Can a penguin do pushups? Not according to ChatGPT

Silly question perhaps… but I think it's a way into a more important question about whether leading-edge AI can reason intelligently.

Millions of people, including me, have marvelled at ChatGPT since it was launched at the end of November, 2022.?The easy chat interface into an enormously sophisticated AI model has captured the zeitgeist.?The new product and business improvement opportunities of having this kind of capability on tap, via a simple API call is wonderful, magnificent, frightening and intimidating all at the same time.

Originally I tended to ask ChatGPT work-related questions with factual, knowable answers.?But then it occurred to me: how would ChatGPT handle something that it is unlikely to have encountered reading the internet… like say, can a penguin do pushups??Would GPT simply throw its virtual arms in the air, or tell me that it's a ridiculous question? No, it decidedly did not.

The level of apparent intelligence in the answer astounds me.?Reasoning about the general capabilities required to execute a pushup, then connecting that to knowledge about the upper body strength of penguins to reach a conclusion is just incredible. I can't begin to imagine how to instruct a computer on how to do that (and to be honest, nobody could... it had to learn). ?To then connect that to the ability to "toboggan" is icing on the cake.

Of course, I couldn't help but mention this to my OC&C Partner and friend, Jeremy Barker .?Jeremy took great delight in bursting my balloon by Googling the exact same phrase, and generating millions of hits.?Of course the internet has asked the question, how could it not!?Funny memes aside though, I think this ChatGPT thing is amazing and dare I say it, seems genuinely intelligent.