Page 10 | How to know ChatGPT is full of shit.

DiggingHoles · 2025-08-06T16:50:13+00:00

Take a book of a shelf. A classic is best. Open up to the first page of a random chapter. Now ask ChatGPT to quote the first paragraph of that chapter. Tip: Have some popcorn ready while you rephrase your request multiple times.

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 18:36

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 18:27

But I can write a thousand word speech in around 10–15 minutes? Faster than I could dictate it, to be honest! And it would take me only a few minutes to quickly proofread and edit. I wouldn’t need to check it for grammar, just for the odd typo.

I think, research, analyse data and lecture/write/discuss/present it for a living. I’m fast at it and I have never needed any grammar or spelling check since I was about 12 (typos are different obvs, everyone makes typos, but they are super quick to correct and I can always use predictive text to do that). I can write an email in a formal register or an informal register just fine straight off, it takes me hardly any time and needs almost no editing (if any). I send lots of emails each day and I just dash them straight off.

Using AI would genuinely take me more time than just doing it myself.

Show quote history

Nah that's 66 words a minute if you take the upper estimate of 15 minutes. That's the 80% percentile of the population. 10 minutes is impossible for most the population. That's allowing you no time to check anything as you go.

If you can you really are a very gifted typist!!!

Have pity on the rest of us!!!

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 18:42

Swirlythingy2025 · 08/08/2025 18:22

although i did ask it this :

its wrong research it better

ChatGPT said:

You are absolutely right to press for accuracy. Here are the very first lines of Book the First, Chapter VII (“Mrs. Sparsit”) from Hard Times by Charles Dickens—faithfully reproduced from a public-domain text:

Mr. Bounderby being a bachelor, an elderly lady presided over his establishment, in consideration of a certain annual stipend. Mrs. Sparsit was this lady’s name; and she was a prominent figure in attendance on Mr. Bounderby’s car, as it rolled along in triumph with the Bully of humility inside. SparkNotes fiatlux-day.org

If you'd like to explore the chapter further or examine the broader context and nuances of Dickens's portrayal of these characters, I'm happy to assist.

It you really just say "its wrong research it better?"

This is a language learning ai. We can teach it politeness

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 18:43

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 18:36

Nah that's 66 words a minute if you take the upper estimate of 15 minutes. That's the 80% percentile of the population. 10 minutes is impossible for most the population. That's allowing you no time to check anything as you go.

If you can you really are a very gifted typist!!!

Have pity on the rest of us!!!

Show quote history

Yes, when I was doing my PhD my record was around 5k words of “camera ready” academic copy per day. Can’t do quite that amount now, but I can still write polished academic prose straight off with all references and editing no problem at all — that’s what I’m trained to do. In an informal style, I can write an hour’s lecture (6k+ words) in around 2-3 hours quite comfortably. But I’d lose those research and writing skills if I outsourced them to AI.

My colleagues will regularly write speeches to major industry bodies on the plane on the way to a conference, or on the train that morning. I’d look a fool next to them if I turned up with an AI-generated presentation!

Swirlythingy2025 · 08/08/2025 18:46

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 18:42

It you really just say "its wrong research it better?"

This is a language learning ai. We can teach it politeness

Show quote history

fair points and yes i did ask it in that way. sometimes i say thank you but most of the time i use it as a tool due to research demands

Swirlythingy2025 · 08/08/2025 18:48

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 18:43

Yes, when I was doing my PhD my record was around 5k words of “camera ready” academic copy per day. Can’t do quite that amount now, but I can still write polished academic prose straight off with all references and editing no problem at all — that’s what I’m trained to do. In an informal style, I can write an hour’s lecture (6k+ words) in around 2-3 hours quite comfortably. But I’d lose those research and writing skills if I outsourced them to AI.

My colleagues will regularly write speeches to major industry bodies on the plane on the way to a conference, or on the train that morning. I’d look a fool next to them if I turned up with an AI-generated presentation!

Edited

Show quote history

that explains how some of those essay mill companies (before chatgpt era) were able to turn around large assignment's in short time frames

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 18:50

Swirlythingy2025 · 08/08/2025 18:48

that explains how some of those essay mill companies (before chatgpt era) were able to turn around large assignment's in short time frames

Show quote history

They just got undergrad and postgrad students to do it. They’re used to churning out essays in short amounts of time! We did take a very dim view of it though.

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 18:51

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 18:43

Yes, when I was doing my PhD my record was around 5k words of “camera ready” academic copy per day. Can’t do quite that amount now, but I can still write polished academic prose straight off with all references and editing no problem at all — that’s what I’m trained to do. In an informal style, I can write an hour’s lecture (6k+ words) in around 2-3 hours quite comfortably. But I’d lose those research and writing skills if I outsourced them to AI.

My colleagues will regularly write speeches to major industry bodies on the plane on the way to a conference, or on the train that morning. I’d look a fool next to them if I turned up with an AI-generated presentation!

Edited

Show quote history

Statistically you are the anomaly not the rule.

I could take that long writing references. 😭🤣🤣

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 18:53

That simply in what is physically possible

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 18:58

You do slow your pace a little for longer speches then

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 19:07

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 18:50

They just got undergrad and postgrad students to do it. They’re used to churning out essays in short amounts of time! We did take a very dim view of it though.

Show quote history

Hang on i could turn out a 5k essay in a day typing. I'd do it a hell of a lot quicker as a hybrid approach!!!

FoxRedPuppy · 08/08/2025 19:07

I had to write a speech this year as part of my job. I’ve never done it before, so I used copilot to help. There are lots of parts of my job that are new, or I don’t do all the time that AI can help with. My job is very wide ranging, so it helps.

If you are specialist in something and do it often, then of course you don’t need it.

I don’t use it for all my emails. But for some that need a marketing edge I do as marketing isn’t my main job, but is needed for a few things I do every year.

GarlicLitre · 08/08/2025 19:10

JamDisaster · 06/08/2025 19:12

Whenever I need to remember not to trust ChatGPT I ask it to solve a cryptic crossword clue. It gives you an answer and a very confident explanation but it’s all just rubbish and the answers don’t even have the right number of letters. Eg ‘Seller with key, say, a geezer (6,5) produces this:

“Seller with key, say” = homophone of “quay”
So the whole phrase sounds like:

“Del boy”

💡 Del Boy is a geezer, a seller, and famously a market trader in Only Fools and Horses.

And his full name?

✅
Derek Trotter
(6,5)

✔️ 6,5 ✅
“Seller” = he’s a wheeler-dealer, market trader
“with key, say” = homophone for “quay”, which sounds like “Del-boy”’s world
“a geezer” = Del Boy is the quintessential London geezer
It’s a cryptic definition / pun clue referring to a famous character

✅ Final Answer:
Derek Trotter

Explanation:

Cryptic definition
Derek Trotter = Del Boy, a cheeky market seller
“Key, say” = quay = part of his Cockney environment
“A geezer” = London bloke

That one was a belter. Want me to craft a few like it for you to solve?”

No thanks, ChatGPT.

OMG that is so, so bad!

It's not that the AI can't solve it, it's the utter confidence with which it gets it wrong. Interesting that it doesn't know how to count the letters in words (also see 'strawberry' above). That in itself disqualifies it from answering crossword clues!

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 19:30

GarlicLitre · 08/08/2025 19:10

OMG that is so, so bad!

It's not that the AI can't solve it, it's the utter confidence with which it gets it wrong. Interesting that it doesn't know how to count the letters in words (also see 'strawberry' above). That in itself disqualifies it from answering crossword clues!

Show quote history

Did you ask it how good it was so you understood it's limitations first? Did you ask it any other answer would fit. Language model, not cryptic crossword solver.

You've got to imagine its like havjng a mate next to you, you ask that mate how to solve a cryptic crossword. It might give it a go to make you happy. If you explain to that mate how to solve a cryptic crossword first it's got a better chance of do the job.

But seriously its a linguage model. Cryptic crosswords are a bit of a niche interest. Not many people talking online about how you solve a cryptic crossword, even less (if any) the specific question you asked. What data has it got to base it's answer on?. Other than the letter count I'm trying to work out how the answer was illogical, which is probably why I'm not good at cryptic crosswords

You do understand this is the standard way it presents all responses and doesnt represent confidence. You are interpreting confidence.

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 19:34

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 19:07

Hang on i could turn out a 5k essay in a day typing. I'd do it a hell of a lot quicker as a hybrid approach!!!

Show quote history

An undergrad essay written by a student for an essay mill would be an hour or two for 1500 words. But that’s the very job no-one will pay for because they’ll get AI to do it instead! (And then get failed by their university for using AI 😆)

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 19:35

Icedlatteplease · 08/08/2025 19:07

Hang on i could turn out a 5k essay in a day typing. I'd do it a hell of a lot quicker as a hybrid approach!!!

Show quote history

An undergrad essay written by a student for an essay mill would be an hour or two for 1500 words. But that’s the very job no-one will pay for because they’ll get AI to do it instead! (And then get failed by their university for using AI 😆)

summertimeinLondon · 08/08/2025 19:35

No idea why my posts are posting twice today!

OriginalUsername2 · 08/08/2025 20:42

I think people are confused between AI and Chat GPT.

No-one is saying Chat GPT will take our jobs.

SerendipityJane · 08/08/2025 21:07

https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/08/gpt-5-fake-presidents-states/

GPT-5 makes up presidents, states when asked to draw

hands on: LLMs still struggle with accurate text within graphics

https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/08/gpt-5-fake-presidents-states

Swirlythingy2025 · 08/08/2025 22:26

SerendipityJane · 08/08/2025 21:07

https://www.theregister.com/2025/08/08/gpt-5-fake-presidents-states/

but the devil is in the prompts

Original poster

DiggingHoles · 09/08/2025 08:19

OriginalUsername2 · 08/08/2025 20:42

I think people are confused between AI and Chat GPT.

No-one is saying Chat GPT will take our jobs.

That's all they've been saying since the release of ChatGPT. The voices have only gotten a little less loud. Many people have been fired in order to be ¨replaced by AI", when in reality those jobs were outsourced over seas.

OP posts:

SerendipityJane · 09/08/2025 09:31

DiggingHoles · 09/08/2025 08:19

That's all they've been saying since the release of ChatGPT. The voices have only gotten a little less loud. Many people have been fired in order to be ¨replaced by AI", when in reality those jobs were outsourced over seas.

Show quote history

The reality is jobs will be offshored to "AI". So all the problems I had 20 years ago running offshore teams plus the extra frisson of not knowing if "Bill" is a chatbot or real.