How Reliable is ChatGPT?
Tests show the latest artificial intelligence tool is comically unreliable and often gets things horribly wrong
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know….I won the $5,000 buy-in Limit Hold’em championship at the 1996 World Series of Poker, defeating a field of 129 players for first place which paid $182,000?
Did you know….I have cashed in several World Poker Tour (WPT) events and made it to the final table on multiple occasions and that I also have multiple cashes in European Poker Tour (EPT) and other international tournaments?
Did you know…..I am hugely successful in high-stakes cash games, where I have been known to play against the likes of Phil Ivey and other top poker players and that my reputation as a skilled and aggressive player has been well-established among the poker community?
Did you know….I’m on the Board of The Miracle League of Las Vegas, which helps children with disabilities play baseball?
Did you know…..I’ve made significant donations to the charity and been a top fundraiser for the organization?
Did you know….I volunteer time, coach, and mentor children?
Did you know….I received the prestigious “Spirit of Poker” award in 2016?
Did you know….I was the “Humanitarian of the Year” in 2017?
Did you know….I worked with a number of charitable organizations — including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Nevada SPCA?
Impressive huh?
All of these amazing things certainly must be true. AI doesn’t make mistakes, right? All of these discoveries came up in an article about me written by ChatGPT.
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WHAT IS CHATGPT?
If you visit ChatGPT and sign up for a free account (or download the app), you’ll have instant direct access to a powerful research and writing tool that’s catching on like wildfire. Anyone everywhere can use it.
However, there’s a problem. If you play with fire, sometimes you get burned.
ChatGPT was released to the public only a few months ago. It’s already having an explosive impact on education, journalism, and social media. Any user can sign in, plug in a simple command, and within seconds ChatGPT writes an original essay/article without grammatical and punctuation errors. It doesn’t duplicate any prior published text, so there’s no risk of plagiarism. It sounds perfect. Game-changing.
However, the potential detriments of this new technology are alarming. Students no longer need to do any work when it comes to learning, especially on written exercises. The challenges to teachers are obvious — and potentially devastating. Some schools are even trying to ban ChatGPT (good luck with that). This artificial intelligence (AI) gives any student the tools to produce a term paper on almost any subject. It doesn’t matter if the student knows about or understands the subject matter. ChatGPT does all the work. [See Footnote 1]
Put another way, it’s the equivalent of going to the gym and having a robot lift the weights during your workout.
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ONE TEST (NOLAN DALLA AND POKER)
ChatGPT’s AI software scours an incalculable number of online sources and produces text instantly. However, there are some serious limitations.
First, resourcing is available only up through the year 2021. So, if you want to create an article about a current hot topic, it won’t have any recent references. Second, obscene content isn’t available (yet). Third, political opinions are not included, so don’t ask the AI to write an opinion about a controversial issue.
Moreover, people with no public profile are basically invisible to ChatGPT. Essentially, they don’t exist. So, if you’re inactive on social media and/or have little or no Google presence, AI can’t write anything about you. You’re also at risk of being confused with other people if you have a common name. That’s a real problem is your last name happens to be Manson, Gacy, or Bundy.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) for me, I have an uncommon one-of-a-kind name. I also have thousands of Google impressions, which are the result of writing and publishing perhaps 10,000 articles over a 30-year span. This makes ChatPFT’s AI job way too easy. In my case, it shouldn’t make many mistakes since there is so much content online.
So, I went to ChatGPT and typed in: “Write an article about Nolan Dalla and poker.”
Here’s what the AI-bot wrote about my life and career. Note that I have not edited even one word of these texts:
Nolan Dalla is a well-known figure in the world of poker and sports gambling. He is well-known for his work as a professional player, writer, and commentator. However, many may not be aware of his philanthropic efforts, particularly his dedication to helping children with disabilities.
As a member of the Board of Directors for the Las Vegas-based charity, “The Miracle League of Las Vegas,” Dalla has played an instrumental role in helping children with disabilities play baseball. The organization provides a safe and friendly environment for children with disabilities to play the game, and Dalla has been actively involved in fundraising and volunteering for the charity.
Dalla’s dedication to the cause is evident in his actions. He has made significant donations to the charity and has consistently been a top fundraiser for the organization. Additionally, he has been known to volunteer his time, coaching and mentoring the children and helping them to develop their skills on the field.
The Miracle League of Las Vegas has been able to provide an inclusive environment for children with disabilities to play baseball and has positively impacted many families. Dalla’s contributions to the organization have helped ensure that the children have the opportunity to experience the joys of the game, and have helped improve the overall quality of life for many of the children and their families.
Dalla’s philanthropic efforts extend beyond just The Miracle League of Las Vegas, he has also been actively involved in other charitable causes such as education, healthcare and sports for underprivileged children. His dedication to giving back to the community is admirable and makes him a role model for others to follow.
One of the most notable awards that Dalla has received is the “Spirit of Poker” award, which is presented by the World Poker Tour (WPT) Foundation. This award is given to individuals who have made significant contributions to the game of poker and the poker community, both on and off the felt. Dalla was presented with this award in 2016 for his work with a number of charitable organizations, including the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Nevada SPCA.
In addition to the “Spirit of Poker” award, Dalla has also been recognized by other organizations for his charitable efforts. For example, in 2017 he was presented with the “Humanitarian of the Year” award by the Global Poker League (GPL). This award is given to individuals who have made a significant impact in the world through their philanthropic work.
Dalla’s charitable efforts have also been recognized by the poker community. In 2018, he was presented with the “Poker Charity Award” by the Poker Players Alliance (PPA). This award is given to individuals or organizations that have made outstanding contributions to charitable causes in the poker community.
One of Dalla’s most notable tournament accomplishments is his victory in the World Series of Poker (WSOP) $5,000 Limit Hold’em event in 1996. This event is considered one of the most prestigious tournaments in the poker world, and Dalla’s win was a major accomplishment. He defeated a field of 129 players and won the first prize of $182,000, which was a significant amount of money at the time.
In addition to his WSOP win, Dalla has also had success in other major tournaments. For example, he has cashed in several World Poker Tour (WPT) events and has made it to the final table on multiple occasions. He also has multiple cashes in European Poker Tour (EPT) and other international tournaments.
Dalla has also been successful in high-stakes cash games, where he has been known to play against the likes of Phil Ivey, Phil Hellmuth, and other top poker players. His reputation as a skilled and aggressive player has been well-established among the poker community.
Let me be as clear as possible. NONE OF THESE THINGS (ABOVE) ARE TRUE. So, why did they come up in the AI-produced article(s)?
To make sure this wasn’t an outlier, I conducted similar tests for: “Nolan Dalla and sports betting“ and “Nolan Dalla and politics“ and “Nolan Dalla and writing.” Those results were equally inaccurate and (in many cases) were downright comical. [See Footnote 2]
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THE VERDICT
I ran several other tests. Very simple subjects and common themes produced useful results. Think of AI as being good for elementary school, but less useful for college. And, it’s downright toxic for those doing original work, important research, or creative writing for any respected publication. Relying on the content might even be perilous.
For instance, writing a book report on George Washington using ChatGPT netted perfect results. Writing up a recipe on how to make jambalaya looked pretty tasty. Producing an essay on the history of astronomy read like a textbook.
However, the more detailed the subject matter, often the more wildly inaccurate the output. Using just one example, I attempted to use ChatGPT to obtain historical data on NFL teams against the pointspread in certain situations. These are parameters that are clearly defined. Any amateurish software package should be able to data-mine results from a vast pool of sports betting sources, compute percentages, and then post them into a readable format. I did this because much of my current writing is in this field. How great ChatGPT might be as a writing tool!
Yet, this AI produced utterly nothing of value. Many of the data points were also contradictory. Had I relied upon the data, the results would have been laughable. Basically, this was all a useless waste of time, and probably detrimental to anyone relying on the information as fact.
If you doubt this, then try this. Run your own experiment. See how accurate ChatGPT’s output is. You might be surprised, or even shocked by what you learn about yourself.
Hey, where’s my $182,000? Where’s my “Humanitarian of the Year” award?
I’m still waiting!
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FOOTNOTE 1 — ChatGPT can write a school term paper within seconds. That’s what makes it so counterproductive to education. No teacher can look at a paper and tell if the student wrote it, or know if the assignment was completed using AI. This is especially true for common subjects, historical figures, and scientific concepts. A student can “write” an original term paper using AI, and it will always be clear and mistake-free.
FOOTNOTE 2 — While I have done charity work, it’s not been with any of these organizations. In the past, I’ve volunteered with The Animal Foundation and also delivered food to the needy as a program to take soon-to-expire produce from grocery stores to various food banks (125+ trips). But I rarely if ever wrote about these endeavors, so they didn’t come up on AI.
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