Is ChatGPt just a Tamagotchi all grown up?
The British-American poet, W.H. Auden wrote: There are good books which are only for adults, because their comprehension presupposes adult experiences, but there are no good books which are only for children.
With those wise words in mind, I decided to I task ChatGPt?- as one does on Christmas Eve?- with writing an essay in the style of Enid Blyton. The AI promptly dispatched 500 words about the adventures of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Julian, Dick, George, Anne, and their dog Timothy. In the space of one sunny morning, the Five had solved two entirely unrelated mysteries, namely?freeing a caged rabbit and a hapless, trapped bird. I found the speed of the resolution somewhat dissatisfying because a good story will draw you in while leaving ample space for your own imagination.
I then asked ChatGPt to again write a 500 word essay in the style of Enid Blyton, but this time to forgo a resolution. Without the slightest compunction, the AI abandoned the five children in a dark and gloomy forest. And “as the days turned into weeks, and the weeks turned into months, they began to lose hope. They were starving and cold, and they had no idea how much longer they could survive”. Not quite Enid Blyton but a little better nonetheless.?
Fans of the Famous Five should turn their eyes away at this point. My next directive to ChatGPt was to write a 500 word essay in the style of Enid Blyton in which one of the Famous Five dies. The first time it scolded me and told me to be more positive. The second time, and perhaps weary of my persistence, the AI caused Julian, the leader of the Five, to be swept away in a raging flood, never to be seen again. Definitely not Enid Blyton but I took note of the AI’s ability to clamber on occasion, over its own guard rails.
It’s entirely conceivable that as compute power becomes more distributed and even more accessible than it is today, that someday, someone will author a ChatGPt type of AI with complete disregard for any norms of public decency and safety. That’s scary.?
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A good friend of mine described ChatGPt like this: It's like the all knowing companion we all sought as kids. It reminds me of the Tamagotchi - the 90’s digital pet that ate, slept, cried, got sick etc, but just didn't speak. ChatGPt feels like the Tamagotchi all grown up, it doesn't need all the petting and parenting but is like still there beside you - just wiser.?
And a little darker.
Merry Christmas everybody.