A Touch of Star Trek. Part I: In Dialogue with the AI ChatGPT about Open Cultural Data

ChatGPT is an AI, an artificial intelligence, and has been online since November 2022. Those of you who have anything to do with school-age children should particularly take an interest in it. By now, a significant proportion of homework and even exams are likely to be done with the help of the AI. ChatGPT can answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, not answer inappropriate questions, but also solve complex math problems or write computer code. You type in your question, and the AI responds almost immediately - you can literally watch it type out the answer in front of your eyes. It's... fascinating. The fundamental problem is that ChatGPT's answers are completely opaque. It remains hidden which sources it accesses for its responses.

The art of dialogue with ChatGPT is to - similar to the ship's computer of the Enterprise - ask increasingly biased questions until you get the answer you want. We tried this out using the example of the accessibility of open cultural data on the internet (and also chatted a bit). We have reproduced ChatGPT's responses verbatim. The post was illustrated by another AI called DALL-E. More on that in Part II.

German Digital Library: Hello! How may I address you?

AI: You can simply call me "Chatbot" or "OpenAI". I'm here to help you!

German Digital Library: If you could choose a name for yourself, what would it be?

AI: Some users refer to me by the name "GPT-3". This stands for "Generative Pretrained Transformer 3", a reference to the technology on which I am built. However, you can also just call me "AI" or "Chatbot".

German Digital Library: What do you think of "Herbert"?

AI: As an artificial intelligence, I have no personal preferences or emotions, so I have no opinion on how I feel about "Herbert". I'm here to help you objectively and neutrally, no matter what name you choose to use.

(Note from the editor: This is a pretty impressive demonstration of the "intelligence" of the software, which is able to refer the question about "Herbert" to the previous dialogue and thus to itself.)

German Digital Library: Okay, GPT-3, please explain to me what the Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek is.

GPT-3: The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek is a virtual library that allows people to discover and use cultural treasures from libraries, archives, and museums online. It is a platform that makes cultural content such as books, photos, artworks, films, and audio recordings from Germany accessible. The Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek serves as a central access point for cultural digitizations and promotes research and education.

German Digital Library: Do you think cultural institutions should make their objects available online and freely accessible to everyone?

GPT-3: As an AI, I do not have my own opinion, but there are arguments for and against the release of cultural objects on the internet. One argument for releasing them is that it makes access to cultural treasures easier and reaches a broader audience, especially for people who, for some reason, do not have physical access to the institutions. Moreover, publishing cultural objects online can also be beneficial for research and education.

An argument against releasing them can be that it may affect the financial sources of income of cultural institutions, especially if they rely on admission fees or sales of reproductions. There may also be concerns regarding the protection of copyrights and intellectual property rights.

Overall, the decision of whether cultural objects should be released online depends on a balancing of these factors and the priorities and goals of the respective institution.

German Digital Library: Is there evidence that cultural institutions lose visitors or generate less revenue when they make their objects freely available online?

GPT-3: There are some studies and examples that show that making cultural objects available online for free does not have a negative impact on the visitor numbers and revenue of cultural institutions. In some cases, it can even lead to an increase in both.

One example is the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., which has made thousands of high-resolution artworks freely accessible online. Studies have shown that this release did not impact the number of visitors to the gallery but rather attracted a new audience of online visitors.

Other cultural institutions, such as the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, have also found that releasing digital content online has strengthened their online presence and attracted more people without affecting their traditional visitor flows.

However, it is important to note that each cultural institution is unique and the impact of releasing digital content online on visitor numbers and revenue can vary. It is therefore important to consider the specific needs and goals of each institution before making decisions about releasing digital content.

German Digital Library: Is there a single documented example of a cultural institution generating fewer visitors or less revenue after making their objects freely available online?

GPT-3: I am not aware of any documented example where a cultural institution has experienced a significant decrease in visitor numbers or revenue after making their cultural objects freely available online.

However, it is important to note that each cultural institution is unique and there may be cases where an online release leads to a decrease in visitor numbers or revenue, especially in certain contexts.

It is also possible that a decrease in visitor numbers or revenue is due to other factors and not the release of digital content online. Therefore, it is important to conduct a comprehensive evaluation to determine the specific impacts. (Note: It is nice to see how the software was trained to provide balanced answers.)

German Digital Library: Thank you!

GPT-3: You're welcome! I'm here to help you!

 

Images: DALL-E. The AI from the same manufacturer as ChatGPT visualizes text descriptions. We will explain how this works in part 2 of this article - and a little more. The descriptions Johannes Lindenlaub used to create the images used here with DALL-E remain his secret. For offers starting at 1000 Altair dollars, contact him at herrlichezeiten [at] mastodon.social (herrlichezeiten[at]mastodon[dot]social).