70 years of Read On: machines and chatbots in the March issue

Man sieht es ihr nicht an, aber die Read On wird dieses Jahr 70! Dieses Jubiläum nehmen wir zum Anlass, auf die vergangenen sieben Jahrzehnte zurückzublicken. Dazu stöbern wir in unseren Archiven und veröffentlichen jeden Monat im Jahr 2023 einen Artikel aus einer Read-On-Ausgabe der letzten 70 Jahre. Da die Read On aber noch lange nicht old school ist, gibt es dazu einen frischen, neuen Blick auf das Thema aus dem Hier und Jetzt – ganz new school. In der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On geht es um Technologien früher und heute. Lesen Sie hier Auszüge aus den beiden Artikeln.

OLD SCHOOL (1968)

Machines that Talk and Walk

1                 Machines seem to be getting more and more like people. You know what a COMPUTER is, don’t you? It is a machine that can add, subtract, multiply, and divide. It can solve a problem in a few minutes. It may take a man many years to figure out the same problem by himself.

2                 Computers have “memory” devices: thousands of tiny parts inside the machine. But a computer cannot think for itself. A man has to tell it what to do and how to do it. He uses special cards or tapes to “feed” the machine with problems. Computers help figure out taxes, run machines in factories, predict the weather or election returns. They keep spacecraft on the right course. Some computers can even talk. “Optical scanners” can “read” numbers, printed words or even handwriting. “Electric eyes” (tiny light beams) can pick out the differences in shapes of letters or numbers.

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Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–1             to seem scheinen — computer Elektronengehirn, Rechenmaschine — to subtract subtrahieren — to solve a problem h.: eine Rechenaufgabe lösen — to figure s.th. out (coll) etw. lösen, ausrechnen

2                 memory device Speichervorrichtung, Informationsspeicher — tiny winzig — tape Band; h.: Lochstreifen — to feed (fig) füttern — taxes Steuern — to run a machine eine Maschine/einen Mechanismus bedienen, – in Gang halten — to predict voraussagen — election returns Wahlergebnisse — spacecraft Raumfahrzeug(e) — scanner Abtaster — printed gedruckt — light beam Lichtstrahl — to pick out ausmachen, erkennen — shape Form

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NEW SCHOOL (Today)

ChatGPT: The clever chatbot

A new artificial intelligence chatbot can write detailed essays, making teachers worry.

By Jessica Stuart

1                 The name “ChatGPT” has been trending across the internet for the past few months. What is ChatGPT?

2                 “ChatGPT is like a super smart computer that can understand and respond to what you say in English. It can help you learn new words and phrases, and can also answer questions you have. Think of it like a talking dictionary that you can have a conversation with.” This explanation doesn’t come from a person. It comes from ChatGPT itself, an artificial intelligence chatbot that can respond to all types of questions and orders.

3                 ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, an American artificial intelligence research company that also created the popular image generator DALL-E 2. While DALL-E 2 can create digital art from written requests, ChatGPT can give you words, lots and lots of words. It can answer questions, tell jokes, find errors in a computer programmer’s code, and even write long and accurate essays. And that worries teachers.

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Den vollständigen Artikel finden Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.

Vocabulary

0–2             artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot Chatbot mit künstlicher Intelligenz — detailed detailliert — to respond to s.th. auf etw. reagieren — phrase Ausdruck — explanation Erklärung — order Anweisung

3                 to create entwickeln; s.w.u. erstellen — research company Forschungsunternehmen — image generator Bildgenerator — request Anfrage — error Fehler — programmer Programmierer(in) — accurate fehlerfrei — essay Aufsatz

Foto: Pixabay