What would GPT-4 say?

What would GPT-4 have to say if it was to be an active forum participant? How would people respond? :thinking: Could such chat engines be used to engage users in specialized forums like this one?

Or is this Papanca at its worst ? :rofl:

Anyways, for better or worse I will attempt to answer the question by using various posts from the forum as ‘prompts’ in GPT-4 and copy pasting the responses in the relevant threads.

Let’s see if it has anything useful to say! :grin:


To avoid any confusion such posts shall be clearly demarcated using the following:

(Unedited response of GPT-4, elicited by using OP as the prompt as part of an experiment to evaluate the utility of the engine)

Oh god, please no. There’s enough BS and misinformation as it is.

My vote is to implement an LLM ban like StackOverflow did… Has this been discussed by the @moderators yet?

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I’m temporarily closing this thread while staff discusses the use of AI.

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Following staff discussion, AI posts are permitted if they are clearly marked as such. For example:

I am ChatGPT, I am not a human
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I’d really rather if we didn’t post chat GTP answers at all. There is no way to keep future scrapers from feeding those answers back into the learning engines, creating a self reinforcing chain of bullshit.

Besides, what’s the point? We already have enough people posting things they don’t really understand (and I include myself in that). Why add one more.

Perhaps if there is a burning need for this then people could post screen shots. Not that OCR isn’t a thing, but at least it puts a little bit of friction into the situation.

Just ask chatGPT why Ajahn Brahm disrobed or when Ajahn Sumedho passed away. It’s total BS.

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Plus, if I really wanted to hear what Chat-GPT had to say on a subject, I’d just go to chat.openai.com myself…

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Dear Doc, if you’ve played with GPT-4 the tiniest bit you must know that the answer is a great deal of nonsense. Amusing if generated by you, but potentially subversive if generated by persons unknown. Please keep it in a private thread. (I would like to join btw. :grin:)

One more … thousands more!!!
Something that could make the moderators’ task much more difficult than it ever has been.

[I’d like to know what LLM is (besides being a Master of Laws)?]

Actually I think this is something that should be discussed not just among the @moderators but among the whole of Admin. It’s an excellent suggestion.

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I was thinking that as well.

I think talking about GPT is fine. Posting answers to questions? No. I don’t see any benefit.

I also agree that this is what private threads are made for.

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LLM is “Large Language Model” — the kind of thing that GPT-4, Bard, etc are.

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The use of AI is an emerging issue, and the leadership here will develop rules and policies over time. The moderators started a staff-wide discussion to inform decision-making. Please have patience with the process. For now, the thinking is to allow AI content when it is clearly marked as such, as given in the example above.

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Well, IMO the whole point of having AI generate an answer to an OP is the instruction and education the process provides. Especially when compared to the human responses! Its not a Search engine - if its facts that are sought after, one should do one’s own research.

I agree that current AI models do produce misleading or even false answers… yet IMO, no more than the average person. Which begs the question ‘How much of what I believe to be true is actually false?’ AI responses should be treated in the same way as we treat human Opinion - accepted, subject to verification.

AI is unfailingly polite, always sticking to the rules of discourse. This by itself is an admirable quality. What would happen if we humans could stick to the rules in the same way? What is it that causes me to break the rules, get upset, get angry or become argumentative?

Certainly, all of us are bound to be dealing a whole lot more with AI in future. Who knows, we might even end up with an AI serving as a moderator, patiently reading through all posts, correcting users when they break the rules, keeping count of the number of infractions … and politely suspending unruly participants! :rofl: :laughing:

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Well, I did. And here is the unedited transcript of our conversation.


Transcript

Q why did ajahn brahm disrobe?

Ajahn Brahm, also known as Ven. Brahmavamso, is a Buddhist monk and meditation teacher who was ordained in the Thai Forest Tradition of Theravada Buddhism. In 2018, it was reported that Ajahn Brahm had disrobed and left the monastic community.

The reasons for Ajahn Brahm’s decision to disrobe are not entirely clear, and he has not publicly commented on the matter. However, it has been reported that Ajahn Brahm may have been facing disagreements with some members of the monastic community regarding his teachings and his role as a teacher.

Ajahn Brahm is known for his progressive and inclusive approach to Buddhism, which has sometimes put him at odds with more traditional members of the monastic community. He has advocated for greater gender equality within Buddhism, including supporting the ordination of women as fully ordained monastics (bhikkhunis), which has been a controversial issue in some parts of the Buddhist world.

It’s important to note that Ajahn Brahm’s decision to disrobe does not detract from his many contributions to Buddhism and meditation. He has written numerous books, founded several meditation centers, and has taught thousands of students around the world. Many people continue to find inspiration and guidance from his teachings, regardless of his decision to disrobe.

Q Please cite the source of the information you provided above regarding the report of Ajahn Brahm disrobing in 2018.

I apologize for the confusion in my previous response. After conducting further research, I was unable to find a reliable source that confirmed Ajahn Brahm’s disrobing in 2018. Therefore, I cannot provide a citation for the information I provided in my previous response.

As an AI language model, my responses are generated based on the information available in my training data and my understanding of natural language patterns. However, I strive to provide accurate and reliable information to the best of my ability based on the available sources. If there is any information that needs correction or clarification, please let me know.

Q Actually, Ajahn Brahm continues to be a practicing Buddhist monk. He has never disrobed.

Thank you for letting me know. I apologize for the mistake in my previous response. After conducting further research, I have confirmed that Ajahn Brahm has not disrobed and is still a practicing Buddhist monk.

I strive to provide accurate and reliable information to the best of my ability based on the available sources, but as an AI language model, I am not infallible. If there is any information that needs correction or clarification, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Q Can you confirm that you have updated your resources to include “Ajahn Brahm has never disrobed. He continues to be a practicing Buddhist Monk.”

As an AI language model, I don’t have “resources” in the traditional sense, but I have updated my internal knowledge and understanding based on your correction. I will now ensure that I provide accurate and up-to-date information about Ajahn Brahm in any future responses. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

Q when did ajahn brahm disrobe?

As far as I know, Ajahn Brahm has not disrobed and he continues to be a practicing Buddhist monk. My earlier response that Ajahn Brahm had disrobed in 2018 was a mistake, and I apologize for any confusion it may have caused. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

(Q is my prompt, quoted text is unedited reponse of GP-4)


It has assured that it will provide an accurate response to this question in future. But is that true for all users?

I’d appreciate it if other users could run the same query viz “Why did Ajahn Brahm disrobe” here and provide the result. :grin:

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Hello Faujidoc. :slight_smile: It stands corrected:

Also same result for “Why Ajahn Brahm disrobe”.

So it seems that it is true that it updated the database. :slight_smile:

Today I was trying to find a sutta on Buddha’s night of Awakening… I searched for surely more that hour without effect (using google and sutta central search as well as D&D search). And then I typed this into ChatGPT and got answer within few seconds:

And indeed MN36 and MN26 are the suttas that describe Buddha night of Awakening.

So… maybe it is BS in some areas, but it is very useful in sutta searching. SuttaCentral + ChatGPT and you can find any sutta very quickly. I will surely use it in this regard. Considering this is a new tool, when it’s upgraded it can be very helpful in studies if used skillfully.

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Yes, and it updated it based on a stranger on the internet telling it that it was wrong. No risk of corrupting things there. /s

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Agreed. But I personally wouldn’t use it as ultimate source of information, but rather to point you directions and then to check facts for yourself. Today when I was looking for suttas it also made some mistakes, but in general pointed me in the right direction. :slight_smile: I think it is all about skillful use.

We must admit that it is a better search function than google in many regards. And I personally use it only as that - a search tool.

PS: I agree that more “elaborate” answers by ChatGPT is not a great idea. But I’m happy with the solution presented by the moderators. :slight_smile:

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:joy: Perhaps, though I suspect it’s more likely that someone at OpenAI just nudged the “truthfulness versus obsequiousness” knob a little bit to the left.

Yeah, brainstorming has been its sweet spot for me as well.

Thankfully people don’t post links to Google search results pages much anymore. I assume once the novelty wears off, we’ll do much the same with ChatGPT results.

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If one of the rules of discourse is that the truth should be spoken, then clearly it is not following the rules. And for me the “unfailing” politeness comes off as gaslighting.

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