Did you know there is no country in Africa that starts with the letter “K”?
Yes, that’s correct! While there are 54 recognized countries in Africa, none of them begin with the letter “K”. The closest is Kenya, which starts with a “K” sound, but is actually spelled with a “K” sound. It’s always interesting to learn new trivia facts like this.
There are, obviously, lots and lots of wrong answers generated by AI. Somehow the one above struck me as especially funny.
There was a panel about AI at the World Fantasy Convention. I went to that panel, and as a result, I finally gave in and made an account with ChatGPT so I could play with it properly. I’ll be posting about stuff having to do with ChatGPT now and then. I will start with this:
So, ChatGPT, write a summary of Rachel Neumeier’s book Tuyo.
ChatGPT:
“Tuyo” is a fantasy novel by Rachel Neumeier that tells the story of a young prince named Tuyo, who is the last surviving member of the royal family of a conquered kingdom. After his homeland is seized by a ruthless conqueror, Tuyo escapes and seeks refuge in the neighboring kingdom. There, he must navigate the challenges of a new and unfamiliar culture, all while struggling with the loss of his family and his determination to reclaim his kingdom.
As Tuyo adapts to his new life, he befriends a powerful and enigmatic mage named Rosamari, who becomes his mentor and protector. Together, they uncover secrets about Tuyo’s past and the magical abilities he possesses. Tuyo’s journey is one of self-discovery, as he grapples with his destiny, battles against dark forces, and seeks to restore his kingdom.
The novel “Tuyo” is a tale of adventure, magic, and self-discovery, set against a richly crafted fantasy world. It explores themes of resilience, the bonds of friendship, and the pursuit of justice as the protagonist strives to reclaim his homeland from those who have taken it.
Goodness. Well, children, if you want a plot summary of some book in order to write a book report for your teacher, I must disrecommend using ChatGPT for that purpose.
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The Tuyo summary is good news, I think. It means ChatGPT hasn’t read the book, so probably OpenAI hasn’t stolen your work and used it without permission. For comparison, I tried it on a summary of Patrick Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind and it did a pretty good job.
ChatGPT is fine for form generation of job descriptions and cover letters. Outside of business…not so much.
It generates uniformly long sentences, and uniformly long paragraphs. It doesn’t know any rhetorical tricks, like repetition. And yes, it doesn’t know the difference between the canonical fantasy novel (Terry Brooks 1977, DelRey) and a specific one.
Pete, I might use it the next time someone asks me for a letter of recommendation, because (a) ugh, I hate writing those, and (b) they’re all pretty much the same, with minimal adjustment to personalize each one for the specific student.
Rowan, I agree, that is kind of reassuring.
The Tuyo summary reminds me a of an intentionally hilarious synopsis of Lord of the Rings on the Tolkien Sarcasm Page. I don’t think that site has changed in the last 20 years, but it’s still a gem.
It is, Robert! Thanks for adding the link!
The closest is Kenya, which starts with a “K” sound, but is actually spelled with a “K” sound. Wait… I’m confused.
Jeanine, right? I’m literally unable to read this answer about Kenya aloud without laughing.
My older daughter’s favorite of these is the one where it explains where the 4 r’s are in a word that only has 2 (and it misses one of the real ones, doing 3 where it inserts new r’s). Can’t find it right now, but it’s just generally terrible at counting.
I just asked Microsoft Bing’s AI chat function, Why are there no countries in Africa that start with K? Verbatim response:
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I am impressed at the density of error.
And that didn’t work. Um, *here’s* the response
It is a common misconception that there are no countries in Africa that start with the letter “K”. However, this is not entirely true. While there are no countries in Africa that start with the letter “K”, there are five countries that begin with the letter “K” sound: Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan 123.
This really is genuinely hilarious.