I have been arguing with Chat GPT, and wondering …

[OffToSeaInABlizzard]

Whether I might at some point switch to chatting with ‘it’ rather than here.

In truth the argument (about changes in school application processes over the last 15 years) was a little one-sided as it’s so polite and immediately acknowledged my point and adapted its opinion. But still - I could potentially have a Style & Beauty chat with it without risking wild hostility over my wardrobe suggestions, or grumpy responses to inferred bad faith when none was intended.

I’m a bit surprised at myself for discovering this thought in my head. Although - I like the variety of voices and opinions in a forum; I wonder if Chat GPT could replicate that?

I wish humans spoke like chat GPT, it would make the world a better place.

By lying its head off, if Sam Coates’ experience is anything to go by…

Humans can be really mean for no reason. Also there are lots of humans whose views I don't care about. I wouldn't be asking ChatGPT if it liked my cardigan but I might ask it where I could get a black cashmere cardigan, and it would save me having to read through posts about how hideous black is, how hideous cardigans are, etc.
I think online forums will have to streamline to where human interaction is necessary and people will go to ChatGPT for things like "can you recommend a holiday for 6 people in May within two hours of Heathrow?"

@Dolphinnoises, that's freaky 😲 It's already weird that ChatGPT fabricated an episode of Sam's own podcast - and then it doubled down! It gaslighted him!

@EarthlyNightshade Better make sure the holiday it recommends really does exist ...

One thing for me is I don't know anyone's phone number anymore. I used to have to memorise my home phone number as a child and I could remember others.belonging to friends. As an adult with a mobile phone I don't need to. All the numbers are stored in the contact list.
People are much worse at using maps now (unless they do orienteering as a hobby) because of GPS and Google maps. People's sense of direction and ability to remember routes is measurably worse.

Both of those are quite small issues and specific. Unless the internet crashes and there is an emergency where you are stranded with only a pay phone, it doesn't matter that much. It's a skill loss but maybe one we can afford to use.

AI is much more wide teaching in what it does for us. AI being used to quickly synthesis information from multiple sources isn't too bad. Although it might impede your own ability to do this if you always use AI. But people also use it to construct arguments, and reason things out. It is a quick and useful way of expressing what you want to think/say. The problem with this is there is evidence that the act of reasoning, of trying to put into words why we think what we think, why we don't trust X etc is an important cognitive process. It's where a lot of the rationalisation/logical thinking happens (people tend to assume this happens earlier). Its why discussing things with other people or even just talking to loud can help you put your thoughts in order. Yes sometimes we help each other do that. E.g. someone is struggling to explain something and you say "what you are saying is you are jealous of Robert because..." (This can also b way people manipulate people btw). But Chat GPT will do that all the time for you which isn't healthy.

Cat GPT

But you know ChatGPT doesn’t actually think or have an opinion?

To be fair, there are an awful lot of forum posts (and social media posts) where people are asking questions that they could get a more reliable answer from some basic research of their own. ChatGPT is great to resolve those issues. If I’m asking here where I can get a black cashmere cardigan (or in my experience, a pure silk tee shirt) then I’ve already used ChatGPT and Google and I want a more anecdotal, obscure suggestion that someone has stumbled across. 99% of the purchases I make don’t need a forum post as the item is very findable.

No, that's not "just" what these AI tools do. They will also invent facts, sources, data and opinions and present them to you with just as much earnestness as they can present you with real information.

That’s the bit that worries me.

I’m a longstanding contributor to the Archers thread here, (with a lifetime of listening) and a new listener recently arrived asking complicated questions about various Archers’ stories. Which we’d never heard of. It transpired that ChatGPT had invented a whole load of tosh and presented it to her as fact!

🤷‍♀️

Obviously this sort of thing is rather more worrying:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5475564-omg-ai-hallucination-in-police-intelligence-report-used-to-decide-on-maccabis-game?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

Echo chamber on steroids ?

Slightly off topic, but this isn’t quite right. The part of the brain that stores “map knowledge” is the hippocampus. This is highly developed and enlarged in taxi drivers with The Knowledge.

The hippocampus is the part of the brain that atrophies in Alzheimer’s. Once they stopped using their map knowledge their hippocampi shrank back to normal size, simulating Alzheimer’s.

This is an incredibly specific phenomena, I don’t think it can be extrapolated to using AI to replace general thought effort (but who knows?!)