THE AI SAVANT

YING SHAOWEI, CHIEF SCIENTIST OF NCS, SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ON THE BREATHLESS DEVELOPMENT OF AI AND WHAT IT TAKES TO NARROW THE DIGITAL DIVIDE.

- ZAT ASTHA

YING SHAOWEI RECALLS THE FIRST TIME HE tried ChatGPT when it came into public consciousness in November 2022. I’m speaking to Ying at the newly renovated NCS Hub at Ang Mo Kio, where he holds the position of chief scientist.

“It was like an iPhone moment — or driving a Tesla for the first time,” he tells me with a slight grin. “The programme blew me away with how human-like its responses were. It’s actually more than human-like.”

For the uninitiated, ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot developed by San Francisco-based AI research lab, OpenAI, based on the GPT-3.5 architecture. The chatbot engages in natural language conversations with humans and has been trained on a vast corpus of text to generate coherent and meaningful responses to various questions and topics.

Today, it’s nearly impossible to talk about AI advancements without referencing the AI chatbot and how it has changed (and upended) our lives.

And while the world is divided squarely between fearing and revering ChatGPT, Ying, though impressed by its abilities, feels that it may be, “You know, too perfect. Superhuman even.”

AI IN BENEF IT ING HUMANITY

Ying is primed to speak authoritatively about AI. He is, after all, currently the senior partner and chief scientist of NCS.

Singapore’s NCS group is an information technology company that helps businesses and organisations enhance their digital capabilities and helps businesses and organisations enhance their digital capabilities and transform their operations.