I got Punk'd by ChatGPT: A Case Study.

Today I got seriously Punk'd by ChatGPT. I went through all the stages of trauma: Outrage, Betrayal, Hurt, Acceptance.

It all started in 2018 when I was listening to NPR on Amazon Echo. I heard a poem being recited about Superman. It was chilling, visceral and somewhat dark. It honed in on the human side of super heroes much like you might expect from the Amazon hit "The Boys" which takes a spin on super heroes as if they had all succumbed to the dark side of human nature.

In any case I had spent HOURS over the years, unsuccessfully, searching for this poem. I've been using ChatGPT Plus for a few weeks now with wonderful results generating marketing content. I have also started dabbling with AutoGPT to create multiple AI instances to work together to solve problems.

Today, however, I thought "gosh, maybe it can help me find that poem I heard all those years ago...

--- Patrick

I am looking for a poem written about superman.?The poem was read on NPR at one point.?The poem is about super man being conflicted about his ego and wanting to be loved and valued and would prefer than over true peace on earth.?Do you know who wrote that poel and what it was called?

--- GPT4

Yes, I think the poem you're referring to is "Not For Ourselves Alone," written by American poet Tony Hoagland. It was read on NPR's "The Writer's Almanac" program. The poem touches on Superman's internal conflict between wanting to be loved and valued and desiring world peace. Here's the poem for your reference:

Not For Ourselves Alone

He imagines that he has a choice:

between doing good for the world

and being loved

by everyone he knows.

And sometimes he thinks

that if he were just a little bit more selfish

he could be more generous,

and that if he were loved just a little bit more

he could do more good in the world.

The truth is

that he wants to be loved

more than he wants to be good.

He tells himself that in a world

of such different people

it is impossible to do good

without making enemies.

But the reason he loves to fly

high above the earth

is that up there

he cannot hear

the angry voices.

He cannot see

the jealousy and the pettiness

that human beings

are capable of.

Up there he can pretend

that he is not alone

in wanting to be good.

At this point I was ecstatic. I didn't remember the poem well but I was so thrilled to get an authoritative result. "This must be it!", I thought.

Then something goofy happened, I accidentally hit the regenerate button and I got a different answer citing an author Taylor Mali. Again it produced the whole poem for me. At this point I finally started getting suspicious and I asked it about the other author.

ChatGPT apologized and said yes in fact Tony Hoagland's poem was what I was looking for. Hmmmmmm.

--- Patrick

Can you give me a link to the npr recording for both poems

--- GPT4

I'm sorry, but as an AI language model, I am unable to directly provide links to specific web pages or recordings. However, I can guide you on how to find the recordings you're looking for.

To find the recordings of the poems read on NPR's "The Writer's Almanac," you can follow these steps:

Visit the official website for "The Writer's Almanac" at: writersalmanac.org

Use the search function on the website and enter keywords like "Tony Hoagland" or "Not For Ourselves Alone" to find the specific episode where the poem was read.

Alternatively, you can try searching for the episode on a search engine like Google by entering search queries like "The Writer's Almanac Tony Hoagland poem" or "The Writer's Almanac Not For Ourselves Alone poem."

I hope this helps you find the recordings you're looking for.

--- Patrick

where is the poem not for ourselves alone by tony hoagland published

--- GPT4

I apologize for the confusion in my previous responses. It appears that I made an error in my initial response, and there is no poem titled "Not For Ourselves Alone" by Tony Hoagland. I appreciate your patience, and I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you have any other questions or need assistance, please feel free to ask.

Some additional google searching found no indication that either poem existed or that either person ever wrote such poems.

I had always been aware that ChatGPT didn't always produce accurate results. It's important that we recognize that ChatGPT and other LLM models are helpful tools, but we MUST be masters of the knowledge we are asking them to produce and organize for us.

This time however, my longing to find the mysterious Superman poem, and my excitement from getting any kind of response better than Google offering me a chance to purchase an action figure from Walmart was quite welcome.

Lesson learned ChatGPT. You Punk'd me good!