Chat GPT Passes The Test Crypto, Web3 and The Metaverse All Failed: It Shows You The Future Immediately
Many technologies promise the future. Very few blow you away on the first use.
I remember being a young teenager, thirteen or fourteen, when my Dad first brought home a dial up modem and an America Online CD. I remember the screeching of the modem, sounding as if it was trying to rip a portal through time and space as it connected our Windows 98 PC to this thing called the Internet. I remember clicking on a chat room and being able to instantly type something to have a real human on the other side respond. This will sound mad to anyone younger than 35 but It felt like sorcery. I was a caveman staring at fire for the first time. To put it plainly, even to my inexperienced child mind it was immediately obvious that this technology was going to change the world.
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
Arthur C. Clarke
The next time I would feel that sorcery was a decade later in 2007 when my friend James visited and pulled out his iPhone (the very first iPhone). Until this point I had never seen or used a multi-touch capacitive screen so when James, casually stood in my parents kitchen, opened Google Maps and began to pinch zoom his way around I snatched it out of his hand and once again stared at it like the caveman I was. Again, I was staring at fire for the first time. It was immediately obvious that this was going to change everything: the entire internet in the palm of my hand…
I can’t say I’ve ever felt this sorcery when it comes to the most recent tech trends of the last five years, namely crypto, Web3 and Metaverse concepts like Horizon Worlds. Crypto has some utility for citizens looking to move money in and out of opressive regimes (and of course plenty of utility for criminals), Web3 has largely manifested as scams, ponzis and rugpulls, and Metaverse projects like The Sandbox and Horizon Worlds have completely failed to set the world on fire. Many are failing to even impress the teams paid to build them. Dud after dud after dud, at least as far as every day usage by regular every day folk is concerned.
This week I started playing around with the free version of Chat GPT after my brother began sending me a string of effusive messages about it over WhatsApp. It turns out he was correct and the fuss is very appropriate. Within a single prompt and response it became immediately obvious that I was once again a caveman staring at fire. This is going to be a big deal.
What was my first Chat GPT prompt? Well, I’ve spent sixteen years working in the commercial side of video game media, so I asked it to write me a preview article for Grand Theft Auto Six in the style of Edge Magazine. It took less than sixty seconds to deliver. Here’s the first few paragraphs…
It goes on like that. Sure, its kinda generic and I’m sure the fine folks at EDGE would resent this attempt at their style, but it’s certainly passable as a first draft at digital content that could be posted on an editorial website. If you had a human give it a once over to check for factual accuracy and to inject a bit more personality, you’re off to the races.
That was my first experience of generative AI and a few days later, reflecting on it , I can feel the rug being pulled from under the feet of the media industry. Some immediate questions that I have not yet fully digested…
What happens when editorial content is completely commoditised and anyone can create a draft of anything in an instant?
Is it now possible to bootstrap a media property with one or two people instead of needing a large team?
Even if it is, is that a good idea given that anybody can do the same?
What or where is the defensive moat for online destinations?
If this is the impact on my industry, what else can this thing disrupt? Is there anything it can’t?
As far as digital media goes, currently I’m only sure about one thing: In a world about to be flooded with boilerplate copy, the value of a unique voice, genuine insight and community online is going to increase dramatically.
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