4 min readNew DelhiJul 21, 2023 05:29 PM IST
First published on: Jul 9, 2023 at 11:30 AM IST
The launch of ChatGPT is seen as an important milestone in the development of Artificial Intelligence. The chatbot surprised the world with its human-like ability to offer comprehensive answers to any question under the sun. ChatGPT opened new doors of possibilities. But, along with limitless opportunities came unending apprehensions. And, one of the most pertinent questions that have been raised often is if super-intelligent technologies such as ChatGPT will take over human jobs.
It was only after a few months of its launch that OpenAI endowed ChatGPT with the power of the Internet via plugins. Now, ChatGPT has transformed into something much more than a chatbot. And, this week OpenAI said that it is making one of its own in-house plugins – Code Interpreter available to all its ChatGPT Plus subscribers. Yet again the big announcement seems to have fuelled optimism as well as some anxiety. This is because Code Interpreter is a mind-blowing plugin that can potentially render many data scientists jobless.
Below we illustrate how Code Interpreter may threaten data scientists.
Analyse and interpret data
Essentially, a data scientist uses data to comprehend and explain certain phenomena to help individuals and organisations make informed decisions. With Code Interpreter, ChatGPT becomes an instantly accessible data scientist. The plugin lets the chatbot run code, create charts, analyse data, perform maths, edit files and much more.
Format any data instantly
With the Code Interpreter plugin, users can now input any unformatted data from PDFs and ask it to analyse it. ChatGPT is capable of coming up with figures in table layouts, restructuring the format and running models and reasons about the best possible outcomes. It is capable of converting from wide to long formats instantly.
Personal data scientist
With the plugin, now users will be able to upload any file or data. They just need to give simple instructions and ChatGPT with the help of Code Interpreter will sort the data and visualise it in seconds. According to those who have already used the plugin, the potential of it is endless as one can make charts, analyse data, edit videos, etc.
Creative solutions
One of the most cited examples, in May a user uploaded a CSV file of every lighthouse location in the US. The user in their prompt asked ChatGPT to create a GIF map of the lighthouse locations, where the map is very dark but each lighthouse twinkles. A few seconds later ChatGPT produced an accurate map with twinkling lights atop based on the data uploaded.
Analysing musical tastes
Similarly, in another example, a Twitter user analysed a 300-hour Spotify playlist of his favourite songs. The chatbot provided visualisation and also helped with data retrieval and explained how to use Spotify API.
Video editing
Code Interpreter not only creates GIFs from data, but it can also dabble in other formats of files. In another example, a prompt engineer identified as Riley Goodside uploaded a GIF and asked the chatbot to convert it into an MP4 with Zoom.
Upload/Download files extract image
The plugin comes with some extraordinary file-handling capabilities. It is flexible with uploading and downloading files and users can even extract colours from an image to create their palette.png. It also compresses large images automatically to help users manage issues with memory shortage.
While OpenAI’s Code Interpreter plugin is transformative, it does not entirely signify the end of jobs for data scientists. These tools should be viewed as means to achieve greater productivity and creativity, and not as something that is a replacement for the unique human capacity for critical thinking, problem-solving, and innovative ideation. Remember, the future of work is not about AI taking jobs, but rather about humans and AI collaborating to achieve greater outcomes.
Code Interpreter is a mind-blowing plugin that can potentially render many data scientists jobless. (Image: Pixabay) 
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