I'm not sure why you think that? When I give it programming tasks, GPT-4 will ask all kinds of clarifying questions. Here is a trivial example:
p:
I want you to solve for x, giving me a numeric value, given the formula ax^2 + bx + c = 0.
r:
To find the numeric value of x for the quadratic equation ax^2 + bx + c = 0, we need to use the quadratic formula:
x = (-b ± √(b^2 - 4ac)) / (2a)
However, you haven't provided specific values for a, b, and c. Please provide these values so I can calculate the solution(s) for x.
Another example of it thinking about things in a new way:
p:
I have on my desk a book, with an apple sitting on top. If I were to suddenly, rapidly remove the book such that the apple remained in place, in which direction would it eventually move?
r:
If you suddenly and rapidly remove the book from beneath the apple, the apple would initially stay in place due to its inertia. However, once the book is removed, there would be no support underneath the apple. As a result, the apple would eventually move downwards due to the force of gravity acting on it.
p:
Because the earth is a sphere, I prefer to use the terms “in” and “out” to refer to movement relating to that. Can you please rephrase your answer in the terms?
r:
Certainly! If you suddenly and rapidly remove the book from beneath the apple, the apple would initially stay in place due to its inertia. However, once the book is removed, there would be no support underneath the apple. As a result, the apple would eventually move "in" towards the center of the Earth, due to the force of gravity acting on it.
(Note I didn't tell it which direction was in vs out. This is the example problem Chomsky gave in his recent article arguing that GPT-3 cannot think - per his ideas no language model would ever be able to answer a question like this. I went a lot deeper with this and got it to add fluid dynamics calculations for wind, etc.)