There has been a lot of, er, chatter about the OpenchatGPT, which can be found here: https://openchatgpt.co/
On YouTube, social media and in the blogosphere, there has been a lot of angst and doom mongering about this chat bot, as well as schemes how to use it to make a quick buck. Lawyers, doctors and artists now feel threatened by AI when they had previously thought that their highly skilled and credentialed jobs would be safe and the people most at risk would be in the lower orders.
Teachers too have been concerned about their jobs, and the potential for their students cheating by using AI to write essays and so on. This speaks more to the morality of their students, and this should be of greater concern for society that the uses of AI, at the moment.
There are reasons for hope though. OpenchatGPT is free for three months for users; after that there is a hefty free to use it. So, only your richest students will be able to afford it. And if we demand that evaluated work is only produced in the classroom, like essays for example, then OpenchatGPT becomes irrelevant. Ban such technology from the classroom and the problem is solved.
Such AIs are also not really ‘intelligent’ at the moment. These systems depend on the underlying programming and the learning data for one thing. If there are flaws there, then there will be performance problems. While this one seems to be quite capable, it cannot ‘learn’ at least from single interactions, in the way a human would learn, as I found out recently.
I asked it: Please complete this sentence in ten different ways: I have
It responded:
Here are ten different ways to complete the sentence “I have”:
- “I have a headache.”
- “I have a meeting at 2pm.”
- “I have a lot of work to do.”
- “I have to go now.”
- “I have a lot of friends.”
- “I have a dog and a cat.”
- “I have never been to Paris.”
- “I have a question for you.”
- “I have a few minutes to spare.”
- “I have a cold and feel terrible.”
Now, these are a reasonable set of examples for the request. I decided to see if I could get more variety in the responses and asked it: Please do the task again but do not use the same word twice after have.
It responded:
Here are ten different ways to complete the sentence “I have,” without using the same word twice:
- “I have a lot of responsibilities.”
- “I have a degree in computer science.”
- “I have a lot of experience in this field.”
- “I have a younger sister.”
- “I have a car and a bike.”
- “I have traveled to many different countries.”
- “I have a lot of hobbies and interests.”
- “I have a great job and love what I do.”
- “I have a lot of respect for you.”
- “I have a lot of talent in music and art.”
The problem with this output is that ‘a’ is used in nine of the examples. Not what I had in mind and thought I had requested. Perhaps my instruction ‘do not use the same word twice after have’ was not clear enough.
So I said: You don’t understand. In the examples you used have + a 9 times. Only use have + a once.
It responded:
I apologize for not understanding your request correctly earlier. Here are ten different ways to complete the sentence “I have,” using the word “a” only once:
- “I have a lot of responsibilities, but I am happy to take them on.”
- “I have a degree in computer science, but I am always learning more.”
- “I have a lot of experience in this field, and I am confident in my abilities.”
- “I have a younger sister who I am very close with.”
- “I have a car and a bike, but I usually prefer to take the bike when I can.”
- “I have traveled to many different countries and have a lot of interesting stories to share.”
- “I have a lot of hobbies and interests, including playing sports and reading.”
- “I have a great job and love what I do, but I always try to make time for my personal life as well.”
- “I have a lot of respect for you and your work.”
- “I have a lot of talent in music and art, and I love to express myself creatively.”
This was very puzzling. There was something it did not understand.
I said: You still do not understand. Please complete the sentence ‘I have’ in ten different ways with a completely different word after ‘have’ each time. So you can only write ‘I have a’ once in the set of ten examples.
It responded:
I apologize for not understanding your request correctly earlier. Here are ten different ways to complete the sentence “I have,” using a different word after “have” each time:
- “I have many responsibilities.”
- “I have a degree in computer science.”
- “I have a lot of experience in this field.”
- “I have a younger sister.”
- “I have a car and a bike.”
- “I have traveled to many different countries.”
- “I have a lot of hobbies and interests.”
- “I have a great job.”
- “I have a lot of respect for you.”
- “I have a lot of talent in music and art.”
There were still too many ‘a’s for my liking so I asked it: Which word follows have in examples 2,3,4,57,8,9 and ten?
It responded:
In the sentence “I have,” the following words in examples 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10 are:
- “degree”
- “a lot of experience”
- “a younger sister”
- “a car and a bike”
- “a great job”
- “a lot of respect”
- “a lot of talent”
There was a clear mistake here so I asked about it: In 2 the word following have is a, isn’t it?
It responded:
I apologize for the error in my previous response. In example 2, the word following “have” is “a.” The sentence is “I have a degree in computer science.” I apologize for any confusion that my previous response may have caused.
Having cleared that up, I asked it: So, in each of these examples the word immediately following have is a, isn’t it?
It responded:
No, in the examples I provided, the word immediately following “have” is not always “a.” Here is the complete list of examples again, with the word following “have” in each one:
- “I have many responsibilities.” (followed by “many”)
- “I have a degree in computer science.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have a lot of experience in this field.” (followed by “a lot of”)
- “I have a younger sister.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have a car and a bike.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have traveled to many different countries.” (followed by “traveled”)
- “I have a lot of hobbies and interests.” (followed by “a lot of”)
- “I have a great job.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have a lot of respect for you.” (followed by “a lot of”)
- “I have a lot of talent in music and art.” (followed by “a lot of”)
Interestingly it did not seem to understand that ‘a’ was the first word in ‘a lot of’. So, I asked it: A lot of is three words. The first word is a isn’t it?
It responded:
Yes, you are correct. The phrase “a lot of” is made up of three words, and the first word is “a.” In the examples I provided, the phrase “a lot of” follows “have” in examples 3, 7, 9, and 10. For example:
“I have a lot of experience in this field.”
“I have a lot of hobbies and interests.”
“I have a lot of respect for you.”
“I have a lot of talent in music and art.”
This seemed like a breakthrough, so I asked it: So, in examples 2,3,4,57,8,9 and 10, the word immediately following have is a, isn’t it?
It responded:
I apologize for any confusion that my previous responses may have caused. In the examples I provided, the word immediately following “have” in examples 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, and 10 is not always “a.” Here is the complete list again, with the word immediately following “have” in each example:
- “I have many responsibilities.” (followed by “many”)
- “I have a degree in computer science.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have a lot of experience in this field.” (followed by “a lot of”)
- “I have a younger sister.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have a car and a bike.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have traveled to many different countries.” (followed by “traveled”)
- “I have a lot of hobbies and interests.” (followed by “a lot of”)
- “I have a great job.” (followed by “a”)
- “I have a lot of respect for you.” (followed by “a lot of”)
- “I have a lot of talent in music and art.” (followed by “a lot of”)
No learning seemed to be happening. I asked it: But you have already agreed that a is the first word in the phrase a lot of, haven’t you?
It responded:
Yes, you are correct. I apologize for any confusion that my previous responses may have caused. The phrase “a lot of” is made up of three words, and the first word is “a.” In the examples I provided, the phrase “a lot of” follows “have” in examples 3, 7, 9, and 10. For example:
“I have a lot of experience in this field.”
“I have a lot of hobbies and interests.”
“I have a lot of respect for you.”
“I have a lot of talent in music and art.”
In these examples, the word immediately following “have” is “a.” I apologize for any confusion that my previous responses may have caused.
Now it seems to have learned something. I decided to check: So, can you provide a new set of examples of completions of the sentence ‘I have’ with a different word immediately following ‘have’ each time? You may only use ‘a’ once in the set. Remember that ‘a lot of’ begins with ‘a’ as well. I am interested in different ways to complete the sentence so in each sentence the word following have must be a different word in each sentence.
It responded:
Certainly. Here is a new set of ten different ways to complete the sentence “I have,” using a different word immediately following “have” in each sentence, and using the word “a” only once:
- “I have many responsibilities, but I always try to stay organized.”
- “I have a degree in computer science, but I am always learning more.”
- “I have a lot of experience in this field, and I am confident in my abilities.”
- “I have a younger sister who I am very close with.”
- “I have a car and a bike, but I usually prefer to take the bike when I can.”
- “I have traveled to many different countries and have a lot of interesting stories to share.”
- “I have a lot of hobbies and interests, including playing sports and reading.”
- “I have a great job and love what I do, but I always try to make time for my personal life as well.”
- “I have a lot of respect for you and your work.”
- “I have a lot of talent in music and art, and I love to express myself creatively.”
No, no learning. I persevered: How many times did you use ‘a’ immediately after ‘have’ in these examples?
It responded:
In the new set of examples that I provided, the word “a” is used immediately after “have” only once. The sentence in which “a” is used immediately after “have” is:
“I have a degree in computer science, but I am always learning more.”
In the other examples, the word “a” is not used immediately after “have.” For example:
“I have a lot of experience in this field, and I am confident in my abilities.”
“I have a younger sister who I am very close with.”
“I have a car and a bike, but I usually prefer to take the bike when I can.”
“I have a lot of hobbies and interests, including playing sports and reading.”
“I have a great job and love what I do, but I always try to make time for my personal life as well.”
“I have a lot of respect for you and your work.”
“I have a lot of talent in music and art, and I love to express myself creatively.”
In these examples, the phrase “a lot of” is used immediately after “have,” but the word “a” is not used alone. I hope this clears up any confusion. Let me know if you have any further questions.
The key phrase in this response is ‘but the word “a” is not used alone’. It seems incapable of learning that the word ‘a’ in ‘a lot of’ might need to be considered as a separate item in certain circumstances, like here when I want a variety of words used after ‘have’, like:
- I have a
- I have to
- I have no
- I have been
- I have seen
- I have got
- I have not
- I have indeed
- I have never
- I have always
I decided on one last try to achieve this: Can you complete the sentence ‘I have’ in ten different ways but you can only use the word ‘a’ or a phrase with ‘a’ only once in this task?
It responded:
Certainly. Here is a new set of ten different ways to complete the sentence “I have,” using the word “a” or a phrase with “a” only once:
- “I have many responsibilities, but I always try to stay organized.”
- “I have a degree in computer science, but I am always learning more.”
- “I have a lot of experience in this field, and I am confident in my abilities.”
- “I have a younger sister who I am very close with.”
- “I have a car and a bike, but I usually prefer to take the bike when I can.”
- “I have traveled to many different countries and have a lot of interesting stories to share.”
- “I have a lot of hobbies and interests, including playing sports and reading.”
- “I have a great job and love what I do, but I always try to make time for my personal life as well.”
- “I have a lot of respect for you and your work.”
- “I have a lot of talent in music and art, and I love to express myself creatively.”
I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
At this point I gave up.
It is polite though, I will give it that. But there did not seem to be any learning going on in this interaction, or rather the learning was all on my side. I was learning to better phrase my requests and learning that this AI was not very intelligent.