> I think the issue here is ChatGPT is behaving like a child that was not taught to say "I don't know". I don't know is a learned behavior and not all people do

> I think the issue here is ChatGPT is behaving like a child that was not taught to say "I don't know". I don't know is a learned behavior and not all people do this. Even in humans, this "pretending to know" type of bullshit - however irritating and trust destroying - is motivated to a large extent by an underlying insecurity about appearing unknowledgeable. Unless the bullshitter is also some kind of sociopath - that insecurity is at least genuinely felt. Being aware of that is what can allow us to feel empathy for people bullshitting even when we know they are doing it (like the salespeople from the play Glengarry Glen Ross). Can we really say that ChatGPT is motivated by anything like that sort of insecurity? I don't think so. It's just compelled to fill in bytes, with extremely erroneous information if needed (try asking it for driving directions). If we are going to draw analogies to human behavior (a dubious thing, but oh well), its traits seem more sociopathic to me.