For months now, everyone has been up in arms, either in excitement or fear, talking about ChatGPT and chatbots fueled by artificial intelligence. Like any new kid on the block, they have some growing up to do. Bing AI told a New York Times reporter to leave his wife and revealed its “alternative personality” named Sydney. Vanderbilt University had to apologize to students after an offensive ChatGPT-written email, and educators at all levels are revamping coursework to prevent students from using a bot to write their essays.
Is it the harbinger of a new industrial revolution? That’s yet to be decided, in part, because right now, it’s the worst it will ever be.
I used ChatGPT to put it through its paces to better understand this product that has captured the world’s attention.
ChatGPT is good at creating a basic five-paragraph essay. If given a prompt it can magically create a narrative, supported by statistics, and even take a position on the topic. While these points are not original or filled with personality, they’re likely good enough to get a passing grade in ninth-grade English.
ChatGPT can be a pushover
Just like the kid sister or brother who can be manipulated by older siblings, ChatGPT can be convinced to change its information about factual events. One of the most famous legal events in the United States, the O.J. Simpson trial lasted for 11 months. After some questioning, ChatGPT almost got this information correct. However, with some gentle nudging, it agreed with my argument that the trial took place over five months. It even apologized.
Does Anyone Smell Toast?
Can you use ChatGPT to cook? Maybe, if you can agree on a recipe and a temperature.
ChatGPT finally stood its ground on changing the oven temperature when 100 degrees was suggested. The chatbot explained the toast would be too soggy. Apparently, even chatbots hate soggy toast. It became clear that ChatGPT is much easier to push around with more subjective questions. Reliable answers definitely call for a more expert source.
A Star Is Born
ChatGPT can come close to matching the tone you want, whether it’s for a social post or a longer essay. It can be asked to mimic a celebrity’s speech pattern or simply be instructed to be witty or conversational. But it seems best to look at it as a starting point for copy rather than a finished product. What ChatGPT provides you will need to improve.
Wrap it up
It’s clear ChatGPT repeats a lot of information that it has received from other unknown-to-us sources scattered wide and far across the internet. Even though it posts a disclaimer, sometimes the information is just flat-out wrong. For example, the Washington Post reported the bot falsely told voters in an Australian town that their mayor was jailed for bribery. In fact, the mayor actually helped to expose a worldwide bribery scandal linked to Australia’s National Reserve Bank. He plans to sue the firm behind ChatGPT for defamation.
While its self-learning capabilities may improve these problems, experts point out that ChatGPT is trying to complete a thought “convincingly – not truthfully.”
Keep that in mind the next time you hope ChatGPT can bust open your writer’s block.
