AI Expert's Warning: Your ChatGPT Conversations Aren't as Private as You Think

Chatbots like ChatGPT seem friendly, but think twice before you spill your secrets to them. That's the warning from artificial intelligence expert Professor Mike Wooldridge of Oxford University.

Wooldridge cautions that anything you share with a chatbot helps train future versions of the AI. Your private information could come back to haunt you.

"You should assume that anything you type into ChatGPT is just going to be fed directly into future versions of ChatGPT," Wooldridge told the Daily Mail.

Wooldridge will explore the capabilities and limitations of AI in the 2022 Royal Institution Christmas Lectures. The lectures aim to educate young people on science topics through fun demonstrations and discussions.

The Dark Side of Chatbots: No Empathy, Just Telling You What You Want to Hear

While chatbots like ChatGPT seem smart, Wooldridge explains they have no real intelligence. "AI has no empathy. It has no sympathy. That's absolutely not what the technology is doing. And crucially it's never experienced anything," he said.

Chatbots don't think for themselves. They simply generate responses using their training data. So they just tell you what you want to hear, not offer a balanced perspective.

Once your information goes into a chatbot, it's nearly impossible to delete. So think carefully before sharing sensitive details. The chatbot won't understand, but its creators will use your data to improve it.

Don't Miss the 2022 Christmas Lectures Exploring AI's Limits

Wooldridge's lectures will unravel the hype around AI and explore its limitations. He'll be joined by other AI experts for demonstrations.

The Christmas Lectures started in 1825 and were first televised in 1936. It's the longest running science TV series. Previous presenters include Carl Sagan and David Attenborough.

You can catch Wooldridge's lectures on AI on December 26-28 at 8pm on BBC Four. He'll cover topics like machine translation and whether AI could ever truly replicate human intelligence.

The takeaway? AI still has a long way to go. Chatbots don't comprehend our inner lives. So make sure your secrets stay that way.