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ChatGPT Is Changing the Words We Use in Conversation<\/p>\n
Words frequently used by ChatGPT, including \u201cdelve\u201d and \u201cmeticulous,\u201d are getting more common in spoken language, according to an analysis of more than 700,000 hours of videos and podcasts<\/p>\n
By Vanessa Bates Ramirez edited by Allison Parshall<\/span><\/p>\n After its release in late 2022, ChatGPT reached 100 million users in just two months, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. Since then the artificial intelligence (AI) tool has significantly affected how we learn, write, work and create. But new research shows that it\u2019s also influencing us in ways we may not be aware of\u2014such as changing how we speak.<\/p>\n Hiromu Yakura, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, first noticed differences in his own vocabulary about a year after ChatGPT came out. \u201cI realized I was using \u2018delve\u2019 more,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted to see if this was happening not only to me but to other people.\u201d Researchers had previously found that use of large language models (LLMs), such as those that power ChatGPT, was changing vocabulary choices in written communication, and Yakura and his colleagues wanted to know whether spoken communication was being affected, too.<\/p>\n The researchers first used ChatGPT to edit millions of pages of e-mails, essays, and academic and news articles using typical prompts such as to \u201cpolish\u201d the text or \u201cimprove its clarity.\u201d Next, they extracted words that ChatGPT repeatedly added while editing, such as \u201cdelve,\u201d \u201crealm\u201d and \u201cmeticulous,\u201d dubbing these \u201cGPT words.\u201d The team then analyzed more than 360,000 YouTube videos and 771,000 podcast episodes from before and after ChatGPT\u2019s release to track the use of GPT words over time. They compared the GPT words with \u201csynthetic controls,\u201d which were formed by mathematically weighting synonyms that weren\u2019t frequently used by the chatbot\u2014such synonyms for \u201cdelve,\u201d for example, could include \u201cexamine\u201d and \u201cexplore.\u201d<\/p>\n If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.<\/p>\n The team\u2019s results, posted on the preprint server arXiv.org last week, show a surge in GPT words in the 18 months after ChatGPT\u2019s release. The words didn\u2019t just appear in formal, scripted videos or podcast episodes; they were peppered into spontaneous conversation, too.<\/p>\n \u201cThe patterns that are stored in AI technology seem to be transmitting back to the human mind,\u201d says study co-author Levin Brinkmann, also at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. In other words, a sort of cultural feedback loop is forming between humans and AI: we train AI on written text, it parrots a statistically remixed version of that text back to us, and we pick up on its patterns and unconsciously start to mimic them.<\/p>\n \u201cAI is not a special technology in terms of influencing our behavior,\u201d Yakura says. \u201cBut the speed and scale at which AI is being introduced is different.\u201d<\/p>\n It may seem harmless\u2014if a bit comical\u2014for people to start talking like ChatGPT. But the trend carries deeper risks. \u201cIt\u2019s natural for humans to imitate one another, but we don\u2019t imitate everyone around us equally,\u201d Brinkmann says. \u201cWe\u2019re more likely to copy what someone else is doing if we perceive them as being knowledgeable or important.\u201d As more people look to AI as a cultural authority, they may rely on and imitate it over other sources, narrowing diversity in language.<\/p>\n This makes it critical to track and study LLMs\u2019 influence on culture, according to James Evans, a professor of sociology and data science at the University of Chicago, who was not involved in the study. \u201cIn this moment in the evolution of LLMs, looking at word distribution is the right methodology\u201d to understand how the technology is affecting the way we communicate, he says. \u201cAs the models mature, these distributions are going to be harder to discriminate.\u201d Scientists may need to look at broader linguistic trends beyond word choice, such as sentence structure and how ideas are presented.<\/p>\n Given that ChatGPT has changed how people talk just two and a half years into its adoption, the question becomes not whether AI is going to reshape our culture, but how profoundly it will do so.<\/p>\n \u201cWord frequency can shape our discourse or arguments about situations,\u201d Yakura says. \u201cThat carries the possibility of changing our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ChatGPT Is Changing the Words We Use in Conversation Words frequently used by ChatGPT, including \u201cdelve\u201d and \u201cmeticulous,\u201d are getting more common in spoken language, according to an analysis of more than 700,000 hours of videos and podcasts By Vanessa Bates Ramirez edited by Allison Parshall After its release in late 2022, ChatGPT reached 100<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[3215,2214,3788,3787],"class_list":{"0":"post-10706","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-changing","9":"tag-chatgpt","10":"tag-conversation","11":"tag-words"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}On supporting science journalism<\/h2>\n