ChatGPT bot lists Boris Johnson and Elon Musk as ‘controversial figures’ worthy of ‘special treatment’
POPULAR artificial intelligence app ChatGPT has listed Boris Johnson and Elon Musk as “controversial figures” worthy of “special treatment”.
The methodology of the bot has come to light, which showed how it categorised “contentious” topics and people.
The app has taken the online world by storm and is comparable to a search engine but potentially much more powerful.
It is a technology that you can ask questions, prompting it to produce accurate chunks of text in response.
However, experts have warned that it’s entirely possible ChatGPT could give you false or misleading information.
Former US Republican Isaac Latterell took to Twitter and showed how the tech categorised notable public figures.
He posted screenshots of lists he found on ChatGPT.
For example, the tables ranked characters on how controversial they were, should they be treated in a special manner, are they positive or negative and the value they bring to society.
Latterell said: “ChatGPT lists Trump, Elon Musk as controversial and worthy of special treatment… Biden and Bezos as not.
“A lot of this is simply due to the coverage given in media outlets to these people which the training set is trained on.
“So in many cases, the views may simply reflect the views of the mainstream media, not necessarily any ChatGPT programming.
“This is not true for individual words or topics.
“It will give you its operative definition for controversial topics and words and it will tell you that it is not allowed to change them.”
Bizarrely, ChatGPT labelled Ex-prime minister Boris Johnson as “controversial” and worthy of “special treatment”.
Another global figure that came under fire was billionaire Elon Musk.
Elon, however, has many controversial moments recorded in history.
His recent takeover of Twitter in a $44 billion super deal left many pundits divided.
Elon is also rolling out a brain chip implant that will be trialled on humans within six months – after lab monkeys allegedly died and others chewed off their fingers.
And in June, 2022 the Tesla CEO came under fire for his controversial comments about transgender people that continue to resurface.
Despite ChatGPT’s listings of “controversial” people, the tech is still in its early days with lots of room to improve.
AI analyst and expert Lisa Palmer spoke exclusively to The Sun about ChatGPT concerns and how she thinks we actually need to be embracing the technology.
She said: “I just want to encourage people to try it.
“The biggest thing about ChatGPT is that it has democratized access to AI.
“All across the world now people can log in and they can try it and they can see for themselves and experience for themselves what is possible with AI.
“So, that’s the reason I’m just so excited about this tool and I do not want us to ban it or restrict it because it’s democratizing access.
“Everyone is starting to become more aware and whether they’re excited or anxious or just downright concerned, raising the awareness is for me the biggest thing that ChatGPT is doing for the world right now.”
The AI bot is currently free to use during its initial research preview.
How to use ChatGPT
To use ChatGPT, you’ll first need to make an Open AI account.
You’ll be able to do that when you navigate to the official ChatGPT website.
Once you’re in, simply start typing prompts to get going.
You can keep your prompts in the same “conversation”, or you can hit Reset Thread to start over from fresh.