Google's boss says the new chatbot technology will be more transformative than fire or electricity, while Elon Musk says it could end civilization.
So how concerned should we be about the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbot, called GPT4?
It's a humble looking website that could change the world as we know it.
Brainbox senior consultant, Allyn Robins, told Newshub that it's "hard to overstate the impact this will have. It's going to touch every area of the economy
Chat GPT from digital tech company Open AI is now the fastest growing app in history.
And its new version, GPT4, is vastly more powerful than its predecessor.
"It's a big deal because these systems can do things that previously could only really be done by humans, like write code and write convincing texts. And it's better than any system that's been made before," said Allan.
Yesterday Google joined the AI arms race with its own version called 'Bard'.
But it's GPT4 turning heads in the tech world.
GPT4 can now ace the bar exam to become a lawyer, or virtually any test designed for humans.
It can also be creative, when asked to turn $100 into as much money as legally possible, it guided one user to create a business now worth $40,000 and counting.
But it's not limited to using language.
Open AI's CEO can be seen sketching an idea for a website on paper, showing the sketch to Chat GPT, and having it build his website in a matter of seconds.
The speed of progress, spooking even Open AIs own founder, Sam Altman.
In a CBS interview, Altman is asked if "you are personally are scared?"
Altman responds by saying "a little bit. If I wasn't, you should be angry I have this job."
But what about everyday people's job security?
"Some people are going to lose their jobs over this because this is a tool that allows you to do tasks more quickly and easily and means you'll need fewer people to get basically the same result," warns Allyn.
However, 'some' might be an understatement.
A recent Cornell University study on GPT found 80 percent of the US workforce could have at least 10 percent of tasks automated.
And nearly a fifth could have at least half their job automated.
But lost jobs might be the least of our worries, according to one of Open AIs original co-founders, Elon Musk.
"When I think about what are the existential threats to humanity - it's AI," said Musk.
And Musk isn't alone.
A 2022 survey asked AI experts 'what probability do you put on human inability to control future advanced AI systems causing human extinction?'
The average response was 10 percent.
Experts here say those fears are overblown.
"It's a big deal, but it's not the end of the world. People are still people. Computers are still computers. The world is still the world. These are just tools. And they can be used for good or they can be used for bad," Allyn told Newshub.
Instead, they say we need to learn from our mistake of being slow to regulate social media.
Tohatoha policy lead Sarah Bickerton said "that's where the problem lies, we are not regulating technologies and that's where we need to act."
This technology is advancing so fast that regulation may not be able to keep up.
We may just have to brace for impact and pick up the pieces afterwards instead.
