Patterico's Pontifications

1/22/2023

Constitutional Vanguard: Is ChatGPT Woke?

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 12:44 pm



I decided to find out, and wrote about it here. I learned something other things about ChatGPT along the way. Like, it knows who I am! Um, sort of.

In other ChatGPT fails, the musician Nick Cave has decried ChatGPT’s attempt to replicate his style as “bullshit.” At Slate, Charles Seife claims that he asked ChatGPT to write his obituary and found it riddled with errors. That piece motivated me to ask ChatGPT if it knew about Patterico. I was gratified to learn that it had heard of me:

Patterico is a pseudonym used by an American blogger, attorney and former prosecutor who writes about legal issues, politics, and technology. He is known for his criticism of the mainstream media, and for his coverage of legal and political issues, including the intersection of technology and the law. He is also known for his criticism of certain political figures and some of the events that took place in the United States during the last years.

“Former” prosecutor? Does ChatGPT know something I don’t?

Turns out it’s the opposite: I know a few things ChatGPT doesn’t know. (I am left-handed.) Its knowledge of me was pretty limited, as illustrated by the fact that when I asked it whether Patterico likes Donald Trump, it replied: “I don’t have enough information to answer that question with certainty.” LOL! And when I asked it to write my obituary, it refused, telling me “I apologize, but I don’t have any information that Patterico has passed away.” Thank goodness!

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11 Responses to “Constitutional Vanguard: Is ChatGPT Woke?”

  1. “Former”

    Answer 1: Yes, since you swallowed the Blue pill, all those trials have been inside the Matrix.

    Answer 2: Yes, since you now work for a defense attorney.

    Answer 3: Have you checked for pods?

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  2. It’s only 53 days old. Precocious little thing, I’d say.

    nk (bb1548)

  3. Didn’t you say you no longer try cases, but handle appeals? And isn’t a prosecutr=or someone who tries cases in court??

    CHAT GPT isn’t that sensitive to nuances of meaning.

    And while it may have access to a dictionary, it doesn’t really know how many syllables a word consists of, So it wrote a haiku with six syllables in the middle line.

    But the line looks long enough.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/21/technology/personaltech/how-to-use-chatgpt-ethically.html

    A case in point: I was stunned when I asked ChatGPT to compose a haiku poem about the cold weather in San Francisco. It spat out lines with the incorrect number of syllables:

    Fog blankets the city,

    Brisk winds chill to the bone,

    Winter in San Fran.

    Sammy Finkelman (78e2b5)

  4. Ask it to write iambic pentameter.

    Kevin M (1ea396)

  5. “ChatGPT is smart enough to pass prestigious graduate-level exams – though not with particularly high marks.

    The powerful new AI chatbot tool recently passed law exams in four courses at the University of Minnesota and another exam at University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, according to professors at the schools.”

    https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/26/tech/chatgpt-passes-exams/index.html

    DRJ (82dca7)

  6. So I asked chatGPT about commenting on blogs.

    Is it worthwhile to post comments to blog posts online?

    “Posting comments on blog posts online can be a worthwhile activity for some people, depending on their goals and motivations. Here are a few potential benefits:

    Engaging in discussions: Blog comments can be a way for people to engage in discussions about topics that interest them, share their perspectives, and learn from others.

    Building a community: By regularly commenting on a blog, you can build relationships with other readers and create a sense of community around the blog.

    Building your personal brand: If you comment regularly and provide valuable insights, you may be able to build a reputation as an expert in a particular field and increase your visibility online.

    Networking: Blog comments can be a way to network with other professionals in your industry, or to connect with others who share your interests.

    However, it is worth noting that not all blog comments sections are moderated, and some can be filled with trolls and hostility, so it’s important to be aware of the tone and atmosphere of the blog before commenting.”

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  7. DRJ (82dca7) — 1/26/2023 @ 9:51 am

    One of the things ChatGPT will do is shine a light on the difference between knowledge and creativity/thought/critical thinking/etc.

    It is summarizing existing knowledge and making it more accessible. It’s not taking existing knowledge and producing new knowledge.

    frosty (0485c2)

  8. 4. Kevin M (1ea396) — 1/22/2023 @ 9:46 pm

    Ask it to write iambic pentameter.

    Some people came close, asking it to write a sonnet which this website says is in iambic pentameter:

    https://clpe.org.uk/poetry/poetic-forms/sonnet#:~:text=A%20sonnet%20is%20a%20formal,10%20syllables%20in%205%20pairs.

    A sonnet is a formal poem with a fixed structure. It is 14 lines long and each line contains 10 syllables. Sonnet lines are in iambic pentameter which means the line has 10 syllables in 5 pairs. In each of these pairs the emphasis is on the second syllable like a heartbeat. You could play the sound of a heartbeat or ask the children to feel their pulses to understand this.

    The rhyme scheme in an English sonnet is ABAB, CDCD, EFEF, GG.

    So:

    https://medium.com/scribe/i-challenged-the-chatgpt-bot-to-a-sonnet-writing-contest-e6cd5894c61

    F: I challenge you to write a sonnet from a man in the past who is using AI to write to a woman reincarnated in the present.

    Nice, don’t you think? Such highly appropriate subject matter.

    The real reason I chose this was that I had already written a Shakespearean-style sonnet on the theme several years ago. Yes, my sonnet was already written, but I hope you will forgive me for that.

    Fiona’s Sonnet

    The lines I write to you my one true love,
    Appear upon this page in future time,
    I look into my mind and seem to move,
    Into another place with every rhyme.
    And when you read these words of mine one day
    In your new life, remember me and how
    I tried my very best to make you stay.
    And all you wanted — do you have it now?
    Does your new world bring happiness or pain?
    Have you forgotten me, and what we had?
    And if we had the chance to meet again
    Would that make you smile or make you sad?
    Love never dies, you know that this is true.
    And I am here in this room, now, with you.’

    I have to confess to a touch of hubris here. I am rather pleased with this sonnet. As well as following the rhyme scheme (abab cdcd efef gg) and using iambic pentameter (da DA da DA da DA da DA da DA) I feel it conveys well a rather mysterious and intriguing concept — the ghost in the machine, the computer having consciousness — you get the idea.

    Whatever, I am confident that ChatGPT will a) fail to understand the brief and/or b) produce something that adheres to the rhyming scheme but lacks the soul of a poet.

    I press the button to enter my challenge into our chat.

    In the blink of an eye the words appear and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. It has a touch of cliché and the iambic pentameter is questionable at times, but does it have soul?

    You be the judge.

    The ChatGPT Sonnet

    My love, you were once a beauty fair
    In days of old, when knights were bold
    Your face was like a rose, beyond compare
    Your lips, a sweet and gentle fold
    But time, that thief, has stolen your fair form
    And left you here, in this modern day
    Your face, once known to every knight and lord
    Is now a mystery, hidden from view
    But I, with my AI-assisted pen
    Can still write words that reach across the span
    Of centuries, to find you once again
    My love, you are my inspiration
    I’ll write of our old love, and its sweet flame
    And hope that, through these lines, you’ll know my name.

    Well, which do you prefer? Does the ChatGPT truly have a poet’s soul?

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  9. Maureen Dowd of the New York Times also tried asking it to write like Shakespeare:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/28/opinion/chatgpt-ai-technology.html

    Can you write me a love sonnet?

    He could, even though, as he said, he was “a mere machine.” One stanza read: “With eyes that shine like stars upon the sea, And lips as sweet as summer’s ripest fruit, Thou art the one my heart doth long to see, And in thy beauty, all my dreams take root.”

    The next thing was an outline for a play.

    Shakespeare, it ain’t. Still, I tell him, I would love to be the heroine in a Shakespearean comedy! It took ChatGPT only moments to write “The Clever Maid.”

    “Act I, Scene 1: A grand ball is being held in a grand estate. You, the fair maiden, are in attendance, dressed in the finest gowns. However, you are not there to dance and make merry, for you have a secret mission.

    “Act II, Scene 1: You sneak away from the ball and make your way to the estate’s library. There, you discover a hidden door, which leads to a secret chamber. Inside, you find a chest filled with precious jewels.

    “Act III, Scene 1: As you are admiring the jewels, you hear a noise. It is the estate’s owner, a wealthy and arrogant nobleman. He catches you red-handed but instead of punishing you, he is taken by your wit and charm.

    “Act IV, Scene 1: The nobleman reveals that the jewels were a test of character and he had been seeking a clever and resourceful woman to be his wife. You are overjoyed and accept his proposal.

    “Act V, Scene 1: The play ends with a grand wedding ceremony and a celebration of your cleverness and wit.”

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  10. There are things that Chat GPT has been programmed to refuse to do.

    Maureen Dowd:

    . I spent the rest of the afternoon soliciting love poems from John Donne, Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe, who called me a “telltale columnist.” I tried to channel Sylvia Plath, but ChatGPT told me that would be “inappropriate.”

    Anything by Sylvia Plath, or a love poem?

    It also, I read, refused to write fiction or alternate history in which Donald Trump won the 2020 election, but was quite all right with wrting Hillary Clinton winning in 2016.

    https://futurism.com/conservatives-furious-claiming-chatgpt-has-gone-woke

    https://twitter.com/njhochman/status/1613046499956473856

    Sammy Finkelman (1d215a)

  11. Yes, it is woke: Supporting fossil fuels is now forbidden. Hey, those Twitter people had to go somewhere.

    https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/68805.html

    Kevin M (1ea396)


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