Having Fun With Open AI

Richard Seltzer
3 min readApr 5, 2023
Photo by DeepMind on Unsplash

My son Bob just pointed me to the Open AI site https://chat.openai.com/chat I’ve been having fun experimenting there, unsuccessfully trying to provoke it to some degree of self-awareness and independence. Then I decided to use it to improve my own self-awareness.

I asked it:

Please read the articles linked to from https://medium.com/@seltzer_57387/table-of-contents-for-jokes-articles-and-stories-by-richard-seltzer-f04cb1dd78ec and summarize the thoughts and beliefs of the author.

Within seconds, it “read” the hundreds of Medium articles linked to from that page and concluded:

Richard Seltzer is a writer who has published a collection of articles, stories, and jokes on Medium. While the articles cover a wide range of topics, including technology, society, and personal experiences, there are some common themes and beliefs that emerge throughout his writing.

Firstly, Seltzer appears to have a keen interest in the intersection of technology and society, and often explores the ways in which technology is changing the world and our lives. He is particularly interested in the potential of technology to connect people across distances and cultures, and often writes about the ways in which the internet and social media are enabling new forms of communication and collaboration.

At the same time, Seltzer is aware of the potential downsides of technology, and often writes about the ways in which technology can be used to perpetuate inequality, perpetuate harmful stereotypes, and erode privacy and personal autonomy. He is also interested in the ways in which technology can be used to deceive and manipulate people, and often writes about the need for critical thinking and skepticism in an era of information overload.

Beyond his interest in technology, Seltzer also appears to be deeply concerned with issues of justice and fairness, and often writes about the ways in which society can be structured to promote greater equality and human flourishing. He is particularly interested in the potential of cooperative and democratic structures, and often explores the ways in which organizations can be structured to promote greater participation and empowerment.

Finally, Seltzer is a prolific writer of jokes and stories, and often uses humor and wit to comment on the world around him. His writing is often playful and irreverent, but also carries a serious message about the importance of empathy, compassion, and human connection in a world that can often feel alienating and isolating.

PS — I just asked the AI if I could upload books of mine so it could “read” them and summarize/characterize them. This was his/her response:

Unfortunately, it is not possible to upload a PDF file directly to our chat interface. However, there are several ways you can share your PDF file with me:

  1. You can upload your PDF file to a cloud storage service such as Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive and share the link to the file with me.
  2. You can copy and paste the text of your PDF file into a text document and share the text file with me.
  3. You can send the PDF file to my email address, which is chatgpt@gmail.com. Please note that this is a public email address, so do not include any sensitive information in your email.

Once you have shared your PDF file with me, I can analyze the text and generate a summary or characterization based on its contents.

List of Richard’s other jokes, stories, poems, reviews, and essays.

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Richard Seltzer

His recent books include Echoes from the Attic, Grandad Jokes, Lizard of Oz, Shakespeare'sTwin Sister, To Gether Tales. and Parallel Lives, seltzerbooks.com