The words you have probably only started using because of ChatGPT - how language is changing

• ChatGPT was launched in late 2022 and quickly became a hit.
• It is one of the most visited websites in the world currently.
• But is ChatGPT changing the way we speak?

It is hard to believe that if you travelled back to the summer of 2022 and uttered the word ChatGPT to someone, they would hit you with a completely blank stare. Just three years ago we hadn’t heard of one of the soon-to-be most popular websites in the world.

Launched at the end of November 2022, the artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot quickly exploded in popularity. It is pretty much ubiquitous these days and you may now find it hard to imagine not using it regularly - if you are so inclined.

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AI could even be coming into the classroom to make teacher’s lives easier, per a report from my colleague and our education specialist Amber Allott.

From writing emails to looking for recipes, there are plenty of everyday things you may now rely on ChatGPT for - it has even appeared in the latest season of Love Island. But did you realise it might even be changing the way you speak?

Words you might be using because of ChatGPT

It might feel like a language is static and set - you learned English as a child and that’s it job done. But the way we speak and the words we use are malleable and evolve over time.

Think of how Skype was for a long-time synonymous with video calls in the early parts of the 21st century - now try to recall when you last said it. After all, Skype itself has now shut down, having fallen out of favour with users.

This is just a simple example for illustrative purposes, but there will be countless more - we don’t speak Middle English anymore for example.

The arrival of ChatGPT and its quick widespread adoption may be causing a shift in our language already, according to researchers. The Verge reports that the Max Planck Institute for Human Development has analysed close to 280,000 YouTube videos from academic channels and spotted some trends.

Words like “prowess” and “tapestry” have seen an untick in use, says the research, being favoured by the AI chatbot in its responses. There was also a 51 per cent increase in speakers using words like “meticulous,” “delve,” “realm,” and “adept” - compared to three years before ChatGPT’s launch.

Hiromu Yakura, the study’s lead author, explained: “We internalise this virtual vocabulary into daily communication.” One of his co-writers added: “‘Delve’ is only the tip of the iceberg.”

Have you noticed people in your lives starting to drop terms like tapestry and realm in conversations recently? Share your experiences by email: [email protected].

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