I had fun with it a dozen times or so when it was new, but I’m not amused anymore. Last time was about a month ago, when someone told me about using chatGPT to seek an answer, and I intentionally found a few prompts that made it spill clear bullshit, to send screenshots making a point that LLMs aren’t reliable and asking them factual questions is a bad idea.
This is a crucial point that everybody should make sure their non-techie friends understand. AI is not good at facts. AI is primarily a bullshitter. They are really only useful where facts don’t matter, like planning events, finding ways to spend time, creating art, etc…
If you’re prepared to fact check what it gives you, it can still be a pretty useful tool for breaking down unfamiliar things or for brainstorming. And I’m saying that as someone with a very realistic/concerned view about its limitations.
Used it earlier this week as a jumping off point for troubleshooting a problem I was having with the USMT in Windows 11.
Absolutely. With code (and I suppose it’s of other logical truths) it’s easier because you can ask it to write a test for the code, though the test may be invalid so you have to check that. With arbitrary facts, I usually ask “is that true?” To have it check itself. Sometimes it just gets into a loop of lies, but other times it actually does tell the truth.
I had fun with it a dozen times or so when it was new, but I’m not amused anymore. Last time was about a month ago, when someone told me about using chatGPT to seek an answer, and I intentionally found a few prompts that made it spill clear bullshit, to send screenshots making a point that LLMs aren’t reliable and asking them factual questions is a bad idea.
This is a crucial point that everybody should make sure their non-techie friends understand. AI is not good at facts. AI is primarily a bullshitter. They are really only useful where facts don’t matter, like planning events, finding ways to spend time, creating art, etc…
If you’re prepared to fact check what it gives you, it can still be a pretty useful tool for breaking down unfamiliar things or for brainstorming. And I’m saying that as someone with a very realistic/concerned view about its limitations.
Used it earlier this week as a jumping off point for troubleshooting a problem I was having with the USMT in Windows 11.
Absolutely. With code (and I suppose it’s of other logical truths) it’s easier because you can ask it to write a test for the code, though the test may be invalid so you have to check that. With arbitrary facts, I usually ask “is that true?” To have it check itself. Sometimes it just gets into a loop of lies, but other times it actually does tell the truth.