Chat GPT Takes Over: Game Over For Software Architects?
Introduction
In the world of technology, the buzz around Chat GPT has been hard to ignore. Any person remotely related to the IT profession shouldn’t be unfamiliar with it by now. However, to ensure that all readers are on the same page, Chat GPT is an artificial intelligence language model developed by OpenAI that has the remarkable ability to understand human language and generate human-like responses.
Essentially, it’s like having a smart computer program that can understand and respond to us just like another human being would. It’s an exciting time for many, as AI is poised to revolutionize a variety of industries in the near future.
In the past few months, I have had many conversations with like-minded colleagues and friends about this topic. This blog is an attempt to share my perspective as an architect.
AI- The Excitement
The potential benefits of AI are almost too numerous to count. Like in healthcare, AI can assist in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, leading to improved patient outcomes. Imagine, rather than taking hours or days, AI would be able to read scans/images and complete diagnosis in seconds if not minutes. Picture a future where diseases are detected and treated swiftly, leading to improved outcomes and saved lives. Similarly, In finance, AI can help with fraud detection, personalized investment advice, and risk management. In transportation, self-driving cars powered by AI can reduce accidents and traffic congestion, while also providing greater mobility for people with disabilities or in remote areas. In manufacturing, AI can optimize supply chain operations, improve quality control, and reduce waste. In retail, AI can improve customer experience and personalize marketing strategies.
The possibilities are endless, and AI is set to transform the way we work, live, and interact with technology.
AI- The Nervousness
“The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th. In a panic, they try to pull the plug.” — Kyle Reese, Movie- The Terminator
Similar to the movie “The Terminator,” there is a growing sense of nervousness and fear surrounding AI. Observing how AI models like Chat GPT are generating human-like responses, many questions and concerns arise. What if AI becomes too intelligent and powerful and goes out of our control? This fear is not unfounded, and even thought-leaders in the field of AI express concerns. Elon Musk, who has invested in AI research and development through his companies, Tesla and OpenAI, has expressed his worries. Geoffrey Hinton, known as the godfather of AI, has also expressed concern that artificial intelligence may become too powerful and pose an existential threat to humanity. Furthermore, there has been recent press on how AI is posed to replace many jobs.
AI- What it Means for Software Architects
Now, let’s consider the role of the modern architect. Architects are responsible for bringing together all the various elements of a software system and creating a cohesive whole within an organization. They must understand the technical and non-technical aspects of a project, including business goals, user needs, software development methodologies, and available technologies. The architect must then use this knowledge to design a software system that meets all the business requirements while also considering which architectural characteristics (aka ilities) are more relevant to the problem at hand.
In this way, the architect is like a puzzle solver who takes all the pieces and puts them together in the right way to create a complete picture of a very specific problem that an organization has, which includes the human aspect of the organization. Navigating politics (yes, where there are people there is politics!!), the brand image of the organization, and identifying the top tasks that really matter to the organization’s value — these are all tasks that require a human touch.
“An organization is a collection of people. People themselves are a reflection of their unique experiences, culture, values and learnings. This effectively means each organization has its own unique set of problems and challenges”
As a result, every architecture required to support this problem tends to be a novel solution, requiring a unique combination of skills, knowledge, and creativity to design an effective solution that meets the organization’s needs. This makes software architecture a snowflake problem!!
Just like a snowflake is formed based on the specific conditions of the environment in which it is created, software architecture is shaped by the specific requirements and constraints of each project, making it a snowflake problem
As you may observe, there is no defined set of data that one can use to train an AI model in a supervised or unsupervised way for the unique problem discussed above. It's super challenging. Therefore, we still need experienced architects to design a solution in this rapidly evolving ecosystem of change.
Conclusion
While we certainly want researchers to focus on developing more transparent and understandable AI systems to prevent an existential threat to our race, we must also design these systems with human values and ethics in mind to ensure they operate in a safe and beneficial way. Moreover, proper governance and laws around AI are necessary to ensure its responsible use.
As a Digital Architect, I am assured that in the near future at least, there’s no need to worry about Chat GPT or AI-driven solutions making architects redundant. Rather, we should embrace the use of AI for automation and optimization, enabling humans to concentrate on addressing crucial issues like “Solving the Climate Crisis using AI” by using it for Renewable Energy Prediction and Forecasting, Energy Management and Optimization, Climate Modeling and Predictive Analytics etc.
This presents us with a chance to transform our apprehensions into opportunities to harness the power of AI to our advantage, rather than against us.