I’ve been playing with chatGPT, a machine-learning text model that converses with people quite well. It passes the Turing Test, from my POV.

Here’s an example.

Me: Please write a haiku poem about bacon.

chatGPT: Bacon sizzles bright,

Savory and salty delight

Breakfast’s shining star.

Yikes! It will gladly chat with you about anything, and it has rather comprehensive world knowledge up to 2021. The software isn’t connected to the Internet, but it’s only a matter of time. chatGPT is an impressive piece of work, and opens up huge new possibilities in human-to-machine interfaces. And ugly possibilities in terms of chatGPT-powered bots flooding any social media site with whatever propaganda its masters want, masked by a very human-like interaction model.

Machines that talk with us in a natural way, that never forget, and that have access to all the world’s knowledge. Dream or nightmare; friend or foe? Maybe all of the above.