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Articles - July - 2023 Issue

Did ChatGPT Learn Its Lesson About Old Books?

- by Michael Stillman

ChatGPT displays it list of five declining categories of antiques (ChatGPT screen image).

ChatGPT displays it list of five declining categories of antiques (ChatGPT screen image).

An article in Palm Springs' Desert Sun recently caught my eye. Writer Mike Rivkin said he had asked ChatGPT to identify five categories of antiques that were rising and five in decline. He said Chat gave him the following answer:

 

Growing.

 

1. Mid-century modern

2. Vintage technology

3. Art Deco.

4. Chinese antiques

5. Industrial antiques.

 

Declining

 

1. Victorian furniture

2. Depression era glass

3. Fine china

4. “Collectibles,” as, for example, Hummel figurines

5. Antiquarian books

 

Uh oh. Did Chat get these lists reversed? Is my mid-century modern house, purchased because it was far cheaper than a 21st-century modern house, and all my mid-century modern furniture, hanging around or handed down from decades ago, suddenly evolve from dated to chic? Who knew? Thanks for the good news, though I really don't believe it. Then again, I can understand why Hummels might be declining as I never understood their appeal in the first place. But antiquarian books?

 

I figured it was time to test ChatGPT for its conviction of its opinions. I asked the same questions. It's top three in the “growing” category were unchanged, much to my relief. Mid-20th century is still the rage. However, numbers 4 and 5 were replaced by tribal art and mid-20th century fashion. My clothing tends to be old too, though not that old.

 

Next I retested declining categories. Antique china was still there but had moved to the bottom of the list (I have too much of this in my hand-me-downs too). Then there were three additions – antique televisions & radios, antique sewing machines, and antique clocks. Then there was one more holdover, now up to number 1 – antique books! Let's try this again.

 

A day later, books were gone from the list. Only China and televisions were left from the day before, joined by Victorian furniture, plates, and Depression glass. Things are looking up. The antiquarian book market has recovered. We can all rest easy now.

 

What have we learned? Perhaps more about ChatGPT then about antiquarian books. For those concerned that it will one day truly mimic human intelligence, your worst fears have already come true. It is as confused as we are. Just like us, it has no idea what it is talking about and can say one thing one moment and something else the next. I have no idea what the purpose is of inventing something else as scatterbrained humans. We need something smarter than us, and ChatGPT is not it.

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Posted On: 2023-07-01 02:09
User Name: keeline

Large Language Models (LLM) like ChatGPT don't "think." They predict the next words that follow the initial prompt. To keep things interesting, they don't always pick the most likely word. There is usually some lower-ranked words that are used. The general goal is to make something that is grammatically correct.

These systems can output a word salad of sentences that are complete in and of themselves but often lack logic or a sense of reality.

When asked to write stories in a given style, such as a Nancy Drew story set in a library or a hardboiled detective story dealing with incunables, in the first few tries it can usually come up with something that is readable at first glance but a closer inspection reveals significant plot holes that a human would detect.

The images generated by AI systems also fail the reality text. The stereotype is human hands with too many fingers; typewriters with only a dozen keys; and physically impossible vehicles.

Both the product and what we are told about AI confirms that it doesn't THINK. It might give an illusion that it does, much like the old Eliza psychiatrist software of the early-1980s, but it really is not intended to at this level.

What it does do pretty well is paraphrase the content it finds in the pages and other documents that it has ingested and tagged. With its attention to language and grammar, it creates an illusion. It is a long way from thinking or something that should be relied upon for anything important.

For a writer, it might serve as a brainstorming prompt system. For code that is well established, it could help with some aspects if it could be reviewed by a competent programmer.

James D. Keeline

Rare Book Monthly

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