Bill Gates Comments On ChatGPT's 'Human-Like Nature' With A Hint Of Naivety In His Podcast On AI

In a thought-provoking conversation on his new podcast, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates characterized OpenAI’s ChatGPT as a “kind of human,” shedding light on his views of the intricate interplay between artificial intelligence and the education ecosystem.

What Happened: During the second episode of his new podcast series, “Getting Unconfused with Bill Gates,” the tech mogul engaged in a captivating discussion with Sal Khan, the founder of Khan Academy, centered around the transformative potential of AI in education. 

Gates likened ChatGPT to a “not very naive person” when it comes to navigating various contexts, illustrating the AI’s capacity to emulate human-like interactions. 

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He highlighted a particularly intriguing instance where ChatGPT’s response to a Sudoku problem suggested it was overly defensive. “It gets defensive.” 

“It sees how humans deal with being accused of getting ‘my dog ate my homework’ or something ‘oh like that.’ It’s kind of human but in a naive untrained way,” he said. 

Khan also contributed to the conversation and pointed out the evolving capabilities of ChatGPT and its successor, GPT-4. He emphasized that while both still make errors, the approach to evaluating math problems yielded improved results. 

He said that rather than immediately assessing correctness, ChatGPT’s performance was enhanced when it was encouraged to articulate its reasoning first, akin to a human thought process, before engaging with student responses.

Watch the complete conversation here: 

Why It’s Important: Previously, venture capitalist Paul Graham cautioned against overreliance on AI-generated content, suggesting that the technology might stifle the creative ideation that writing typically fosters. 

Such apprehensions are not unwarranted, as evidenced by the New York City Department of Education’s move to restrict ChatGPT’s access to school networks and devices due to concerns related to the technology’s impact on learning.

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