ChatGPT And Diplomacy: An Opinion

(CTN News) – British Prime Ministers historically perceive ChatGPT diplomats negatively. Lloyd George stated that diplomats were invented solely to waste time.

Heath defined a diplomat as someone who thinks twice before speaking. As a result of the digital revolution, diplomats were threatened with becoming not only mute, but also obsolete.

In the early 2000s, scholars echoed the sentiment of British Prime Ministers who argued that foreign ministries were change resistant institutions that were burdened by rigid working routines and centuries-old protocol.

Therefore, diplomats were not able to adapt to the new digital environment. These critics were proven wrong by time, and today diplomats are best characterized as digital innovators.

Diplomats have been adopting a host of digital technologies over the past decade, including establishing embassies in virtual worlds, developing social media empires, designing consular smartphone applications, and even live-tweeting diplomatic debates to embrace the digital ethos of transparency.

In some cases, foreign ministries have proven to be particularly tech-savvy, such as the British Foreign Office, which created a big data unit, or the Israeli Ministry, which developed its own algorithm for combatting hate speech on the web.

Despite some trials and errors, digital experimentation, and the occasional faux pas, diplomats have successfully adapted to the 21st century.

As a result, diplomacy faces a new digital challenge in the form of ChatGPT. It has received extensive media coverage and debate since its launch in November of 2022. Educators have warned against using ChatGPT to write university essays or academic papers as the tool has passed examinations into prestigious law faculties and medical schools.

Legislators have expressed concern over laws written by machine learning. Attorneys have warned about petitions created within minutes.

Although there have been few news reports concerning the impact of Chat GPT on diplomacy, this is a significant issue because ChatGPT is capable of acting as an information gatekeeper, in a manner similar to Google.

Diplomats may benefit from ChatGPT. A press release or UN address can be quickly generated by ambassadors using this tool. Digital diplomacy departments may be able to save time by automating the generation of tweets. Consular assistance may even be automated through the use of chatbots by foreign ministries.

Moreover, diplomats can take advantage of ChatGPT’s ability to analyze swarms of data in preparation for negotiations. An EU diplomat may use ChatGPT in preparation for a new round of talks to summarize all Russian statements regarding the future of the Donbas before meeting with Russian counterparts.

In preparation for a new round of talks, an EU diplomat may use ChatGPT to summarize all British press statements pertaining to Brexit.

Diplomacy is also challenged by ChatGPT.

One method of learning about world events is through ChatGPT. A user can ask a ChatGPT question about a nation, an actor, or an event.

In spite of this, biases in ChatGPT answers and the generation of false or misleading information would create alternate realities for these users.

There can be a ChatGPT-generated reality in which Russia did not bomb Syria, or a reality in which the EU is on the verge of dissolution, or a reality in which George Soros engineered Covid19.

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