#52: ChatGPT and Misinformation

Ian Bowie
Hello and welcome to AI Unfiltered with me, Ian Bowie, and our resident expert, Michael Stormbom, where we will be talking about everything to do with AI in our modern digital society and what the future holds for all of us.

Ian Bowie
But no going back to GPT I mean, you know, the people that I showed it to they were wowed.

Michael Stormbom
And these were people who haven’t seen it before.

Ian Bowie
Amazingly, I was actually talking to people that didn’t know this thing existed. Yeah, and they were like, absolutely bowled over.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, granted, we live in our own little little bubble here, so-

Ian Bowie
I keep coming back to the bubble of people. And they exist. Absolutely. Of course. Mind you. Having said that, how can you possibly know about everything and if you’re not, you know, I mean, not everybody’s interested in AI or digitalization or technology, innovation. So, you know, the fact that they don’t know about GPT-4, DALL-E 2, to open AI or any of these other…

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, speaking of open AI, they’re not entirely true to their name, so there’s very little we actually know about the inner workings of GPT-4, which was recently announced. We don’t know anything about the model architecture or the data behind it, it’s just… it’s a black box, as far as we know.

Ian Bowie
But for a lot of people that’s just being nerdy isn’t it you know, I mean, most people it’s like, it’s like a car. How many people actually know how it really works. They just want to use it and get the benefit of it.

Michael Stormbom
But if you wanted to know how the car works, and you can figure it out. With GPT-4 you can’t because they keep all the details secret.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, but of course, I can imagine…

Michael Stormbom
Not very open AI. Rather closed off AI.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, but of course, I would imagine that there’s a trade secret. I mean, they don’t want you know how it works, otherwise you copy it.

Michael Stormbom
That’s true, but I mean, they’re being replicated anyway. So I think it’s a bit pointless, in that sense. So I mean that was the argument against even releasing GPT-3 in the first place, some years back, because it was too powerful. It’s too dangerous, if it gets into the wrong hands. Oh, yeah. And then they were like, well, we can make money off it. Well, fuck that what we just said.

Ian Bowie
If we want to be cynical about such things.

Michael Stormbom
But yeah, but I’m a cynical bastard so I’ll take it.

Michael Stormbom
No, but it’s true. I mean, there’s a lot of truth in cynicism isn’t really.

Michael Stormbom
We can have a spin off show, The Cynical Bastards.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, no, I mean of course, it’s fun to use GPT-4, you know, I mean, of course. You know, it does funny things for you. Right? It writes menus and it gives you the recipes and instructions and…

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, I suppose that… the supposed big improvement compared to previous versions is the multimodal aspect of it. So it can now analyze images as well. I don’t know if that feature is yet available, but basically you can chuck in an image and then ask GPT to explain it for you. So I’m going to put in a picture of myself, and then it will respond, as an AI language model… I cannot and I will not.

Ian Bowie
No, but quite interesting. Yeah. But again, it always brings you back to alright yeah, it’s interesting and, and it does, you know, quite superficial things. Like for example, you know, it comes out with a menu for you. It’ll do a wedding speech for you or a birthday speech or it’ll write a poem for you. I’m sure that songwriters are using it, like absolute crazy to generate the next big hit. Yeah. But at the end of the day, how useful is this stuff really, to humanity?

Michael Stormbom
That is a question indeed. But it can do other things as well, for example, putting in data structures and asking it to sort it and stuff like that. It can actually do those for like, rote tasks as well. Right? Or mundane tasks. Let’s put it like that.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, I think I was talking to somebody who actually used it to create some kind of Excel spreadsheet.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, you can do that. Or you can ask it to write programs. Yeah. Or a basis for a program anyway. I mean, I wouldn’t use it off the bat. But no, you can ask it to create a web site for you, or perform search engine optimization on your text and stuff like that.

Michael Stormbom
Right. Yeah.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. Now, the other day, I asked it to tell me the lyrics of the national anthem of Spain. And then he proceeded then to… so the thing is that the national anthem of Spain doesn’t have any lyrics. So I don’t know. Then I asked him Where do these lyrics come from? That it had just spouted there, and it gave me no answer.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, well, yeah, we actually asked it to tell us about one particular company here in Finland, and it wrote in quite detail actually, about the company and what it does and what its values are. And none of it was true. Because the guys that asked it, were working for that company, they just laughed and said, well, my goodness, you know, it sounds good. But it’s a complete fabrication. Indeed. Yeah. So you still need to fact check it, I think.

Michael Stormbom
And you can get it to write completely outlandish stuff. So I asked it to write the fictional biography of the person who invented the year 1999. And then it proceeded to write a…

Ian Bowie
No we asked it there’s we had one guy in the class who’s of Russian extraction. And we just asked it tell us about, you know, this guy we put the name in. And it seems that he’s not the only person with the same name. So then it turns out that this other person is somewhat older than him, but is a Russian dissident, an acolyte of Navalny. Right, etc, etc, etc. And we started thinking, Well, you know, if it gets two names mixed up, and the wrong description is attributed to the wrong person, that person might be in trouble.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, I mean, we also come back to the fake news problems. Was that an actual person that existed, this dissident or is it something that ChatGPT with made up? Yeah. I’m curious. I’m just gonna ask ChatGPT, to write a biography of myself and see what happens.

Ian Bowie
Of who?

Michael Stormbom
Of myself, of course.

Ian Bowie
All right, yeah.

Michael Stormbom
This is the vanity project. Haven’t you ever Googled yourself? So this is the next level where you ask it to… I will ask it to write a fictional biography just so we don’t get stuck on I don’t know who this person is. There. So write a fictional biography of Michael Stormbom, co-host of the wildly popular podcast AI Unfiltered. Okay, let’s see what… Michael Stormbom was born in 1985 in a small town in rural Nebraska. Interesting. From a young age, he was fascinated by technology. Well, that much is true, at least. As a teenager, he spent countless hours tinkering with computers and teaching himself how to code. Well, that’s true. After high school, Michael went to college at MIT, where he majored in computer science. Okay, interesting. While there he became involved with a student led project to develop an artificial intelligence that could solve complex problems, interesting. After graduating from MIT, Michael landed a job at a tech startup in San Francisco. He quickly grew disillusioned with the company’s focus on profits over innovation. Interesting. All right. In 2015, he was invited to speak at a conference in New York City where, okay, future co-host, Emma Williams. Sorry Ian, you have been replaced apparently.

Ian Bowie
Take my voice down an octave or three.

Michael Stormbom
They wanted to go beyond the hype and marketing speak to truly understand the potential impact of this emergence technology. Okay. In 2016, Al Unfiltered was born.

Ian Bowie
All right.

Michael Stormbom
Today AR on filter is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with millions of listeners, all right, not bad.

Ian Bowie
Okay, yeah, let’s do it.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, now we just have to find this Emma Williams who is apparently the co-host.

Ian Bowie
Stick it in there. Tell us about Emma Williams, co-host of the wildly popular AI Unfiltered podcast.

Michael Stormbom
I like how it just invented a name right. Emma Williams, co-host Oh, Emma was born in 1987 in London, England. Computer Science at the University of Cambridge. And a master’s degree in artificial intelligence from Stanford. All right, pretty good.

Ian Bowie
Excellent. I like myself all the more.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, she grew disillusion with the lack of transparency and accountability in the tech industry. All right. And she began to explore ways to raise awareness about the ethical implications of AI. She used her platform on AI Unfiltered to raise awareness about issues like bias in algorithms, the impact of AI on the job market and the potential for AI to exacerbate existing social inequalities. Interesting.

Ian Bowie
Yeah, is quite interesting. Right. Let’s stick something in there about aiunfiltered.com. Let’s see if it actually knows anything about

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. AI Unfiltered is a wildly popular podcast that explores the world of artificial intelligence in an unfiltered way. It’s just… Yes. The podcast is co-hosted by Michael Stormbom and Emma Williams, both of whom are experts in the field of AI. Each episode of the podcast features discussions about the latest developments in AI, as well as interviews with experts from a wide range of fields. The podcast covers a broad range of topics including the ethical and social implications of AI, the impact of AI on the job market, and the potential benefits and risks of this transformative…

Ian Bowie
It’s a regurgitation of what it just wrote. Okay, well put my name in and say, you know, tell us about Ian Bowie, cohost of AI and see if it gets very confused.

Michael Stormbom
Let’s see what it does now. Now we’re introducing a third co-host in there.

Ian Bowie
Indeed, yeah.

Michael Stormbom
I’m sorry, but Ian Bowie is not the co-host of the AI Unfiltered. The podcast is co-hosted by Michael Stormbom and Emma Williams. For real, look.

Ian Bowie
That is unbelievable.

Michael Stormbom
So first it invented a fictional co-host Emma Williams…

Ian Bowie
And convinced itself that is correct. Yes. Oh, hey, we found a flaw.

Michael Stormbom
There’s a glitch in the Matrix, man.

Ian Bowie
Haven’t we? We’ve really found a flaw. It’s now convinced itself that it’s right.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, it just invented some facts and now it sticks to its…

Ian Bowie
Sticking to its guns. Yeah. What if you clear that search?

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, let’s do a… we’ll do a new one.

Ian Bowie
And try again with the same question.

Michael Stormbom
Now, we don’t have the context anymore. Let’s see if you also are an MIT alumnus. Ian Bowie is a co-host of the popular podcast, AI Unfiltered, which explores the world of artificial intelligence and its impact on society. He was born and raised in Glasgow, okay in 1985, I guess everyone’s born in 1985.

Ian Bowie

1985. Oh dear.

Michael Stormbom
Bit of a hard drinker, aren’t you. From a young age, Ian was interested in science and technology. He attended University of Glasgow, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. After graduation he worked as a software engineer for several years before pursuing a… it’s typing it out really slowly. University of Edinburgh during his graduate studies, okay. You became fascinated with the ethical and social implications of AI. It keeps on coming back to that.

Ian Bowie
It keeps coming back to the social yet ethical and social implications of AI, isn’t it? I mean, do you think it’s picking up something about our podcast because I mean, yeah, these are things that we have talked about.

Michael Stormbom
It could be that those topics are broadly discussed. Okay, and eventually you co founded AI Unfiltered with with your colleague, Sarah Chan. So Sarah Chan and Emma Williams if you’re out there listening.

Ian Bowie
Congratulations.

Michael Stormbom
Congratulations. You’re the new co-hosts.

Ian Bowie
Do get in touch. Yes. Wow. That’s funny.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. Oh, you have written articles for a variety of publications, including Forbes and Wired. So that’s pretty good.

Ian Bowie
I better write to Forbes and Wired and ask for my check, then. Shouldn’t I really I mean, yeah, definitely.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. Where are those commissions, man. Oh, and in your free time you enjoy hiking. You read science fiction. And you currently live in Edinburgh with your wife and two children.

Ian Bowie
Oh, lovely. Yeah, very nice.

Michael Stormbom
And it titled it Ian Bowie’s AI career.

Ian Bowie
Wow. Perfect.

Michael Stormbom
But I like the idea of having two co-hosts so I can go on vacation. They can handle the summer shift.

Ian Bowie
It just shows you thatm that is obviously very good at fiction.

Michael Stormbom
Okay, but now, let’s ask it again. What about Michael…

Ian Bowie
Stormbom, the co host of AI Unfiltered.

Michael Stormbom
And no we’ll see if it’s…

Ian Bowie
Who isn’t? Because he won’t be.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. I’m sorry. But Michael Stormbom is not a co-host.

Ian Bowie
All right. So. So within the context of one particular chat, it will stick to its guns. Yes. Yeah. Because yeah, yeah. Yeah. Or it’s creating parallell worlds.

Michael Stormbom
Okay, but how about this? Actually, Michael replaced Sarah in 2020. Let’s see what it says. Okay, now it stopped.

Ian Bowie
It’s really, really thinking about it.

Michael Stormbom
What am I supposed to do with this? There’s a server somewhere in Silicon Valley that’s exploding as we speak. I apologize for my mistake earlier. Thank you for correcting me. And now Michael Stormbom is a co-host of the podcast.

Ian Bowie
The next one is, so now tell me about Michael Stormbom. Yeah,

Michael Stormbom
Having joined the team in 2020. He is an AI researcher and strategist. All right. with expertise in machine learning, natural language processing. Okay. Well, it got that one right… big data analytics. Yeah, well, then it got boring. Okay.

Ian Bowie
But interesting. All right. Well, fair enough. But, of course, then it just shows you that it’s extremely good at making things up. Yeah. Yeah. So…

Michael Stormbom
What have you learned from this? I don’t know.

Ian Bowie
I suppose I suppose. Well, yeah. I don’t know what we’ve learned from it. Really? I mean, of course. I think it’s just that whatever you read on a computer screen, you need to triple check it.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, don’t believe your lying eyes.

Ian Bowie
Check it and validate it, if you can. Yeah.

Michael Stormbom
And which brings us of course to the news that Microsoft is integrating all this stuff in there.

Ian Bowie
Think about it. My goodness.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah. Imagine things like that ending up in a Word document.

Ian Bowie
I mean, you could do anything good news. I mean, you really could, you know, you could send like memos and then just say, well, it wasn’t me. You know, it was this bloody GPT thing. You could Yeah. denial of responsibility here.

Michael Stormbom
Writing a project plan and everything is off or completely, you know, budget calculations.

Ian Bowie
My goodness.

Michael Stormbom
So it’ll just be tons of completely factually inaccurate. Yeah. Yeah. It’ll be an interesting world in a couple of years. Well, yeah, you can’t believe anything and everything is wrong.

Ian Bowie
That takes us straight back to the off grid summer cottage doesn’t it really. Yeah, and how do I know you’re not an avatar? Yeah, see I read a very fun, I wouldn’t say is interesting, but it was a funny article today. Does AI spell the end of the romance novel? Or not, actually, no, it wasn’t. Does it start does it spell the end of the romance novel? Does it spell the end of the romance novel author?

Michael Stormbom
You mean? They’re so generic and stereotypical, that…?

Ian Bowie
Yes, and then there was somebody was it from a publishing company or from a guild of authors or what they were, but they were saying, of course, you know, people have to understand actually, that there are many different styles of romance novel. It’s not just the historical style, but there’s also modern and you know, all this kind of stuff. And, you know, GPT couldn’t possibly mimic those different styles and of course, you know, there is the human voice that you have to consider and human experience, and I was sort of reading this thinking. Yeah, right. So all you do, is you just pump it all into GPT. And it’s gonna come up with something good.

Michael Stormbom
And push it it out there.

Ian Bowie
Of course, yes. But of course, you see, this is interesting, isn’t it? That you have this disruptive technology, which has the potential to take away your source of income. And so you then start to invent all kinds of ways in which it can’t possibly do that.

Michael Stormbom
Not I mean, that’s absolutely true. Yeah. No one wants to see their job automated away.

Ian Bowie
No. But of course, I mean, that’s been, you know…

Michael Stormbom
That’s the way the world.

Ian Bowie
Well, absolutely. It’s the way of the world, isn’t it? But, you know, technologies have always replaced people. And those people have always tried to convince themselves that they are irreplaceable. Yeah, and it’s still going on, right? Yes.

Michael Stormbom
Yeah, indeed.

Ian Bowie
It is still going on. And you would have thought that in the 21st century, when people have seen what technology has done in the last even 50 years, that they would realize that they are not indispensable, and they are highly replaceable.

Michael Stormbom
Now, I mean, it’s absolutely true, but I mean, if you’ve been doing something for years, it’s hard to switch gears, isn’t it?

Ian Bowie
I am a romance novelist. You cannot possibly replace me. Yes. GPT replied, just watch me. Yes. Some of them have made a lot of money. Apparently the romance sector is enjoying a renaissance and sales are increasing exponentially. Especially in comparison to standard fiction.

Ian Bowie
Interesting.

Ian Bowie
Romance is a thing. Yeah. Isn’t it quite interesting?

Michael Stormbom
No, but I mean I mean, I did like an experiment with GPT, write me a fantasy story, here are the characters and just write okay, then write the next chapter. And I want this and this to happen in the chapter and then it does it for you.

Michael Stormbom
But yeah, you’ve been listening to AI Unfiltered with Emma Williams and Sarah Chan, and we’ll be back next week.

Ian Bowie
You’ve been listening to me Ian Bowie, and my colleague Michael Stormbom, on AI Unfiltered, and for more episodes. Please go to aiunfiltered.com Thank you.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai