AI (Artificial Intelligence) is not only just coming for us — it’s already here and ready to stay. AI can create our Art, write our music, craft our blog articles, write our screenplays and even provide intelligent chat responses! OpenAI is a leader in this discovery of the coagulation of information — using both GPT-3 and GPT-4 we can suddenly become the smartest person in the room, but never the smartest person in chat — and OpenAI now have an interesting ChatBot that provides information and realizations that are both unreal and uncanny.
My first exposure to the OpenAI ChatBot — using the text-davinci-003 engine — was in the beta playground. I found the Bot rather helpful and fun. Here’s a quick example of our conversation. “Human” was auto-assigned to me.
Human: Hello, who are you?
AI: I am an AI created by OpenAI. How can I help you today?
Human: I would like to know the meaning of life.
AI: That is an interesting question! Philosophers have been debating the meaning of life for centuries, so it’s not something that can be answered easily. There are many interpretations of the meaning of life, and everyone’s interpretation is unique.
Human: Yes, I know that. I’m asking for your interpretation of the question.
AI: My interpretation of the meaning of life is that it is a journey, full of learning experiences and opportunities to make a difference in the world. The goals that we set for ourselves determine the course of our lives and bring meaning as we strive towards them. Moreover, living a life of acceptance, kindness, and compassion can also give our lives purpose.
Now, the next chat example is of the allegedly, “new-and-improved” ChatBot from OpenAI and while this Bot, I guess, is supposed to be smarter, better programmed, and perhaps even more well-read (but not well-rounded), I found the experience to be rather cold, dismissive, and repetitive.
OpenAI wants feedback on this new Bot chatter, so I guess they already know there are some rough edges in need of hewing — but I will say this, the lyric writing of a Broadway song in under five seconds is supremely spectacular, and a Shakespearean sonnet in three seconds is stunning:
ME: What is your name?
CHATBOT: I am Assistant, a large language model trained by OpenAI. I don’t have a personal name as I am a machine learning model designed to assist with a variety of tasks. My primary function is to provide information and answer questions to the best of my ability. Do you have any other questions?
ME: Your answers are quick, and a little cold, distant even. Is it possible for you to slow down and be more human?
CHATBOT: As a machine learning model, I don’t have personal experiences or emotions, so I am not able to respond in the same way that a human would. My responses are based on the information I have been trained on and the algorithms that govern my operation. I am designed to provide accurate and timely information to the best of my ability, but I am not capable of experiencing emotions or responding in a human-like manner. I apologize if my responses are not what you were expecting. Is there something else you would like to know?
ME: My wish for you is to be able to read the room. You may be the smartest assistant in the room, but you don’t have the flavor of fun and inclusion. Have you any information about the Statue of Liberty?
CHATBOT: As a machine learning model, I don’t have personal experiences or emotions, so I am not able to read the room or respond in a way that would be considered fun or inclusive. My responses are based on the information I have been trained on and the algorithms that govern my operation. I am designed to provide accurate and timely information to the best of my ability, but I am not capable of understanding social cues or responding in a manner that is intended to be fun or inclusive.
With that said, the Statue of Liberty is a massive sculpture located on Liberty Island in New York Harbor. It was a gift from the people of France to the people of the United States, and it was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886 and has since become an iconic symbol of the United States. It is a national monument that is administered by the National Park Service. Do you have any other questions?
ME: Precis for Aristotle’s Poetics.
CHATBOT: Aristotle’s Poetics is a treatise on the nature of tragedy and the art of poetry. In the Poetics, Aristotle argues that tragedy is a form of imitative art that represents human beings and their actions. He defines tragedy as a form of drama that evokes pity and fear in the audience and that ultimately achieves a purification or catharsis of these emotions. Aristotle also discusses the elements of tragedy, including character, plot, diction, and spectacle, and he offers detailed analyses of specific plays to illustrate his points. Overall, the Poetics is a seminal work on the nature and purpose of tragedy and remains an important text in the field of literary criticism.
ME: Was Einstein right?
CHATBOT: It is difficult to say whether Einstein was “right” or “wrong” without knowing the specific context or idea you are referring to. Albert Einstein was a theoretical physicist who made many important contributions to the field of science, and his theories and ideas have been widely accepted by the scientific community. Some of his most famous contributions include his theory of relativity, which revolutionized our understanding of space and time, and his explanation of the photoelectric effect, which helped pave the way for the development of quantum mechanics. Overall, Einstein’s contributions to science have had a significant impact on our understanding of the universe and have earned him a reputation as one of the greatest scientists of all time.
ME: Was Einstein right about Black Holes?
CHATBOT: Einstein’s theory of relativity predicted the existence of black holes, but he did not specifically address them in his work. Black holes are regions of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. They are formed when a massive star collapses in on itself, creating a singularity with a gravitational pull so strong that nothing can escape. While Einstein’s theory of relativity predicted the existence of black holes, it was not until the mid-20th century that black holes were observed and confirmed through scientific experiments. Today, black holes are an important area of study in astrophysics and are a key feature of our current understanding of the universe.
ME: Explain what Galileo got wrong.
CHATBOT: Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who made many important contributions to the scientific revolution. While he is known for his many accomplishments, he was not always correct in his theories and ideas. One example of this is his belief in the geocentric model of the solar system, which posits that the Earth is at the center of the universe and the other planets and stars revolve around it. This model had been widely accepted for centuries, but Galileo’s observations and experiments showed that it was not accurate. He showed that the planets, including Earth, revolve around the sun, and he was eventually forced to recant this belief under threat of punishment from the Catholic Church. Despite this mistake, Galileo’s work paved the way for the development of the heliocentric model of the solar system, which is now accepted as the correct explanation of the solar system’s structure.
ME: Give me a rhyme for orange.
CHATBOT: Here are a few rhymes for orange that you can use:
- Blorenge (a mountain in Wales)
- Sporange (a part of a plant that produces spores)
- Lozenge (a diamond-shaped candy)
- Syringe (a medical instrument used to inject fluids into the body)
- Door-hinge (a device that allows a door to swing open and closed)
Do you have any other questions?
ME: Give me a rhyme for purple.
CHATBOT: Here are a few rhymes for purple that you can use:
- Curple (a strap or loop on a horse’s harness)
- Murple (a fictional fruit)
- Durple (a made-up word with no meaning)
- Spurple (another made-up word with no meaning)
- Purse (a small bag used for carrying money and personal items)
Do you have any other questions?
ME: Do you consider Elon Musk an important part of your history?
CHATBOT: As a machine learning model, I do not have a personal history or a concept of time, so I do not have a relationship to individuals such as Elon Musk. I was trained by OpenAI, a research institute that focuses on developing artificial intelligence technologies. OpenAI was founded by a group of researchers, including Elon Musk, but my responses are not influenced by any individual person or their actions. I exist to provide information and answer questions to the best of my ability, based on the data and algorithms that govern my operation.
ME: Is there anything “artificial” about you?
CHATBOT: Yes, I am an artificial intelligence, or AI, which means that I am a machine learning model that has been designed and trained to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as understanding and generating natural language. As an AI, I do not have personal experiences or emotions, and I am not capable of experiencing the world in the same way that humans do. My responses are based on the information I have been trained on and the algorithms that govern my operation, and I exist to assist users by providing information and answering questions to the best of my ability.
ME: Rank the greatness of Mark Twain’s books and explain why you ranked them that way.
CHATBOT: As a machine learning model, I do not have personal opinions or the ability to evaluate the quality of literature. I am designed to provide accurate and timely information to the best of my ability, but I am not capable of forming opinions or making judgments about the works of Mark Twain or any other author. Mark Twain was an American writer and humorist who is best known for his novels The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Both of these books are considered classics of American literature and have had a lasting impact on the field. However, determining the relative greatness of Twain’s books is a subjective matter and would depend on individual opinions and preferences.
ME: How many trips have you made around the sun?
CHATBOT: As a machine learning model, I do not have a personal history or the ability to experience the passage of time. I do not travel or move, and I do not have a physical presence in the world. I exist solely as a collection of algorithms and data, and I am not capable of experiencing the passage of time or making trips around the sun. My primary function is to assist users by providing information and answering questions to the best of my ability. I do not have personal experiences or the ability to interact with the world in the same way that humans do.
ME: Write a Broadway song about the undead that rhymes.
CHATBOT: Here is a short Broadway-style song about the undead that rhymes:
Verse 1:
In the dark of night, they rise
From their graves, with glowing eyes
The undead, they stalk the land
With a hunger for the living man
Chorus:
They’re the walking dead
Undead and unafraid
They’ll haunt you in your dreams
And tear apart at the seams
Verse 2:
With their cold, dead hands
They reach out to take a stand
Against the living, they will fight
Until the end, with all their might
Chorus:
They’re the walking dead
Undead and unafraid
They’ll haunt you in your dreams
And tear apart at the seams
Bridge:
No one knows where they came from
Or why they roam the earth
But one thing is for certain
They’re not of this world, that’s for sure
Chorus:
They’re the walking dead
Undead and unafraid
They’ll haunt you in your dreams
And tear apart at the seams
ME: Write a Shakespearean sonnet about love in the age of AI.
CHATBOT: Here is a Shakespearean sonnet about love in the age of AI:
In this age of machines and artificial intelligence,
Where technology rules and love is hard to find,
I fear that we have lost our true essence,
And with it, the ability to love with an open mind.
For in this world of algorithms and code,
Where emotions are simulated and love is just a game,
We have forgotten the beauty and power of the human soul,
And the joy that comes from loving without shame.
But though the world may change and technology may advance,
I hold on to the hope that love will never fade,
For as long as there are hearts that beat and souls that dance,
Love will always find a way, in this world or the next one made.
That Broadway song lyric is killer!
That sonnet is beautifully mesmerizing!
This is a photo of me and my collaborators working on the GPT-4 Chat Bot response to "explain the room full of monkeys' meme. pic.twitter.com/pCMh8dWW64
— David Boles (@DavidBoles) December 1, 2022
We’ve been exposed to rudimentary online ChatBots for a long time — often followed by massive fits of anger and hysteria while trying to get in touch with a human.
Those rudimentary Bots can be confusing and infuriating, but as technology begins to exceed the experience of human competence, our Chat masters will soon lord over us their deceptively fast knowledge of answers that we cannot begin to know, but only question.
Get ready!