myrmepropagandistFeb 20

Had a lot of fun with my stats students today. I gave them two data sets. One from a random number generator, the other was one I made up that was not random, but designed to look random. They were able to figure out which one was fake.

Then we had ChatGPT make the same kind of data set (random numbers 1-6 set of 100) and it had the same problems as my fake set but in a different way.

We talked about the study about AI generated passwords.

Show threadmyrmepropagandistFeb 20

There is something very creepy about the way LLMs willy cheerfully give lists of "random" numbers. But they aren't random in frequency, and as my students pointed out "it's probably from some webpage about how to generate random numbers"

But even then, why is the frequency so unnaturally regular? Is that an artifact from mixing lists of real random numbers together?

Show threadHugo MillsFeb 20
@futurebird I think I've got a printed book of random numbers upstairs somewhere.
Show threadFlipper 🐬🏳️‍🌈Feb 20
@darkling @futurebird this is like the old logarithm and trigonometric tables i used to use as a kid.
Show threadHugo Mills
@flipper @futurebird I definitely have some of those. Several, in fact, at various levels of precision and different sets of functions.
Feb 20 at 10:44pmWeb
Show threadFlipper 🐬🏳️‍🌈Feb 20
@darkling @futurebird I don't have those any more, just statistical tables for critical values for things like F tests, but I used to pore over them when I was at school, trying to see any particular pattern.