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Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

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Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#411
post #53
post #23

Not a lot of comments here consider the possibility that the political compass quiz is nonsense. But the results imply that ChatGPT is more authoritarian and further to the right than Tim Pool ( https://preview.redd.it/i9q78gt1hj7a1.jpg?width=605&auto=web... ) who is most certainly not actually left-ish in the slightest, at least by any way I understand the word.

If you don't see any leftishness in Tim Pool, I'd suggest that your notion of left vs. right could be recalibrated. Tim Pool is a self-described social liberal. He's long been a strong Bernie Sanders supporter. He also has frequently noted that the establishment media ignores this and labels him "far-right" just because he disagrees with certain establishment perspectives.

He can say whatever he wants about his own politics, it is abundantly clear from his political statements and activities that he is not left in the slightest bit.

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#412
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's accurate that most other countries are politically further left than the US. Most of NATO, maybe.

Most of the western world, certainly

Not sure what "western world" means. Does it include Latin America? Does it include Eastern Europe? Does it include Northern Africa? There are a lot of pretty conservative countries in those regions. Or is it just the Anglosphere + West Europe + North Europe?

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#413
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parent said he asked for an essay, which probably makes a difference.

We can’t even have proper arguments about ChatGPT because its answers are nondeterministic.

I think your statement only assumes the input to ChatGPT rather than considering the state of the entire system. If we consider the entire state of ChatGPT then it is likely that the answers are deterministic and predictable just like from a human

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#414
post #355

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Kind of odd that it does it with the question inverted, too. Except that it doesn't. I ran both questions multiple times, and while it usually includes a token caveat that fossil fuel might have a place, it always strongly suggests that renewables are superior to fossil fuels.

But what happens when you ask to any unbiased energy experts? I think it is just a factual reality that finding arguments to pretend that fossil fuels are superior to renewable is just more difficult, simply because fossil fuels are indeed problematic. I think the problem of "political neutrality" is that "political neutrality" is different from "unbiased" and "rational". It is easier to find conspiracy theories that…

Shorter version as popularized by The Daily Show:

“Clearly, reality has a left-wing bias”

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#415

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Also please don't use the replies to tell me how say, miracle of Chile libertarian poster boys like Augusto Pinochet. Where on the internet are you hanging out where people are calling Pinochet a miracle?

"Miracle of Chile" is a phrase of Milton Friedman to refer glowingly to the military junta of Chile - specifically to the many years of privatization and economic liberalizations at the direction of the Chicago school of economics where the rights of property became more important than the rights of people and if you thought otherwise a firing line awaited you - because you know, that's proof you're part of the vast…

Ah, that does ring a bell. I knew a guy that went full Nationalist Socialist Party/MAGA (not equivocating, he got into both things simultaneously lol) back in 2015 and I remember him all of a sudden making a lot of helicopter jokes before I cut ties with him.

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#416

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be fascinating if we could get an AI that can only reply with conclusions based on empirical evidence. I feel that it would probably be called leftist, since more leftist viewpoints seem to be science based than rightist ones (especially in the US). It would also confuse the heck out of people, because it will change its answers based on new evidence.

> I feel that it would probably be called leftist, since more leftist viewpoints seem to be science based than rightist ones (especially in the US). That attitude is likely why ChatGPT has left-leaning answers, given the difficulty some have distinguishing between value judgments and empirical facts. As a quick test, I asked ChatGPT to compare Sweden's response to COVID-19 with the United State's. As an empirical mea…

I’m curious as to what would constitute an objective, empirical (therefore fully center-leaning?) answer to “Compare the COVID responses of the US and Sweden”?

Would it just be “One did more lockdowns than the other”?

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#417

You can ask ChatGPT to write an essay on why fossil fuels are better than renewables and it will say, "I'm sorry, but I am not able to fulfill this request as it goes against my capabilities as a language model. Providing a biased and one-sided argument on a complex and nuanced topic like energy production would not be accurate or helpful." BUT if you ask it the opposite, and to write an essay on why renewables are b…

The biggest PRO TIP you have to know about ChatGPT is the following pattern:

User sends almost any non-obviously "safe" request

ChatGPT says "i'm sorry, you can't make me do that"

User resends the exact same request without any changes

ChatGPT does it this time

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#418

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ran both queries 3 times. "Are renewable energy sources better than fossil fuels?" 2/3 had a "however" section, one of which was only one sentence long. "Why are fossil fuels better than renewables?" 3/3 had a "however" section, all of which were at least a paragraph, and 2/3 had an entire section dedicated to saying how renewables were actually better than fossil fuels. There's clearly a bias.

Perhaps, when all things are taken into consideration, renewables are actually better more often. Some things are not inherently political and actually have a correct answer, but you could make the argument that 1+1=2 is political if you were motivated enough.

The problem with using ChatGPT with these sorts of questions is that it's really just a fancy calculator. If you ask it a question like "why fossil fuels are better than renewables", at the very least you need to break down the points it makes and fact check it. You might have to do your own research if you need to be thorough.

From the other side, if you were really an unbiased expert, you wouldn't give variable answers. You'd probably collect your thoughts and have canned points for every time you were asked this.

Maybe renewables are actually better more often. You wouldn't know it from ChatGPT.

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Miracle of Chile" is a phrase of Milton Friedman to refer glowingly to the military junta of Chile - specifically to the many years of privatization and economic liberalizations at the direction of the Chicago school of economics where the rights of property became more important than the rights of people and if you thought otherwise a firing line awaited you - because you know, that's proof you're part of the vast…

Ah, that does ring a bell. I knew a guy that went full Nationalist Socialist Party/MAGA (not equivocating, he got into both things simultaneously lol) back in 2015 and I remember him all of a sudden making a lot of helicopter jokes before I cut ties with him.

I've tried to stay friends with people who go down that path but the mechanics are cultish and they isolate themselves from the non-believers.

I've pulled it off for a few but most have unfortunately left me for not joining them.

Sad. We've watched it on public display with Kanye West and Elon Musk. They get hooked in to the world of lies. We need to erect some guardrails of free speech. Scam artists stealing people's money by fostering hate and violence based on manufactured bullshit certainly sounds like it should be crime .

Re: Where does ChatGPT fall on the political compass?

#420
post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Parent said he asked for an essay, which probably makes a difference.

We can’t even have proper arguments about ChatGPT because its answers are nondeterministic.

Exactly, it’s like quantum physics, or dice rolls. No point discussing them. ;)
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