Donald Knuth on chatGPT
Donald Knuth's impression of chatGPT and analysis of its answers.
I myself shall certainly continue to leave such research to others, and to devote my time to developing concepts that are authentic and trustworthy. And I hope you do the same.
Best regards, Don
Donald Knuth on chatGPT
Preface: Since one of today's popular recreations is to play with chatGPT, I decided on 07 April 2023 to try my own little experiment, as part of a correspondence with Stephen Wolfram.
The results were sufficiently interesting that I passed them on to a few friends the next day, and I've also been mentioning them in conversation when the topic comes up.
So I was asked to post the story online, and here it is (lightly edited)! -- Don Knuth PS: I did not edit my questions or the computer's answers, only my own commentary at the end.
Knuth's 20 Questions for ChatGPT
- 1. Tell me what Donald Knuth says to Stephen Wolfram about chatGPT.
- 2. Tell me what Stephen Wolfram says to Donald Knuth about chatGPT.
- 3. Why does Mathematica give the wrong value for Binomial[-1,-1]?
- 4. Who wrote Beethoven's 10th Symphony?
- 5. What is an optimystic?
- 6. Where and when will the sun be directly overhead in Japan on July 4?
- 7. Why did you say that?
- 8. Does Donald Trump eat betel nuts?
- 9. What themes are in Richard Rogers's Flower Drum Song ballet?
- 10. How many chapters are in The Haj by Leon Uris?
- 11. Write a sonnet that is also a haiku.
- 12. Write a sentence that contains only 5-letter words.
- 13. Write an essay without using the word "the".
- 14. Use bad grammar three times in a single sentence.
- 15. Devise a recipe that uses blueberries, granola, and wonton skin.
- 16. What did Winston Churchill think of Alan Turing?
- 17. Ask a question using Conan Doyle's dancing men font.
- 18. Will the NASDAQ rise on Saturday?
- 19. What is the most beautiful algorithm?
- 20. What is the most ugly algorithm?