ChatGPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can simulate human conversation and write code, will metamorphose application development — and the developer profession — into a different animal, according to industry experts.

More than 1 million users have signed up for ChatGPT’s free research preview since OpenAI released the chatbot on Nov. 30. The bot can write simple webpages and applications in programming languages ​​such as JavaScript, Python and React. It can also find bugs in code and help create new programming languages.

The model interacts in a conversational way and can admit its mistakes, answer follow-up questions, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests, according to OpenAI.

While it cannot yet write complex code, such as what’s required for banking applications, ChatGPT will become a professional coder within the next decade, said Rob Zazueta, a freelance technical consultant in Concord, Calif.

The last iteration of GPT was surprisingly good, but this seems to leave it in the dust. It doesn’t take much imagination at this point to see where this is all going.

“I have a weird mix of existential dread about it… but also a ton of excitement,” he said. “The last iteration of GPT was surprisingly good, but this seems to leave it in the dust. It doesn’t take much imagination at this point to see where this is all going.”

Charlotte Dunlap, an analyst at British market research firm GlobalData, echoed Zazueta’s predictions, but believes the effects will happen much sooner.

“Consider how we’ve gone almost overnight from GitHub’s Copilot autocomplete prompting method of AI-injected coding to a dialogue format via ChatGPT,” he said. “Advancements are happening such that we’ll get there in two to three years.”

But no one knows what form those advancements will take, said Abhishek Gupta, founder and principal researcher at the Montreal AI Ethics Institute. Twelve months ago, no one could have accurately predicted the ubiquity of generative AI systems and the many forms that it is taking today, he said. Similarly, it’s impossible to predict what will happen in three to 10 years.

“Nobody has a crystal ball,” Gupta said. “Trying to make a forecast that’s more than 18 months ahead in time — you might as well just flip a coin.”

Software engineering jobs of the future

One thing that’s in the cards: Developers will no longer have to write boilerplate code, Gupta said. Instead, they can focus on areas such as complex application architecture or cybersecurity.

Zazueta agreed, saying ChatGPT already does a good job at writing working code.

“I can take that, modify it to fit my needs and cut through boilerplate stuff quickly, allowing me to focus on the more intensive kind of work that AI is not yet ready to handle,” he said.

While ChatGPT might replace some aspects of coding, such as writing generic functions or boilerplate code, it won’t support programmers altogether, Zazueta said. That’s because a programmer’s job requires more than coding.

“It takes skill to be a programmer — to be able to structure a program, follow the logic and produce something greater than the sum of its parts,” Zazueta said.

Still, ChatGPT could pave the way for new job titles. Prompt engineering, for example, will become an in-demand skill set in the AI ​​era, he said.

Prompt engineers understand the principles and techniques for writing model inputs to get the best possible results from chatbots. As such, it should be called dark artistry, Gupta said.

“You have to have the right incantation in place that triggers what you want from it,” he said.

The rise of AI coders such as ChatGPT will also lead to an increased demand for software developers versed in data science principles, GlobalData’s Dunlap said. For example, engineers who can design, build and test applications using data science platforms and languages ​​such as Go and Python.

“We did not move through with our original plan of the hourly anchored news programs because we saw where we needed to put our focus and our focus was being nimble to stand up live breaking news at any point of the day,” said Justin Dial, senior executive producer at ABC News Live.

To be clear, ABC News Live has not entirely shelved its original programming plans. It continues to produce nightly prime-time shows anchored by ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis, and in July, it premiered a morning show “ABC News Live Update” hosted by ABC News anchor Diane Macedo. But those shows are designed to be able to adapt and pivot to breaking news coverage, such as when local officials host press conferences regarding coronavirus cases in their states and cities.

“As the summer went on and we were talking about social justice and civil unrest, we knew that we had to have the ability to stand up whether it was live breaking news specials during the day or whether it was last-minute taped specials that we have to put out in the evenings in prime time to put in context what happened that day,” Dial said.

Additionally, ABC News Live has produced shows specifically around the big news that has broken this year. In March, ABC News Live produced “Pandemic: What You Need to Know,” which aired on the streamer as well as ABC’s linear networks and in September became the third hour of “Good Morning America” and was retitled “GMA3: What You Need to Know.”

For traditional news broadcasters like ABC News, having a 24/7 streaming service can be invaluable in a year when even a 24/7 stream seems insufficient to squeeze in all the major stories — or to satisfy news-hungry viewers.

Streaming news viewership has increased throughout 2020, and that growth accelerated leading up to, and following, the US presidential election. In the 90-day period ending Nov. 18, the amount of time people spent streaming news programming increased by 133% compared to the previous 30 days, according to video analytics firm Conviva. Expanding that purview to the 90-day period ending Nov. 18, streaming news watch time was 81% higher than in the previous 90-day period.

“What our research has shown in general is that prime time, especially during Covid, starts at 10 am,” said Conviva CEO Bill Demas.

ABC News Live’s monthly unique viewership reached 31 million people in October, up from 7 million in February, according to an ABC News spokesperson. On average, ABC News Live has added three million new viewers each month between February and October. Much of the streamer’s viewership growth is owed to the election. On Election Day alone, ABC News Live received 20.9 million unique viewers, and that figure rose to 35.8 million unique viewers on the day after the election.

While the amount of time people spend watching ABC News Live per session has “increased a little bit,” the streamer is seeing that the amount of time people are spending watching over the course of the month has also grown, said Kaizar Campwala, vp of business operations and insights at ABC News. An ABC News spokesperson declined to say how much time, on average, viewers spend watching ABC News Live each month, but said that watch time has nearly tripled for its connected TV apps between February and October. “They’re watching more ABC News Live repeatedly,” Campwala said.

Post-election and heading into 2021, the programming strategy for ABC News Live will build on the adaptable nature of its line-up in 2020. That strategy will be primarily oriented around 24/7 breaking news coverage and analysis, but not be limited to that programming.

“We know that what we need to position ourselves in 2021 as well are these hourlong in-depth specials that we created throughout 2020. We did several around the election. We already have some in mind that we’re thinking about that we’re going to be ready to roll out around the inauguration, [the first 100 days of President-Elect Joe Biden’s term] and beyond,” Dial said.

When the University of Notre Dame established an institute for Irish studies in 1992, the general reaction was, “Wait, what, you don’t have one already?” It was, indeed, surprising that the home of the Fighting Irish — where 16 of the 17 presidents had an Irish ancestry — was lacking in scholarship related to Ireland for its first 150 years.

But with the creation of the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, Notre Dame quickly became, in the words of the Chronicle of Higher Education, “the largest program outside of Ireland for teaching and research in Irish language, literature and life.”

Now, the University will expand its study of the Irish with the creation of a center to study modern Ireland, made possible by a leadership gift from Brian and Deidre Clingen.

“The creation and growth of our programs dedicated to Irish history, culture and literature have been among Notre Dame’s significant achievements in its last quarter-century,” said Thomas G. Burish, the Charles and Jill Fischer Provost of the University. “Brian and Deidre have generously supported our Irish studies institute and many other initiatives at Notre Dame for many years, and I am deeply grateful to them for this latest transformative gift.”

Patrick Griffin, director of the Keough-Naughton Institute, added: “Ireland has long been a laboratory for such global themes and developments as empire and colonialism, revolution and rebellion, migration, famine, religious pluralism, conflict resolution and peacekeeping. The Clingens’ generous gift will allow us to take the insights gathered from the past and apply them to the present and the future. It enables us to build on our existing strengths and find a new voice on issues that transfix Ireland and the world.”

The rich history of Ireland is one of trial and triumph. From colonialism, revolution, rebellion and migration, to hunger, human rights, conflict resolution and peacekeeping, the country has faced many of the challenges the world faces today: economic disparity, unequal access to education, border issues and rural development.

The new Clingen Family Center for the Study of Modern Ireland will take the insights gathered from the past and apply them to the present and future. The center will feature new faculty appointments in Irish politics and contemporary culture, exchange programs, postdoctoral and graduate fellowships and student engagement through lecture series, workshops and conferences at Notre Dame and at the University’s properties in Ireland.

Deidre Clingen earned her bachelor’s degree from Saint Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota. Brian Clingen earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from Notre Dame and his master of business administration degree from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management. Brian is the founder and managing partner of BP Capital Management, a private equity firm formed in 1998. The firm manages equity and debt investments primarily in the service and finance sectors. The Clingens’ three daughters graduated from Notre Dame: Brittany ’09, Amanda ’12 and Shelby ’16.

The Clingens’ previous support of Notre Dame initiatives related to Ireland include generous gifts toward the Kylemore Abbey project, the documentary film “1916: The Irish Rebellion,” the Dublin Internship Program, the Keough-Naughton director initiatives, the Irish language and literature discretionary fund and the Keough summer intern program. They also have supported international student scholarships and athletics. They are members of the University’s Cavanaugh Council and Boldly Notre Dame Campaign Cabinet, and Brian is a member of the Ireland Advisory Council.

The Clingen Family Center for the Study of Modern Ireland will be a part of the Keough-Naughton Institute, a teaching and research institute within the Keough School of Global Affairs that is dedicated to the study and understanding of Irish culture in all of its manifestations.

Since it was established in 1992 under the leadership of the acclaimed Irish poet, novelist, critic and historian Seamus Deane, the Keough-Naughton Institute has been home to renowned scholars of literature, history, film, television, theater and many other fields. It is regularly supplemented by visiting professors, some of whom come to Notre Dame as Naughton Fellows in a reciprocal arrangement with Irish universities.

The institute features undergraduate courses with a minor in Irish studies and a Dublin program based at Dublin Global Gateway on Merrion Square, where students take classes from Notre Dame faculty and enroll in courses at University College Dublin, Trinity College Dublin and the National College of Art and Design. In addition, internships place students in positions in Dublin related to politics, commerce, and culture and society. Graduate students in Anthropology, English, History, Political Science, and Theology doctoral programs at Notre Dame can also pursue a graduate minor in Irish studies.

Notre Dame’s presence in Ireland also features the Kylemore Abbey Global Centre, which hosts courses, retreats and events at the Benedictine monastery founded in 1920 on the grounds of Kylemore Castle in County Galway on the country’s west coast. The University also stewards Newman University Church in Dublin and operates the Notre Dame-Newman Center for Faith and Reason. The church was constructed in 1856 under the direction of St. John Henry Newman.

In conjunction with the 2020 Notre Dame-Navy football game in Dublin, the University will sponsor a wide array of academic, cultural and faith events throughout the city, similar in scope to programming in 2012 when the two institutions also competed in the Irish capital.

The Clingens’ gift is a component of the Boldly Notre Dame capital campaign.