“Good morning, ChatGPT, Can We Become Friends?” An Interdisciplinary Scholar’s Experience of ‘Getting Acquainted’ with the OpenAI’s Chat GPT: An Auto Ethnographical Report

Purpose: This article follows the technique of autoethnography and as such includes the author’s experience with, and reflections on, using the OpenAI’s ChatGPT for helping with teaching materials on the one hand and for having existential conversations on the other. Design/Methodology/Approach: Apart from trying ChatGPT for professional purposes, the author also confronted ChatGPT with a number of concepts related to the chat’s identity as well as the human nature in order to see how far this creation can go into a casual talk about life without the conversation breaking down. This resulted in a sort of autoethnography, alongside quite an interesting conversation. The assumption behind the choice of this particular technique is that, “[s]temming from the field of anthropology, autoathnography shares the storytelling feature with other genres of self-narrative but transcends mere narration of self to engage in cultural analysis in interpretation”. Findings: Possibly, it is the first – or one of the first – instance(s) of applying the qualitative technique of autoethnography to researching ChatGPT. With this in mind, this article is by no means representative and does not use actual research into perceptions and attitudes of the population using ChatGPT. Practical Implications: It is meant to serve as a certain invitation to consider ChatGPT as an object worth researching and analysing from the perspective of multiple disciplines and multiple methodological approached focused on the social, humanistic element, but also as a tool one can enjoy and use for an overall daily assistance. Originality/value: In this light, the purpose of these considerations is overall reflection on the social impact of technological breakthroughs such as the introduction of a powerful artificial intelligence tool (here – ChatGPT).