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There are all sorts of questions I've had that are either very hard, or very annoying, to use Google for. They're often technical, but really they could be anyt

There are all sorts of questions I've had that are either very hard, or very annoying, to use Google for. They're often technical, but really they could be anything. Two recent examples that comes to mind: 1. I was helping my 6 year old niece with her homework, and the exercise was extremely confusing. It had 3 pictures - a gumball machine, an owl, and something else (can't remember). The instructions said "for each picture, write 3 adjectives that describe what the picture can do." It's one of those things where, the more you think about it, the more confused you get. I thought I must be going crazy. I took a screenshot and asked ChatGPT if it could understand what the exercise was asking for, and it successfully interpreted the picture but agreed that the exercise as described didn't make sense, because adverbs describe actions, not adjectives. 2. A more trivial example, but I quickly needed to know the time and temperature for cooking bacon in the oven. Stuff like this is incredibly irritating with Google, especially if you're in the kitchen with food particles all over your hand. I don't want to read some backstory about the recipe author growing up on a small farm, intermixed with 15 different ads, just so I can figure out how many teaspoons of salt I need.

apwell23 3y ago
> It's one of those things where, the more you think about it, the more confused you get. > it successfully interpreted the picture Sorry, but how did you know that interpretation was a success?
- danielvaughn 3y ago
  Because it explained what the exercise was. I just tried sharing but it said "sharing chats with images is not yet supported", so I'll paste what it said: 'Assignment 6 on the homework sheet you've provided is a grammar exercise that asks the student to think of two adjectives (describing words) that describe what each of the three pictures can do. The pictures are labeled "bubble gum," "porcupine," and "milk." It seems your niece has already filled out the adjectives for the bubble gum as "chew" and "blow," which are actions rather than descriptive adjectives. Adjectives for bubble gum might be "sticky" and "sweet." For the porcupine, adjectives like "spiky" and "prickly" would be appropriate, and for the milk, "cold" and "creamy" could work. The task is to use descriptive words, not actions or verbs.' So then I said: 'What’s confusing is that it says “an adjective describing what each picture can do”. Isn’t that a verb?' And it responded: 'You're correct; there seems to be a misunderstanding in the instructions. Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns—like 'red,' 'quick,' 'tall,' 'sleepy,' etc., while verbs are action words like 'run,' 'talk,' 'eat,' 'do.' The phrase "describing what each picture can do" indeed suggests action, which would typically be described by a verb. However, since the instructions are asking specifically for adjectives, it seems they want descriptive words that can indirectly suggest an action or capability. For instance: For bubble gum: "stretchy" (since it can be stretched) and "flavorful" (since it has a taste). For the porcupine: "sharp" (since it has quills that can prick) and "defensive" (since it can use its quills to defend itself). For the milk: "refreshing" (since it can be refreshing to drink) and "nutritious" (since it provides nutrition). These adjectives describe the qualities of the nouns that relate to what they can do without being action words themselves.'
  - apwell23 3y ago
    Thats such a neat example. Thank you!
  - apwell23 3y ago
    My interactions with chatgpt have been frustrating. It cannot seem to process even basic interactions. Here is an example https://chat.openai.com/share/65c8cbd7-8556-4e02-a726-32eaa8fab5fd https://chat.openai.com/share/65c8cbd7-8556-4e02-a726-32eaa8... What am I doing wrong here ?
    - TeMPOraL 3y ago
      Not sure, but I'd check two things: 1) Make sure you're chatting with GPT-4, not GPT-3; 2) Try something other than recipes and lyrics. It so happens that ChatGPT models have been instructed (via system prompt) to specifically not reproduce recipes and lyrics verbatim[0]. Those two categories are verboten - ChatGPT is literally instructed to not repeat recipes found on-line, but rather invent its own. I suspect you're hitting 2) - sure, you provided your own recipe, but from the POV of ChatGPT, this isn't clearly distinguishable from how "web search" works (run web search, inject results into temporary context, let the model generate reply, send user reply without the temporary context), so it may be acting dumb because it's over-eager to apply the instructions from its system prompt. (That's a good reason to prefer using API directly via code, or a third-party chat frontend: you get to control the system prompt this way, and can cut out some of OpenAI's restrictions.) -- [0] - Yes, they literally mention those two things in their instructions. The linked tweet has a reply showing the reconstructed system prompt of newest GPT-4 iteration, where you can spot this, but this also applied to earlier iterations for some time now.
      - apwell23 3y ago
        ok. How about this https://chat.openai.com/c/312cdb5f-8674-4302-ad8a-e91486c0539e https://chat.openai.com/c/312cdb5f-8674-4302-ad8a-e91486c053... Chatgpt gave me some useless answer. I asked google and it gave me much much better answer on the search page "It's difficult to define dream pop as a genre; it's more of a sound and aesthetic than a list of limitations. That's partially why Beach House mastered it so well; over the course of nine albums, the group hardly deviates from the gauzy sonics and vocals that characterize its music." This probably has something to do with point 2 you mentioned. Most of my iteractions with chatgpt are useless like these. I would rather use google and correctly sourced human written text. Maybe I am just using chatgpt wrong? I know it shines in things like 'write poem about crow and cat for a 3 yr old' but i am surprised by ppl on this thread saying they use it ask questions about economics/sql ect.

apwell23 3y ago

> It's one of those things where, the more you think about it, the more confused you get. > it successfully interpreted the picture Sorry, but how did you know that interpretation was a success?

danielvaughn 3y ago
Because it explained what the exercise was. I just tried sharing but it said "sharing chats with images is not yet supported", so I'll paste what it said: 'Assignment 6 on the homework sheet you've provided is a grammar exercise that asks the student to think of two adjectives (describing words) that describe what each of the three pictures can do. The pictures are labeled "bubble gum," "porcupine," and "milk." It seems your niece has already filled out the adjectives for the bubble gum as "chew" and "blow," which are actions rather than descriptive adjectives. Adjectives for bubble gum might be "sticky" and "sweet." For the porcupine, adjectives like "spiky" and "prickly" would be appropriate, and for the milk, "cold" and "creamy" could work. The task is to use descriptive words, not actions or verbs.' So then I said: 'What’s confusing is that it says “an adjective describing what each picture can do”. Isn’t that a verb?' And it responded: 'You're correct; there seems to be a misunderstanding in the instructions. Adjectives are words that describe the qualities or states of being of nouns—like 'red,' 'quick,' 'tall,' 'sleepy,' etc., while verbs are action words like 'run,' 'talk,' 'eat,' 'do.' The phrase "describing what each picture can do" indeed suggests action, which would typically be described by a verb. However, since the instructions are asking specifically for adjectives, it seems they want descriptive words that can indirectly suggest an action or capability. For instance: For bubble gum: "stretchy" (since it can be stretched) and "flavorful" (since it has a taste). For the porcupine: "sharp" (since it has quills that can prick) and "defensive" (since it can use its quills to defend itself). For the milk: "refreshing" (since it can be refreshing to drink) and "nutritious" (since it provides nutrition). These adjectives describe the qualities of the nouns that relate to what they can do without being action words themselves.'
- apwell23 3y ago
  Thats such a neat example. Thank you!
- apwell23 3y ago
  My interactions with chatgpt have been frustrating. It cannot seem to process even basic interactions. Here is an example https://chat.openai.com/share/65c8cbd7-8556-4e02-a726-32eaa8fab5fd https://chat.openai.com/share/65c8cbd7-8556-4e02-a726-32eaa8... What am I doing wrong here ?
  - TeMPOraL 3y ago
    Not sure, but I'd check two things: 1) Make sure you're chatting with GPT-4, not GPT-3; 2) Try something other than recipes and lyrics. It so happens that ChatGPT models have been instructed (via system prompt) to specifically not reproduce recipes and lyrics verbatim[0]. Those two categories are verboten - ChatGPT is literally instructed to not repeat recipes found on-line, but rather invent its own. I suspect you're hitting 2) - sure, you provided your own recipe, but from the POV of ChatGPT, this isn't clearly distinguishable from how "web search" works (run web search, inject results into temporary context, let the model generate reply, send user reply without the temporary context), so it may be acting dumb because it's over-eager to apply the instructions from its system prompt. (That's a good reason to prefer using API directly via code, or a third-party chat frontend: you get to control the system prompt this way, and can cut out some of OpenAI's restrictions.) -- [0] - Yes, they literally mention those two things in their instructions. The linked tweet has a reply showing the reconstructed system prompt of newest GPT-4 iteration, where you can spot this, but this also applied to earlier iterations for some time now.
    - apwell23 3y ago
      ok. How about this https://chat.openai.com/c/312cdb5f-8674-4302-ad8a-e91486c0539e https://chat.openai.com/c/312cdb5f-8674-4302-ad8a-e91486c053... Chatgpt gave me some useless answer. I asked google and it gave me much much better answer on the search page "It's difficult to define dream pop as a genre; it's more of a sound and aesthetic than a list of limitations. That's partially why Beach House mastered it so well; over the course of nine albums, the group hardly deviates from the gauzy sonics and vocals that characterize its music." This probably has something to do with point 2 you mentioned. Most of my iteractions with chatgpt are useless like these. I would rather use google and correctly sourced human written text. Maybe I am just using chatgpt wrong? I know it shines in things like 'write poem about crow and cat for a 3 yr old' but i am surprised by ppl on this thread saying they use it ask questions about economics/sql ect.