AI THAT ACTS BEFORE YOU ASK: ‘OPENAI PULSE’ SPARKS HOPE AND CONCERN

The digital age has been defined by constant innovation, where tools once thought futuristic now blend seamlessly into our daily routines.

- SAKSHI REWARIA

Among these, artificial intelligence (AI) stands as the preeminent driver of transformation, shaping the way people communicate, work, learn, and live. Into this sphere steps Ope-nAI’s ChatGPT Pulse, a new feature billed as a radical departure from previous interaction models. Unlike traditional assistants that wait for user prompts, Pulse is designed to offer anticipatory aid, an AI that acts before one even formulates a request.

The unveiling of Pulse has generated both excitement and apprehension in equal measure. On the one hand, it represents a milestone in personalised assistance, promising to streamline daily life with unprecedented proactivity. On the other hand, it raises profound questions about privacy, data security, digital autonomy, and the social consequences of ceding decision-making power to proactive algorithms.

OPENAI’S CHATGPT PULSE: PROACTIVITY UNLOCKED

Until now, most AI models like ChatGPT have occupied a reactive role. They excel at providing thoughtful answers, generating creative outputs, and analysing data, but only in response to explicit queries. The user asks, the AI replies. The model had no autonomy beyond the textual prompt.

Pulse disrupts this paradigm by introducing pro-activity. Currently available to Pro users, with plans for rollout to Plus users soon, it was presented as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's vision of AI that does not simply sit idly until summoned. Instead, Pulse studies a user's digital footprint: prior conversation history, stored memory within ChatGPT, explicit feedback during interactions, and where permissions are granted to external integrations such as Google Calendar and Gmail.