With all the concerns surrounding machine learning and how artificial intelligence could impact society, it seems one sailor has found a real-world use for the polarizing tech.
Posting on Navy Reddit last month, a user—known simply as Senor_Rico—claiming to be a sailor reported that he used ChatGPT to review his annual performance in a wild and The unruly AI has tamed the beast.
Completing such documentation, also known as an enlisted assessment report or “brag sheet,” can waste a sailor’s valuable time while a pile of daily tasks continues to mount.
But Senor_Rico claims that the ChatGPT application will allow sailors to “feed it a brag sheet” and see a fresh, automated roll roll off the cyberline, flashing and ready to submit.
It took two weeks to train ChatGPT to write the brag sheet, Senior_Rico wrote, adding that the AI was first fed old assessments to learn.
Once up to speed, the program, according to the aspiring sailor, “will turn your brag sheet into a complete evil write-up.”
“This is awesome,” one Reddit user wrote in response. “I will refer my family to him.”
ChatGPT was developed by Homies at the company OpenAI, which was later acquired by Homies at Microsoft.
The software allows users to feed questions or information to a chatbot and receive a polished report in return.
As of February 2023, ChatGPT holds the record for having the fastest growing user base, according to a study by UBS, a financial services group.
Some commenters on Navy Reddit, meanwhile, expressed concern that using such a tool could jeopardize other sailors’ security clearances.
“Wouldn’t recommend for people who hold clearance or work cleared,” wrote ThinkLikeCriminal. “You’re going to do the wrong thing there.”
“Well yeah, don’t feed him the classified brag sheet,” Senor_rico replied.
Another Redditor aired the beef not with AI, but entirely with Evils.
Leading-Show8764 said “Writing evals is stupid because it’s a popularity contest anyway.”
The Observation Post is a one-stop shop for all things military times. Stories may reflect the author’s observations.
Zamone “Z” Perez is a rapid response reporter and podcast producer at Defense News and Military Times. He previously worked at Foreign Policy and Information Africa. He is a graduate of Northwestern University, where he conducted his dissertation research on international ethics and atrocity prevention. He can be found on Twitter @zamoneperez.