Chat GPT is a free online service that is powered by AI. You can ask it mostly anything, it will search the web, and within seconds it will provide an answer. People have been able to write whole essays, and influence the style in which they were written. I decided to try and ask AI about something so niche, most people have not even heard that it even exists. I have decided to ask AI about synchronized figure skating, and what has been recently developing in that community. For context I was a synchronized figure skater for about eight years of my life, and it is when 16 or less people skate on ice together while connected with their arms.
To begin I just simply asked the AI bot “What is synchronized figure skating?”. In response to this AI was able to give me a pretty comprehensive definition. They were able to give a detailed description of different elements that are judged in each performance, including: formation skating, synchronized movements, musical interpretation, and precision. They also talked about the specific team levels, age groups, and time commitment involved with this sport. I was honestly quite impressed with the answer to this question. Chat GPT even was able to find the nickname most people call the sport, which is just a shortened version of the full name, called “Synchro”. While a basic question, I felt I was really able to pull together a very well written and understandable.
I decided that I next wanted to ask Chat GPT a much narrower question. Synchronized figure skating is not currently an event at the Olympics. Adding “synchro” to the Olympics is a heavily debated topic, as every other on icesport is an event at the Olympics, and also there are international competitions. So with this I decided to just ask Chat GPT about the current status of synchronized skating on the international level.
To begin this questioning process I just asked simply if synchro was an Olympic sport. Ai was able to provide me with a basic answer, but ended up talking about just the Winter Olympic Games in general, and how the sports are chosen by the “International Olympic Committee”. So my answer was satisfactory, I assumed that Ai was probably running out of information about this specific niche within the skating community. I was completely wrong. I then got a little narrower and asked “What are people doing to change the minds of the International Olympic Committee to have synchronized figure skating included as an Olympic sport?”. The response I received layed out a seven step plan for potential inclusion of this sport to the olympics. As well as how the International Skating Union, and their control over the sport and its status.
I am not a fan of Ai. I have never felt completely comfortable with the idea, and when I hear about the daily innovations that are being made within this field I choose to ignore and move on. I was expecting to stump Ai, and I honestly really wanted to. While the explanations were not exactly the most descriptive, for the content I chose to ask it about, it was quite impressive.