1 . Given the excitement it has created, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard about ChatGPT. It’s a powerful, new artificial intelligence tool, which can do a lot of things such as answering a question, explaining a concept, composing an email or writing a college essay, all in a matter of seconds.

“The essay, in particular the college essay, is dead,” said Edward Tian, a student at Princeton University. “For generations, we have been taught how to research, think, and write. That entire tradition is about to be completely changed.”

Despite having studied AI, Edward, like the rest of us, was so shocked by the power of ChatGPT that he couldn’t shake thoughts about the challenges presented by the AI tool. Then he had an idea. What if he applied what he had learned over the last couple of years to help the public identify whether something has been written by a machine?

On January 2, Edward released his app, GPTZero.

It basically uses ChatGPT against itself. To determine whether an essay is written by ChatGPT, GPTZero uses two indicators: the familiarity of text and the variations of sentences. If the text is very familiar to GPTZero — because ChatGPT has also been trained on such data — then it’s more likely to be AI-generated.

Separately, GPTZero compares the variations of sentences. Humans tend to write with greater varieties, for example, with some longer or complex sentences alongside shorter ones. AI sentences are usually less varified.

Edward isn’t trying to stop ChatGPT in its tracks. He believes that’s impossible, and opposes blanket bans (禁止) against the use of ChatGPT, like the one recently announced by New York City public schools. Students, he believes, will use the technology anyway.

“GPTZero is not meant to be a tool to stop these technologies from being used,” he said. “But with any new technology, we need to be able to use it responsibly and we need to have safeguards.”

2 . If you’re a keen reader, you have probably heard of Chilean American author Isabel Allende and may have read one of her 20+ books of fiction and non-fiction.

One of Latin America’s most famous living writers, Isabel Allende primarily writes in Spanish. But her work has been translated into English and adapted for the big screen, too, so it’s accessible to readers and viewers beyond her homeland.

Isabel Allende was born in 1942 in Peru to Chilean parents. Her parents separated when she was very young, and she spent a few years of her childhood in Chile with her mother, two siblings and grandfather. When Allende was 11, her mother remarried and Allende spent the rest of her childhood in Bolivia and Lebanon.

Before her first book was published, Allende worked as a journalist. She co-founded the first feminist magazine, Paula, in Chile, in 1967, worked in television, wrote and produced a play, and wrote children’s stories and magazines. In 1973, Allende and her family moved to Venezuela, where they lived for the next 13 years.

In 1981, the foundations of her first novel, The House of the Spirits, were laid: after learning that her 99-year-old grandfather was dying, Allende wrote a letter to him. This eventually became The House of the Spirits, a magical-realist family long story.

Allende had a long, productive and celebrated writing career. Over four decades she has published 24 books, which have been translated into more than 40 languages and sold more than 75 million copies, making her one of the best-selling authors in the world. She is a fairly rare author who has achieved widespread popularity among general readers and acclaim among literary critics. She herself and her books have been the subject of many academic literary studies, and she’s an essential part of the Latin American Spanish literary canon（经典）.

6 . There are three basic kinds for memory: short-term memory, working memory, and long-term memory. Short-term memory is the sort of memory you use when someone tells you their phone number and you remember it just long enough to write it down. Working memory is a more active version of short-term memory and the brain is able to retain it a little longer.     1    

To get something into your short-term memory, you need both Input and Output. Here’s a formula: Input＋Output=Short-Term Memory.

    2     It is something outside of your head being put into your head. Output is even more exciting because you have so many creative choices and it’s up to you to decide how to apply what you’ve learned.

    3     By thinking about new information and then doing something active with it, you are essentially telling your brain that this new information is worth remembering. That “doing something” could be a lot of creative possibilities.

But how should you improve your long-term memory?     4     Here’s the formula: Input＋Output＋Review=Long-Term Memory.

Imagine a grassy lawn that is between someone’s driveway and front door. Rather than walk the long way down the path, most people just cut through the grass to get to their car, right? The more times someone cuts through the grass, the flatter the grass becomes on that new pathway until, eventually, there is a permanent dirt path.     5     Every time you review something, neurons(神经元) form a “pathway” in your brain and make it more permanent. Maybe we should really be saying “practice makes memory”.

7 . Recently, there have been huge advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs that create art. The programs, which create artworks based on short descriptions, have amazed many people. They have also raised difficult questions.

In April, NewsForKids.net reported on Dall-E 2, a tool from OpenAI. Dall-E 2 uses AI to create incredible paintings, photos, and other artworks in many different styles based on simple descriptions. Since then, OpenAI has changed its rules to allow anyone to sign up and use the tool. But it’s still putting strong controls on the art that can be created.

But now there are several other AI tools that work in similar ways. These new tools are free or cheap, and don’t have some of Dall-E 2’s limits. Midjourney is a website that allows users to create images from short descriptions. Stable Diffusion is similar, but users can also run the program on their own computers.

The new tools are entertaining and powerful. They allow people to quickly see almost any idea they can imagine, even if they aren’t artists. For some creative workers, like those at companies that create ads or images, the tools allow them to quickly explore new ideas.

Many artists are upset that they’re now competing against computers for attention, prizes—and jobs. It’s hard for a single artist to compete against all the art and photography that have ever appeared on the Internet. In August, Jason Allen won first place at the Colorado State Fair with his picture Théâtre D’opéra Spatial, which he created with Midjourney. That upset many people.

The images and the descriptions used to train these AI programs were taken from the Internet. The training images were used without permission, which has raised questions about whether what these tools are doing is fair or legal.

The creators of the training pictures haven’t given permission for their images to be used, but their skills and talents are a huge part of what makes the new tools so successful. Some artists’ groups say artists should get to decide if their work can be used by these tools.

10 . Last year, 13-year-old Abraham Olagbegi found out he was born with a very serious blood disease and needed a bone marrow transplant (骨髓移植). About a year later, he found out better news: His transplant was successful, and he got a chance to make a wish, which was given by an organization named Make-A-Wish that offers wishes to children with serious illnesses.

Abraham wanted a long-lasting wish, and he had an idea that he shared with his mom. “‘Mom, I thought about it, and I really want to feed the homeless,’ Abrahan said.” Abraham’s mom, Miriam Olagbegi, told CBS News. “I said, ‘Are you sure Abraham? You could do a lot... You sure you don’t want a PlayStation?’”

Unlike many teenage boys, the PlayStation did not entice Abraham. He was sure of his wish to feed the homeless.

Abraham’s dad thought it was a wonderful idea, too, Miriam said. “So, of course, we weren’t going to miss an opportunity like that because we always tried to instill (灌输) giving into our children.”

In September, Make-A-Wish helped Abraham organize a day to hand out free food in Jackson, Mississippi, with food and supplies donated from local businesses. Abraham said they ended up feeding about 80 people that day.

“And it just really feels good, it warms our hearts. And my parents always taught us that it’s rewarding to do acts of kindness,” he said.

Abraham’s wish is still not fulfilled. Make-A-Wish will help Abraham feed the homeless every month for a year. The organization says every third Saturday of each month, the local church will find supporters to help supply the food they need to feed up to 80 homeless people.

“We’re just very excited to be able to continue on this effort. It’s just so rewarding,” his mom said. “We just try to pay it forward, by doing what we were raised to do.”