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by BiteCode_dev 1251 days ago
Those are human traits.

ChatGPT is not human, and cannot be more assertive, authoritative or lying than Python.

If you give python "0.1 + 0.3", it will instantly, and without a doubt, output "0.30000000000000004". Is Python arrogantly thinking it's right and misleading you?

Of course not. This last sentence makes no sense, Python is just a program that does what it's programmed to do.

But because ChatGPT is using natural language as a UI, it triggers a very irrational response in humans interacting with it.

We are starting to anthropomorphize it, use adjective like "assertive", "authoritative", and "lie" to label its output, which is like calling Covid cruel and vicious because it kills old people, or a NPC lazy because it does not work to pay for its food.

There is no intent of ChatGPT to deceive or justify its supposed lies. There is only a program that does what's its programmed to do, and shows its limitations.

What do you expect, that is says "I think it's x but I can be wrong with a confidence interval of z" with every answer? Do you expect google to tell that when it outputs the results?

GPT is not talking to you. It's an output. It's not confident. It's a program printing text matching statistical analysis.

It's worrying that such a simple program is already close enough to the real thing that people, even on HN, are already attributing it character.

It reminds me of this scene from community with the pen named Steve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z906aLyP5fg

2 comments

It's true that ChatGPT is just a program, a machine, and that we are "starting to anthropomorphize" it. But that's what it wants! (Or, what its makers want.)

> Do you expect google to tell that when it outputs the results?

Well, Google doesn't tell me anything, it quotes things it has found on the web.

The huge, huge difference between Google and ChatGPT is that Google never, ever says "I", while ChatGPT does. The other difference is that Google produces references that are actual links to actual web pages it has not authored, while ChatGPT speaks in its own name and when asked to produce references, simply makes them up (lots of examples about this).

If you can't see how ChatGPT is totally different from a regular search engine in its positioning and proposed usage, you're not alone, and I'm afraid I can't help you. But -- IMHO -- you are very very wrong.

I can see that it's totally different from a search engine. If you can't understand that analogies don't need (and cannot be) to be perfect to be useful, you're not alone, and I'm afraid I can't help you. But -- IMHO -- you are very very wrong.
Well, if you agree that the two are "totally different" then you must agree that the analogy is not just imperfect but inappropriate and misleading.

Also, quoting my text back to me verbatim is childish and doesn't help the discussion much, or at all.

π™Ώπš’πšπš‘πš˜πš— 𝟹.𝟷𝟢.𝟼 (πš–πšŠπš’πš—, π™½πš˜πšŸ 𝟷𝟺 𝟸𝟢𝟸𝟸, 𝟷𝟼:𝟷𝟢:𝟷𝟺)

[𝙢𝙲𝙲 𝟷𝟷.𝟹.𝟢] πš˜πš— πš•πš’πš—πšžπš‘

πšƒπš’πš™πšŽ "πš‘πšŽπš•πš™", "πšŒπš˜πš™πš’πš›πš’πšπš‘πš", "πšŒπš›πšŽπšπš’πšπšœ" πš˜πš› "πš•πš’πšŒπšŽπš—πšœπšŽ" πšπš˜πš› πš–πš˜πš›πšŽ πš’πš—πšπš˜πš›πš–πšŠπšπš’πš˜πš—.

>>> 𝟢.𝟷 + 𝟢.𝟹

𝟢.𝟺

>>>