How Italy's Ban on ChatGPT Revealed That Coders Already Rely On It

The ban created the perfect conditions to test how extensively computer programmers are using generative AI. The answer: probably more than you thought.

The Physics arXiv Blog iconThe Physics arXiv Blog
By The Physics arXiv Blog
Apr 26, 2023 5:45 PMApr 26, 2023 5:48 PM
Back behind view photo of dark skin programmer lady look big monitor check id-address work overtime check debugging system wear specs casual shirt sit table late night office indoors
(Credit:Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock)

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On 1 April, the Italian government banned ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence system that generates human-like text and computer code. ChatGPT is trained on massive amounts of data scraped off the internet and the Italian authorities were concerned that this constituted a breach of privacy for those who owned the data. The ban continues as it investigates further.

But this ban has had an unintended consequence. One of the big questions about ChatGPT and other so-called large language models, is how humans are beginning to use them to improve their productivity (or to replace other humans entirely). The potential seems clear but nobody knows how ChatGPT is already filtering into the workplace.

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