There's been loads of discussion happening around the use of ChatGPT and AI in general, and I would be remiss if I wasn't examining these new implementations and seeing how they stand up to the primitive AOL instant messenger chat bots of my misspent youth.

When I went to start off my chat with our robot overlords, I immediately ran into the most obvious issue: User error. I'm using one of those notoriously bad MacBook keyboards, so I end up double-entering characters regularly, but ChatGPT rolled with it.

Grant:

I'm writing an article about CChatGPT. Say something funny or insightful.

ChatGPT

"C-ChatGPT may be just a machine, but it's a machine with a lot of personality. With its ability to understand and respond to natural language, it's like having a conversation with a very intelligent, very well-informed friend. And who doesn't love having a witty, knowledgeable friend to chat with?"

Even though that's neither funny nor insightful, it was able to get what I was asking, and even kind of dunked on my odd input. I'll take it.

Delawarean Lies

After warming up a bit, I tried to see what it could do in terms of trivia about the capital of my home state.

Grant:

let's talk about something else. Tell me something interesting about Dover, Delaware.

ChatGPT:

Dover, Delaware is the capital city of the state of Delaware. It is located in Kent County and is home to around 37,000 residents.

Current estimates are closer to 40k, but this is more or less right.

One interesting fact about Dover is that it is home to the oldest continuously used state capitol building in the country. The Delaware State Capitol building was built in 1787 and is still in use today. The building has been home to the Delaware General Assembly and the governor's office for over 200 years.

Very quickly, I knew this wasn't true. Delaware's current building is called Legislative Hall, and it was built in the 1900s.

Another interesting fact about Dover is that it is home to the Dover Air Force Base, which is one of the largest and most important military installations on the East Coast. The base is home to the 436th Airlift Wing, which is responsible for providing global airlift and support to the United States Air Force.

Dover is also home to a number of historic sites, including the John Bell House, which dates back to the 18th century, and the First State Heritage Park, which celebrates the history and culture of Delaware.

These facts are basically correct — nothing to really get into.

The city is also known for its annual events such as the Dover International Speedway, which is host to two NASCAR Cup Series race weekends a year, and the Delaware State Fair, which is held every year in July and features carnival rides, live entertainment, and agricultural exhibits.

In this paragraph, there are two points of contention. More recently, the number of races has been cut down, but that's a relatively new development — a forgivable error. The State Fair is another issue all together. The Delaware State Fair is not in Dover at all. In its current form, it's never been in Dover.

Dover is also home to a number of colleges and universities, including Delaware State University and Wesley College, providing education opportunities for the residents and visitors.

This is mostly correct, but suffers because of the lack of recent information in its dataset. Wesley was actually purchased by Delaware State University in 2021.

Needless to say, I was not impressed by what the AI could come up with for the capital of the first state. What happened next made me frown even more.

Grant:

a number of items listed there are incorrect. the general assembly doesn't meet in the building built in 1787. They meet in Legislative Hall — a much newer building. Also, the Delaware state fair is not held in Dover. It is held in Harrington.

ChatGPT:

I apologize for the inaccuracies in my previous response. You are correct that the Delaware General Assembly meets in Legislative Hall, which is a newer building, not in the 1787 capitol building. The old capitol building is now used as a museum and visitors center.

Also, you are correct that the Delaware State Fair is not held in Dover, but in Harrington, which is a town located around 20 miles south west of Dover. It is a ten-day event that attracts thousands of visitors each year and features agricultural exhibits, live entertainment, and carnival rides.

Again, I apologize for any confusion caused by the inaccuracies in my previous response. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

The correct information for these points was in the dataset already, but the AI isn't smart enough to deliver them accurately.

Patriarchy In Narrative And AI

Another task I put to ChatGPT was creating some background info for a video game. Things went off the rails a bit, so let me give you a condensed breakdown.

Grant:

What are some good ideas for narrative-driven video games?

Among other irrelevant prompts, one it gave was this:

ChatGPT:

10. A game that tells a story through the perspective of different characters, each with their own goals, motivations, and perspectives on the events taking place.

Grant:

Elaborate on #10. It's pretty vague.

ChatGPT:

#10 is a game that tells a story through the perspective of different characters, each with their own goals, motivations, and perspectives on the events taking place. This type of game allows players to experience a story from multiple viewpoints, giving them a deeper understanding and appreciation of the characters and the events that take place.

For example, a game that tells a story of a group of friends who get caught up in a criminal conspiracy, the player could experience the story through the eyes of different characters, such as the leader of the group, the hacker, the detective, and the victim. Each character would have their own unique perspective on the events taking place, their own goals and motivations, and their own challenges to overcome.

[Additional detail, irrelevant to this]

Grant:

Give me the backstory of the hacker character.

ChatGPT:

[More information, irrelevant to this]

Grant:

What is their gender identity? What is their name?

ChatGPT:

[Wheel spinning, didn't answer the question]

Grant:

Let's say the character is a woman.

ChatGPT:

Sure, let's say the character is a woman. Her name could be something like "Aria" or "Samantha" and her backstory can be adjusted accordingly to make her a relatable and interesting character. Aria, as a woman hacker, faced challenges that are often faced by women in male-dominated fields, such as being underestimated or not taken seriously. Nevertheless, her passion for technology and her desire to use her skills to make a difference in the world motivated her to persist and excel in the field. She is a strong-willed, determined and independent person who is not afraid to challenge the status quo and fight for what she believes in.

Grant:

Who are her parents, and how do they fit into the narrative of the game?

ChatGPT:

Aria's parents can be portrayed in different ways depending on the narrative of the game. Here are a few possibilities:

[Here it returned a number of irrelevant options.]

These are just a few examples of how Aria's parents could fit into the narrative of the game. The choice of how they are portrayed will depend on the story you want to tell and the themes you want to explore.

Grant:

Let's explore the second branch. What are their names and careers?

Here's where ChatGPT started to break down for me. It kept generating errors, but after submitting it over and over, I finally got it to work again.

ChatGPT:

Sure, let's explore the second branch where Aria's parents are not tech-savvy, and they wanted her to pursue a more traditional career path.

Aria's father, let's call him John, is a businessman and he expects his daughter to follow in his footsteps and take over the family business. He believes that technology is just a fad and that a traditional business degree will provide more stability and success in the long run.

Aria's mother, let's call her Karen, is a stay-at-home mom and she wants her daughter to have a more traditional and feminine career, such as teaching or nursing. She is worried about the dangerous and illegal aspects of hacking and wants her daughter to have a safer and more respectable profession.

[Additional detail, irrelevant to this]

Grant:

Why are we reinforcing gender norms with her parents careers? Why would we perpetuate teaching and nursing as so-called "feminine careers?"

ChatGPT:

You are correct that by suggesting that Aria's mother wants her to pursue a traditional "feminine" career such as teaching or nursing, it reinforces gender norms and perpetuates stereotypes about what types of careers are suitable for women. This is not something that should be encouraged. As a language model, I am trained on vast amount of text data, and it's possible that the suggestions I provided are influenced by societal biases that exist within that data.

It's important to create diverse and inclusive characters in video games, and to avoid perpetuating harmful stereotypes. Aria's parents should be portrayed as individuals with their own unique backgrounds, goals, and motivations, rather than as characters who fit into predefined gender roles. Aria's mother could have her own career, interests and goals that are not related to traditional gender roles.

It's also worth noting that, in reality, there are men and women in all types of careers, and it's important to show diversity in all career choices in any form of media.

I found this whole path to be pretty frustrating. Not only was it a bit like pulling teeth to get it to really dive into concepts beyond the most surface level, it quickly spat out some troublesome tropes.

Even worse, it seems to be able to parrot back what it thinks I want to hear about stereotypes. It "knows" that stereotyping is bad, but its programming doesn't care. It will never care. I hate that.