I’ve been thinking about this lately. And many folks in tech say that the launch of ChatGPT it’s like the launch of the Mosaic browser / internet big bang, or other comparable transformational events.

That resonates. But I’ve been thinking about this sort of differently.

To me, it’s more like the announce of Dolly the sheep clone. And scientists had done what had seemed impossible at the time, the cloning of a living being.

Technology and magic

At the time, it shocked me. Because I thought that type of technology wouldn’t be developed in my lifetime (if ever). It had a sense of mystery and magic. I had tagged that type of tech in the same bucket as time travel. I think CRISPR technology in genetics, which allows molecular biologists to edit genomes in vivo easily and cheaply as if with scissors is similar. Just magical.

Well… I think I’ve telegraphed my idea now. To me, the ability to chat with a computer and for it to feel like it’s talking to a person has that kind of magic. That’s what LLMs / ChatGPT technology felt like when it was launched. Amazing.

How do you feel / think this GenAI era is like? Does it evoke any similar times?