I'm Sure ChatGPT-5 Will Be Much, Much Better - Not!

It is increasingly inconceivable to me that this bullshit is what is currently propping up the US economy. It just get worse and worse, the chatbot responses are snarkier and more glib. This is what comes of being trained by the internet, with no idea of meaning, of morality, of common sense, with nothing but statistics to guide you.

Plus, increasingly, I think we are getting into what was described as "Degenerative AI", the downward spiral that occurs when LLMs start eating their own dogfood.

1st up, 404 Media has a post about ChaptGPT telling a guy to poison himself:

Guy Gives Himself 19th Century Psychiatric Illness After Consulting With ChatGPT

In this case, a man showed up in an ER experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations and claiming that his neighbor was poisoning him. After attempting to escape and being treated for dehydration with fluids and electrolytes, the study reports, he was able to explain that he had put himself on a super-restrictive diet in which he attempted to completely eliminate salt. He had been replacing all the salt in his food with sodium bromide, a controlled substance that is often used as a dog anticonvulsant.

He said that this was based on information gathered from ChatGPT.

Well, makes sense, I guess; both are halogens, 2nd column from the right in the periodic table. The disorder is called bromism.

Next up, "AI Weirdness", who had not posted in a while, had 2 interesting posts:

1. ChatGPT will apologize for anything

LOL, after being told how badly its recommendations worked out, ChatGPT apologizes profusely for:

1. Recommending the hire of a giraffe as CEO;
2. Trading the family cow for 3 beans;
3. Unleashing an army of cloned T. Rexes in Central Park.

The answers are so glib. Words, words, & more words. At one point it says it's going to show up in person with coffee. Increasingly, I like my characterization of LLMs as "deranged zen poets spouting bullshit". We are being smothered by this bullshit.

Shane concludes:

I wish more people understood that any "apology" or "self-reflection" from chatbots are meaningless - they're just continuing with your improv session.

A bonus post for subscribers!

Revised instructions for troubleshooting the warp confabulator

It's "bullshit all the way down".

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