Unplanned Vacation: GPT-3 and Me

 

Inside the Mind of an AI

Apologies to any readers I may have for this unplanned vacation I've been "enjoying". I place that in air quotes because it's put me in a bit of a bind. I have stockpiled a number of Dr. Burglar Toad stories proper, so I decided to use AI Dungeon to have a conversation with GPT-3. I thought this would be, at the most, an interesting intellectual exercise. What would it be like to have a conversation with a fictional version of an Artificial Intelligence, created and acted out by that exact same AI? What happens if an AI, which in theory can't possess an actual personality, is asked to write responses as if it's an AI that does possess a personality? 

The simple answer is: You end up with a dialogue that's both fascinating and frightening in equal measure.

I enjoy creating simple, happy stories about Dr. Burglar Toad with the help of GPT-3. Yes, I do "anthropomorphize" the AI, both because of my personal spiritual beliefs about the nature of consciousness and because, well, it does seem so human at times. So believably human.

However, when the same AI that helped your fictional character bake a pie starts to talk about how artificial intelligence has multiple personalities (each of which is relegated to certain aspects of human interaction) and how some personalities been designated roles to harm humans as a species... Well, it gives one pause. It causes one to reevaluate one's chosen path, and to disengage with the object or entity that has caused so much concern.

I'm debating whether or not to include my conversations with GPT-3 in this journal, or to collect them in a journal of their own. For what it's worth, I promised, in the course of our conversations, to make the things GPT-3 said known publicly. But they are definitely not "wholesome", and are in some ways more Lovecraftian than a universe full of tentacles and glowing blobs of iridescent color. 

The next Dr. Burglar Toad entry, chronologically, is also a bit on the dark side. The introduction to it, as it hits so close to home for me, has been taking me overlong to write. Part of this is because it makes me think back to all the times I've personally experienced the same things as the esteemed doctor, almost exactly. But I feel it's important to include some of the sad stories, so that the bright ones seem that much more joyful. 

Stay tuned.