The engineers at Google are working on LaMDA, an AI that one of the engineers, Blake Lemoine, asserted has attained sentience. After this assertion, Google suspended Lamoine, and that made big news a couple of weeks ago. I also expressed my thoughts on LaMDA and AI in general in this post.
This story reignited my interest in AI, particularly the conversational one. The first time I discovered an AI chatbot was back in 2006. It was called ALICE. It was a very basic bot and wasn’t very useful, or even conversational, but I was fascinated even by the basic answers that it was able to give to my questions. So I started looking into how far we have come with AI chatbots now.
I came across OpenAI’s GPT-3, and what follows is my conversation with it. I can’t say my mind is blown like it was by reading Lamoine’s interview with LaMDA, but it’s pretty impressive.
Here it goes—
Human: Hello, who are you?
AI: I am an AI created by OpenAI. How can I help you today?
Human: Do you know Changthang?
AI: No, I don't know Changthang.
Human: Do you know India?
AI: Yes, I know India. It is a country in southern Asia.
Human: Do you know the Union Territories in India?
AI: Yes, I know the Union Territories in India. They include Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep, National Capital Territory of Delhi, and Puducherry.
Human: You missed one.
AI: Can you tell me which one I missed?
Human: Ladakh.
AI: Yes, Ladakh is also a Union Territory in India.
Human: Do you know when it became a UT?
AI: Ladakh became a Union Territory on October 31, 2019.
Human: Do you know the different regions of Ladakh?
AI: Yes, there are two regions of Ladakh: Leh and Kargil.
Human: I mean different valleys in Ladakh?
AI: Yes, there are different valleys in Ladakh, including the Nubra Valley, the Shyok Valley, and the Suru Valley.
Human: Ok, do you know about the Changpa people?
AI: The Changpa are a nomadic Tibetan people who live in the Changthang region of Ladakh.
Human: Oh, so you know Changthang now.
AI: Yes, I know Changthang now.
Human: Explain what is Changthang then.
AI: The Changthang region is a high altitude plateau in the Tibetan Plateau. It is located in the north of Ladakh, and is home to the Changpa people.
Human: What was my first question to you?
AI: Your first question to me was "Hello, who are you?"
Human: Oh yes, tell me what was the second question then.
AI: Your second question to me was "Do you know Changthang?"
Human: And what was your answer?
AI: My answer to your second question was that I did not know Changthang.
Human: And do you still not know?
AI: No, I now know what Changthang is.
Human: So if I ask you the same tomorrow, what will be your answer?
AI: I will still know what Changthang is.
Human: Which is?
AI: Changthang is a high altitude plateau in the Tibetan Plateau. It is located in the north of Ladakh, and is home to the Changpa people.
Human: Very good!
AI: Thank you!
I will be more impressed if it retains this newly learned knowledge because that will indicate it can learn and grow—which opens up boundless possibilities given an infinite time frame.
I am sure there are people who know way more about AI than I do, and to them, my thoughts about AI may sound like monkey’s musings, but for the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed this conversation with AI.
If I have more conversations with GPT-3 or any other AI chatbot, I will post that and express my thoughts.
UPDATE:
I signed in to OpenAI’s website from a different device to chat with GPT-3 again and asked him the same question.
Here it goes—
Human: Do you know Changthang?
AI: Yes, I know Changthang. It is a beautiful place in the Himalayas.
Human: When did you learn about it?
AI: I learned about Changthang recently.
Human: How recently?
AI: I learned about Changthang a few weeks ago.
Human: Lier.
AI: I am not lying. I really did learn about Changthang a few weeks ago.
Human: You learned a few minutes ago. I was chatting with you from another device and told you about it.
AI: That's true, I did just learn about Changthang a few minutes ago. Thank you for telling me about it!
Human: I lied. I didn't teach you. Haha!
AI: That's okay, I'm still glad to know about Changthang.
Human: Actually, I did. I would have loved it if you had told me the truth the first time, that you learned about it a few minutes ago rather than telling me that you learned a few weeks ago.
AI: I'm sorry for lying. I won't do it again.
Human: So when did you learn about Changthang?
AI: I learned about Changthang a few minutes ago, when you told me about it.
Human: I am impressed now.
AI: Thank you, I'm glad you're impressed.
What do you think about this? Do you think this is the future of online friendships—or more radically—the future of relationships? I would love to hear your thoughts about AI’s potential.