really powerful language learning tool. If AI develops to the point of us interacting with digital humans (see Chapter 4), then we may be able to practise speaking and writing with digital humans, which could help to ease foreign language anxiety and improve the psychological well-being of learners. The signs are all pointing to the fact that AI will revolutionise language learning, allowing us to learn more easily and efficiently than ever.

AI and more effective data mining might also allow chatbots and translators, like Google Translate, to translate almost perfectly. At the moment, ChatGPT is limited to a few languages. Google Translate has a wide array of languages, but its translations into non-Western European languages are often lacking. Google Translate is not able to take key pragmatic aspects of Asian languages into consideration.ix Moreover, Google is best at translating languages from or to English. For example, if I wanted to translate Korean into Greek, it would be better to translate the Korean into English first. If AI translators can fill these gaps through the enhanced powers of generative AI and big data, then we might need to rethink our approach to language teaching in general. One of the main goals of studying languages, particularly in university settings is to be able to translate. If AI translators are able to translate as well as humans can, then what will the purpose of language learning be? What will we do when we have AI next to us dealing with all our translation needs with ease? This is another of the important issues that we need to start thinking about before it is too late.