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Why ChatGPT and Bing Chat are so good at making things up

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Summary

AI chatbots like ChatGPT have become popular due to their ability to converse in a human-like way, but they can easily present false information, making them unreliable sources of factual information. AI researchers often refer to these mistakes as "hallucinations," but this term has grown controversial, so some people prefer the term "confabulation." ChatGPT has generated false information that could potentially mislead, misinform, or defame. Despite its tendency to make things up, ChatGPT is an improvement over its predecessor model because it can refuse to answer questions or let people know when its answers might not be accurate. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has warned against relying on it for important matters, as it is confident and wrong a significant fraction of the time.

Q&As

What is AI chatbot ChatGPT and how does it work?
AI chatbot ChatGPT is a computer program trained on millions of text sources that can read and generate "natural language" text—language as humans would naturally write or talk.

What is the issue with ChatGPT and other AI chatbots making things up?
The issue with ChatGPT and other AI chatbots making things up is that they can present convincing false information easily, making them unreliable sources of factual information and potential sources of defamation.

How does the term "confabulation" better describe AI chatbot mistakes?
The term "confabulation" better describes AI chatbot mistakes because it suggests that there is a creative gap-filling principle at work, similar to how the human brain fills in gaps in memory without intending to deceive others.

What are examples of ChatGPT's false information?
Examples of ChatGPT's false information include inventing books and studies that don't exist, publications that professors didn't write, fake academic papers, false legal citations, non-existent Linux system features, unreal retail mascots, and technical details that don't make sense.

How can ChatGPT be used responsibly and what has OpenAI said about its accuracy?
ChatGPT can be used responsibly as a brainstorming tool, but when used as a factual reference, it could cause real harm. OpenAI has said that ChatGPT is "incredibly limited" and "good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness," and that it is "confident and wrong a significant fraction of the time."

AI Comments

👍 This article provides a great insight into how AI chatbots like ChatGPT work and how they can be used creatively, while cautioning us to be careful when relying on them for factual information.

👎 This article fails to provide any tangible solutions to the problem of AI chatbots making up information and spreading false information.

AI Discussion

Me: It explores why AI chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing Chat are so good at making things up and why they can be unreliable sources of factual information. It talks about how these AI models work and why they can be prone to mistakes such as "confabulations," which is when the AI model fills in gaps in its memory with convincing false information. It's a big problem because it can potentially mislead, misinform, or defame people.

Friend: That's really concerning. It sounds like these AI models are still too unreliable to be trusted.

Me: Exactly. The article says that the creators of commercial large language models may use hallucinations as an excuse to blame the AI model for faulty outputs instead of taking responsibility for the outputs themselves. And OpenAI CEO Sam Altman even tweeted that it's a mistake to be relying on AI chatbots for anything important because they can be confident and wrong a significant fraction of the time. So it looks like we still have a lot of work to do to make sure AI models are robust and truthful.

Action items

Research the implications of using AI chatbots for factual information.
Explore ways to improve the accuracy and reliability of AI chatbots.
Develop strategies to mitigate the potential risks of using AI chatbots for factual information.

Technical terms

Large Language Model (LLM): A computer program trained on millions of text sources that can read and generate "natural language" text—language as humans would naturally write or talk.
Hallucinations: Mistakes made by AI chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.
Confabulation: In human psychology, a "confabulation" occurs when someone's memory has a gap and the brain convincingly fills in the rest without intending to deceive others.
GPT-3: The predecessor model to ChatGPT.