The monetary price of ChatGPT

A man holds a laptop computer as cyber code is projected on him in this illustration picture taken on May 13, 2017. [Kacper Pempel/Reuters]

Published On 1 Feb 20231 Feb 2023

ChatGPT is taking the world by storm with AI-generated text that rivals actual literature – but there’s a price. For its parent company, OpenAI, to get this quality product, human beings are paid to help teach it to identify the bad stuff: hate speech and violence of all kinds. We hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly of ChatGPT, including from one person who did the job and has real questions about whether it’s worth the price.

Note: This episode contains elements that were generated using ChatGPT.

In this episode: 

• Nanjala Nyabola (@Nanjala1), author of Digital Democracy, Analogue Politics: How the Internet Era Is Transforming Politics in Kenya
• Michael Kearns (@mkearnsupenn), author of “The Ethical Algorithm”
• Mophat Ochieng, former AI content moderator

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Amy Walters with our host, Malika Bilal. Ashish Malhotra, Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin and Alexandra Locke fact-checked this episode.

Our production team includes Chloe K. Li, Miranda Lin, Ashish Malhotra, Negin Owliaei, and Amy Walters. 

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Aya Elmileik and Adam Abou-Gad are our engagement producers. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer, and Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.