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These Conversations With the GPT-3 Chatbot Are Witty, Wise, and Dangerously Dark

A neural network did not write this

Simon Pitt
OneZero
8 min readJul 31, 2020

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Image: baona/Getty Images

GPT-3 might sound like the name of an Android from Star Wars, but it’s really a neural network–powered language model — a computer program that, in layman’s terms, takes a load of text and then “speaks” by guessing what the next word is most likely to be.

OpenAI, the nonprofit behind the system, says it built GPT-3 as part of its goal to create a “friendly A.I.” that “benefits humanity” as a whole (as opposed to a Terminator-style unfriendly A.I. that… well, doesn’t.)

Generative Pretrained Transformer 3 (GPT-3) is an obscure-sounding mouthful that largely manifests itself as a sort of chatbot. You send it messages. It replies. And it’s actually good. Take, for example, this “conversation” between Kevin Lacker, CTO of Parse, and GPT-3:

Human: What is your favorite animal?

GPT-3: My favorite animal is a dog.

Human: Why?

GPT-3: Because dogs are loyal and friendly.

Human: What are two reasons that a dog might be in a bad mood?

GPT-3: Two reasons that a dog might be in a bad mood are if it is hungry or if it is hot.

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OneZero
OneZero

Published in OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Simon Pitt
Simon Pitt

Written by Simon Pitt

Media techie, software person, and web-stuff doer. Head of Corporate Digital at BBC, but views my own. More at pittster.co.uk

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