An Aviation Chat with a Bot

I logged in to OpenAI.com and asked to speak to ChatGPT. It presented me with a box where I could insert a question. I began with the most basic of all aeronautical questions: How does a wing produce lift?

Peter Garrison

Tuesday, December 05, 2023 at 07:20 AM ET

Verified

The use of AI has transformed parts of aviation already, but it cannot yet fulfill the role of a technical writer. [Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

The author tested ChatGPT with various aviation questions, finding it frequently perpetuated common misconceptions and provided technically flawed or contradictory explanations regarding fundamental principles like lift and stability.
While capable of delivering grammatically sound and reasoned responses on general or philosophical topics, ChatGPT demonstrated a critical lack of genuine "knowledge," experience, and the ability to critically scrutinize its information sources.
Despite AI's rapid advancements and sometimes human-like interactions, the author concluded that its current inability to avoid "rookie mistakes" and discern reliable information means his writing job is secure, at least for the immediate future.

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Artificial intelligence is in the news these days. Hardly a day goes by without an apocalyptic warning that AI is going to destroy the human race, or worse, deprive writers of their livelihood. Alarmed by these portents, I decided to see whether I was, in fact, in danger of being replaced by a digital text generator. It would have compelling advantages over me: It would be omniscient and would work for free.