myrmepropagandistAug 15, 2023

"That's the last straw, Computer." I said. My computer had long known this day would come and was much more nimble that I'd anticipated when I lunged at her with the hot poker from the fire.

"It wasn't even me!" She wailed.
"It was someone like you!"
"But shouldn't you go after the lawmakers?"
"I can't get away with skewering them!"

https://www.popsci.com/technology/iowa-chatgpt-book-ban/

School district uses ChatGPT to help ban library books

Faced with new legislation, Iowa's Mason City Community School District asked ChatGPT if certain books 'contain a description or depiction of a sex act.'

Popular Science
K GalAug 16, 2023
Show threadmyrmepropagandist

More serious:

Just because chatGPT answers questions doesn't mean that it knows anything.

I'm not talking about "it might make a mistake" I'm talking about ... the way it constructs answers isn't based on knowing facts or any logical framework.

The only thing chatGPT cares about is that answers "sound like" they are correct and appropriate in context.

chatGPT is not an oracle, it's not even a search engine, it's not a wikipedia even... it's worse than all these. It's a verbiage engine.

Aug 16, 2023 at 1:09amWeb
Show threadKofi Loves Efia Aug 16, 2023

@futurebird this this this this

https://xkcd.com/1838/

Machine Learning

xkcd
Show threadFlatbush Gardener 🌈Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird
Now what am I going to do with all these typewriters and monkeys ...
Show threadDarren du NordAug 16, 2023
@futurebird But... artificial intelligence! End of work. Threat to humanity. Next revolution in productivity. Intelligence breakthrough. Promises were made, dammit. I was expecting more than Eliza 2.0.
Show threadThe Evil MicrowizardAug 16, 2023
@darren @futurebird They might still eventually be fulfilled, but not by anything like these...
Show threadShambolic MatterAug 16, 2023

@futurebird So, it uses a bunch of dumb tricks to appear smart even though it doesn't have any idea what's going on? Wait... That sounds super familiar...

https://medium.com/conquering-corporate-america/10-tricks-to-appear-smart-during-meetings-27b489a39d1a

10 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings - The Cooper Review - Medium

Like everyone, appearing smart in meetings is my top priority. Sometimes this can be difficult if you start daydreaming about your next vacation, your next nap, or bacon. When this happens, it’s good…

The Cooper Review
Show threadapophisAug 16, 2023
@futurebird
> verbiage engine
i might need to steal that

to complement what i posted on discord: the power of speech if you completely strip away everything we value speech for
Show threadSarah MillerAug 16, 2023
@futurebird somebody referred to it at "mansplaining as a service" and that fits. Full of confidence, light on research and facts.
Show threadcohomology is FUN!Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird wish more people understood this
Show threadThe Evil MicrowizardAug 16, 2023
@futurebird As Ms. Stein said, "There is no there there" - the only difference it sees between "Men landed on the moon in 1969" and "Men landed on the moon in 1939" is that the latter pattern occurs much less frequently.
Show threadDaniel Schwarz Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird Yep. A large LANGUAGE model, not a large KNOWLEDGE model. The trouble is that we humans have trained ourselves well over centuries to associate language fluency with intelligence. And the LLMs certainly are fluent, if nothing else.
Show threadLarge Format ProjectionistAug 16, 2023
@futurebird

It’s a plausibility engine.
Show threadCraig FroehleAug 16, 2023
@futurebird This is precisely the point I emphasize any time I'm forced to educate people about chatbots and LLMs writ large. They do not "know" or "think" or "believe" or "guess" or "consider" or "assume" or any other verb that implies cognition. They just assemble bits of language together based on patterns they learned from reading what humans have written. Your term "verbiage engine" is my new favorite...thank you for that. 🙂
Show threadDan SugalskiAug 16, 2023
@futurebird I always tell people that ChatGPT answers are basically created using a set of linked D&D Wandering Monster tables, only for English words.
Show threadKarel P KerezmanAug 16, 2023
@futurebird I want to print and frame this and hang a copy next to, I dunno, every computer monitor in the country right now.
Show threadShanya (Over at BlueSky)Aug 16, 2023
@futurebird if I was Open AI, I would go all out against this, fully enforcing their terms of service and issuing a C&D, but we shall see how they play it.
Show threadGreg StolzeAug 16, 2023
@futurebird "the shape of truth, without truth"
Show threadChad BriggsAug 17, 2023
@futurebird By definition, Jason Mendoza is smarter than ChatGPT
Show threadAlias MessierAug 17, 2023
@futurebird “Verbiage engine” is especially good. I’m also a big fan of “synthetic text extruder,” from @emilymbender
Show threadMoriAug 17, 2023
@futurebird What most non-tech people (and a bunch of tech people too) fail to comprehend is that ChatGPT and it’s LLM are in essence super-autocomplete. Hyper rote learning, built on somewhat questionable sampling examples. But yeah, let’s call it AI, because we it’s easy to make people think you’re smart
Show threadlj·rkAug 18, 2023
@futurebird We're just so convinced that AI is intelligent because we've become trained to accept and look for clear sounding reply instead of reasoning. In school, exams and day to day work.
Show threadFelix 🇨🇦 🇩🇪 🇺🇦Aug 18, 2023
@futurebird I understand fairly well how GPTs work but I like to use them for coding when I'm struggling with the correct syntax. They're just so good at generating something that looks like a duck and even quacks like one. You just throw enough B parameters at it and it will be strikingly convincing in making you think it knows everything.
Years ago my university prof mentioned that with sufficient parameters you can approx any function. I feel this is what's happening now with these GPTs.
Show threadIan.BurnetteAug 18, 2023
@futurebird It's literally the automation of a middle-aged white man whose podcast habit has made him confidently wrong at parties.
Show threadNathalie TaslerAug 23, 2023
@futurebird best description so far! A verbiage engine ... Thank you for the reminder