Life-changing chatbot…
THE arrival and impressive performance of the generative artificial intelligence chatbot, ChatGPT has left the world stunned, but also wary of its impact. The chatbot is indeed remarkable — an all-knowing bot that can provide text-based responses to questions about complicated science, fulfil requests to write college-level essays, and much more. Such an AI tool can be used across industries. Specifically, academics and journalists can use it to produce written work that is researched and structured. In fact, some Western media outlets are already experimenting with this technology, with varying degrees of success. One outlet experimented with the bot to determine whether it could “efficiently assist” their journalists in using publicly available facts to create content. The results were impressive, but required fact-checking, proofreading and editing by journalists. Still, they provided a window into a future where bots could overtake large functions of a journalist’s job. A study published in Finance Research Letters showed that ChatGPT could be successfully used to write a finance paper fit for an academic journal, and that after adding human expertise to cover the programme’s limitations, the end result was positive. Many have even begun to view such an AI bot as an alternative to search engines — and a better one at that as its answers are much more detailed.
However, despite its human-like responses, the chatbot is not without its flaws. It is important to know that while ChatGPT has been trained on text data, one of its primary drawbacks is that it lacks creativity and personality. Typically, content generated by AI can be devoid of emotion, and can therefore be less engaging for readers. Secondly, because it lacks the ability to contextualise information, it can lead to factual errors. And then, there is always the issue of unethical behaviour, such as when students are tempted to use chatbots for writing assignments rather than applying their own skills. Chat GPT is an opportunity — but one with limitations.
Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2023
Dog-bite cases
AWAY from the hurly-burly of politics, Pakistan’s considerable healthcare challenges cry out for attention. Amongst these challenges is the problem rabies poses to public health in the country. According to a recent journal article authored by experts at the Karachi-based Indus Hospital, 129 people died from rabies in Sindh between 2009 and 2019. The study reveals disturbing realities about the state of rabies prevention, and about the condition of public healthcare in general in Sindh. The reported deaths are based on data gathered by the Indus Hospital and the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. If data from Sindh’s other hospitals were added, the total could be higher. After all, the Sindh health minister said on the floor of the provincial assembly in December 2022 that in the first 10 months of that year alone, thousands of dog-bite cases had been reported in the province. Coming back to the study, it points out that most people are not aware of how to treat a dog-bite wound and if not treated effectively, a bite from a rabid animal can prove 100pc fatal. Moreover, 97pc of patients did not receive complete vaccination, while most cases involved children and young adults. The study also exposes the sad condition of public healthcare in Sindh, pointing out that most health facilities do not follow rabies prevention protocols, while anti-rabies vaccines are not available at medical facilities where victims profiled by the study initially reported. Perhaps what is most shocking is that in 60pc of the cases, patients had to travel to Karachi for treatment, in some instances over 550km from northern Sindh to the port city.
It is necessary to ramp up programmes to vaccinate and sterilise dogs to reduce the stray canine population. People also need to be advised on how to treat bite wounds, and to get medical help immediately. Equally important is the need to ensure that qualified medical staffers and anti-rabies vaccines are available in all districts, so that victims do not have to journey hundreds of kilometres for treatment. Here the Sindh government must pay particular attention to the province’s poor health infrastructure. The administration has of late been concentrating on big-ticket projects such as cardiac centres. While these too are important, ensuring that basic health units in Sindh have the staff and equipment to meet medical emergencies is absolutely crucial.
Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2023
Dickensian misery
This will be perhaps the toughest Ramazan that most of our young citizenry has experienced in their entire lives: food prices skyrocketing due to increased demand, energy prices at unbearable levels, and new taxes carving out a large slice from household incomes.
In addition, analysts are already warning that we can expect inflationary pressures to get progressively worse over the remainder of the month.
Only the privileged few may still be able to enjoy the little luxuries of this month of fasts and feasts — elaborate iftar buffets, or even breaking bread with friends and extended family. For the vast majority, it will be spent worrying about how to put two square meals on the table as they deal with the worst economic crisis this country has seen in recent memory.
Consider the news: short-term inflation had surged to an eye-watering 46.7pc year-over-year in the week that ended on March 22, with onion, wheat, gas, petrol and diesel, tea, rice and egg prices almost double or more of what they were last year. Even compared to just a week earlier, prices were up by 2pc, led by a 72pc increase in tomato prices, a 42pc increase in wheat prices, around 11pc increase in the prices of potatoes and bananas, and a more than 7pc increase in the price of tea. The numbers show that Pakistanis are losing their purchasing power almost by the day — in other words, they can afford to purchase less food than they could just a day before.
If one wants a measure of how desperately destitute the most vulnerable segments of our society have become, one need only go over recent reports of stampedes and general chaos at the various distribution points where government officials have been handing out bags of wheat. There are reports of people passing away from exhaustion as they waited for a handout: an elderly man in Toba Tek Singh, and a woman in Muzaffargarh.
Meanwhile, retailers have continued with their hoarding and cruel profiteering. Price gouging seems to have become as integral a part of Pakistan’s Ramazan traditions as sehri and iftar. Despite the administration issuing official price lists for various items, shop owners set their own rates based on their whims and desires. Reason with them, and they have excuses aplenty about the official rates being ‘unrealistic’ and ‘unfair’.
In Sindh, the provincial administration has mobilised 100 officers to check profiteering in Karachi and given them magisterial powers to enforce official rates. It remains to be seen whether the measure will improve or worsen the situation. Such efforts usually target the end retailer instead of the actual decision-makers manipulating the markets from behind the scenes. Unless the real culprits are brought to book, it is unlikely anything will change.
Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2023