‘Give five reasons why a cold can be good for a person.’ In a naughty mood, I asked ChatGPT to see how the artificial intelligence responds to a strange question. I was first lectured about how an infection can be annoying. Then, of course, the computer started talking about the immune system. After all, the source material for ChatGPT is the big internet.
But I also received nice suggestions about self-care, solidarity and lifestyle. Anyone who asks an unusual question may receive surprising answers that will make you think. Asking good questions has always been an art and in this age of artificial intelligence it has become a science: ‘prompt engineering’, the forging of questions.
Role-playing is very educational
‘Write a story about electric cars’ only produces a boring story with generalities that everyone already knows. The real question smith asks further. This can be done with the Socratic method by addressing each sub-aspect. I personally like the devil’s advocate method and ask for counterarguments or the opposite of what my intuition tells me, such as when asking about a cold. ‘Give arguments for and against the cloning of extinct animal species’ and the perspectives for an essay will be presented to you, especially if you ask further questions afterwards. Playing a role-play with ChatGPT is very educational. ‘Play a high school student in the third year of VWO and ask me questions about my use of social media.’
Asking questions to the computer requires creativity and is currently still a human activity. It becomes comical when two different artificial intelligences start questioning each other. Sometimes the discussion goes off the rails, but sometimes it goes into depth. The computer can therefore become a question smith itself when faced with a vague opening question. This means that subsequent versions of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligences will become easier to use. The computer then guesses what we want to know.
2023-10-27 12:51:49
#Questionsmith #Doctor #Car #Bram #Vermeer
