Arvind NarayananDec 6, 2022

The philosopher Harry Frankfurt defined bullshit as speech intended to persuade without regard for the truth. By this measure, ChatGPT is the greatest bullshitter ever. Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained to produce plausible text, not true statements. So using ChatGPT in its current form would be a bad idea for applications like education or answering health questions.

Despite this, there are three areas where LLMs can be extremely useful: https://aisnakeoil.substack.com/p/chatgpt-is-a-bullshit-generator-but

ChatGPT is a bullshit generator. But it can still be amazingly useful

The philosopher Harry Frankfurt defined bullshit as speech that is intended to persuade without regard for the truth. By this measure, OpenAI’s new chatbot ChatGPT is the greatest bullshitter ever. Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained to produce

AI Snake Oil
Show threadArvind NarayananDec 6, 2022

Here are three kinds of tasks where @sayashk and I think ChatGPT can shine, despite its inability to discern truth in general:

1. Tasks where it’s easy for the user to check if the bot’s answer is correct, such as debugging help.

2. Tasks where truth is irrelevant, such as writing fiction.

3. Tasks for which there does in fact exist a subset of the training data that acts as a source of truth, such as language translation.

https://aisnakeoil.substack.com/p/chatgpt-is-a-bullshit-generator-but

ChatGPT is a bullshit generator. But it can still be amazingly useful

The philosopher Harry Frankfurt defined bullshit as speech that is intended to persuade without regard for the truth. By this measure, OpenAI’s new chatbot ChatGPT is the greatest bullshitter ever. Large Language Models (LLMs) are trained to produce

AI Snake Oil
Show threadArvind Narayanan

This is the latest from our AI snake oil book blog where we comment on AI hype in the news and separate the AI wheat from the chaff. The book is under contract with Princeton University Press @princetonupress.

We're grateful to everyone who's subscribed, as it's helped us get great feedback as we draft the book. In previous posts, we've discussed bait-and-switch AI risk prediction tools and dissected the ways in which the media hypes AI, among other topics. https://aisnakeoil.substack.com

AI Snake Oil | Sayash Kapoor | Substack

What makes AI click, what makes it fail, and how to tell the difference. Click to read AI Snake Oil, a Substack publication with thousands of readers.

Dec 6, 2022 at 9:40pmWeb
Show threadNabeel SiddiquiDec 22, 2022
@randomwalker @princetonupress looking forward to the book!