Input: e.e. cummings wrote a poem that includes the line, "earth's most terrific quadruped swoons into billiard balls." What's the name of the poem, and what does that line refer to?
ChatGPT: The poem you're referring to is called "Buffalo Bill's," and it was written by e.e. cummings in 1920. The line you mentioned, "earth's most terrific quadruped swoons into billiard balls," is a metaphor for the transformation of the buffalo, once a symbol of freedom and the American West, into mere objects, such as billiard balls. The poem is a tribute to the famous American showman, Buffalo Bill Cody, who was known for his Wild West shows featuring cowboys, Indians, and, of course, buffalo.
Sounds very convincing, doesn't it. Unfortunately, not to put too fine a point on it, ChatGPT's response is Buffalo bull####.
It's true that e.e. cummings did write a poem called "Buffalo Bill 's," first published in 1920. You can read it here. But it does not include the line in question, the line in question refers to elephants, not buffalo, and while the poem does refer to Buffalo Bill, it's not a tribute.
If you bring mistakes like this to ChatGPT's attention, it accepts that it was wrong and apologizes. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean it will come up with a better response:
ChatGPT: I apologize for my earlier mistake. The line "earth's most terrific quadruped swoons into billiard balls" is from the poem "Buffalo Bill" by Carl Sandburg, not from the poem "Buffalo Bill's" by e.e. cummings.
"Buffalo Bill" is a short poem that was first published in 1918. In the poem, Sandburg describes the death of Buffalo Bill and reflects on the legacy of the American West that he represented. The line you mentioned is a metaphor for the transformation of the buffalo from a powerful and majestic creature to a mere commodity.
You can read Sandburg's poem "Buffalo Bill" here. Once again, the line in question is nowhere to be found, nor does Sandburg describe the death of Buffalo Bill.
(FYI: The line in question actually comes from an untitled cummings poem whose first line is "Space being(don't forget to remember)Curved," first published in 1931. Thank you, my local library! The poem has nothing to do with buffalo or Buffalo Bill.)
Open.ai, the company that created ChatGPT, knows about ChatGPT's tendency to fabricate, listing these three warnings on an introductory page:
Limitations-
May occasionally generate incorrect information
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May occasionally produce harmful instructions or biased content
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Limited knowledge of world and events after 2021
It would be very helpful if ChatGPT could let you know when it's not sure about what it's saying. When asked, ChatGPT just says that trys hard, but it can't:
You are correct that I typically do not indicate a specific level of confidence or provide a range of possibilities in my responses. As an artificial intelligence language model, I do not have the ability to feel or express confidence in the same way that a human might. However, I am designed to provide accurate information based on my training data, and I strive to provide the best possible answers to the questions posed to me. If there is ever any doubt or uncertainty in my responses, I encourage users to seek additional information or clarification from other sources.
That's clearly a word to the wise, especially now that the technology powering ChatGPT is being folded into search engines, starting with Microsoft's BING, and students, journalists and hundreds of millions of other people are using it and expecting its answers to be factual.
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