Course: Generating Text

Good morning, I'm Lee Mallon, and this is Module 5 of the Humanity AI course for environmental educators. Today, we will explore the fascinating world of generating text using generative AI language models.

The Art of Prompting

The essence of generating text with AI lies in the technique known as 'prompting'. This involves feeding knowledge or information into AI models or extracting what they have learned to produce textual output. We will delve into how to craft effective prompts, the nuances in the art of questioning AI, and the variety of outputs we can achieve.

Flexibility and Tonality

Prompting offers tremendous flexibility. You can request information in bullet points, detailed explanations, or even jokes. Tonality and style can also be adjusted depending on the nature of the text needed—be it a blog post, executive summary, or explanation for a child. AI can adapt to different linguistic styles and formats, including mimicking famous voices from history or pop culture.

Dealing with Hallucinations

AI models can 'hallucinate', meaning they might generate convincing but inaccurate information. In this module, we will learn why this shouldn't deter us from using AI, as these prompts can be used as a step for us to verify and refine the output, adding a layer of human oversight.

Bias in Information

All information has bias, and AI-generated content is no different. We will discuss how to recognise and account for potential biases, ensuring the content we generate is balanced and reflective of diverse perspectives.

Demonstrating Text Generation

Through a live demonstration, we'll see how AI can craft various forms of content, from blog posts and FAQ lists to quiz questions and scripts for videos. The flexibility of AI in text generation is vast and powerful, limited only by the boundaries of our creativity.

Beyond Text: Other Generative Uses

AI isn't limited to generating text alone. We'll explore how AI can create formulas, data tables, and more. With tools like ChatGPT and GPT-4, we can generate content with precision and relevance to environmental education topics.

Conclusion and Next Steps

This module has introduced you to the capabilities of AI in generating a wide range of text-based content. Next, we will embark on Module 6, which will focus on Creating Images, expanding our narrative toolkit even further.

Thank you for joining Module 5, and I look forward to seeing how you apply these text generation techniques to your environmental education efforts.