Technology that simulates human intelligence
AI or Artificial Intelligence
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The chatbot, ChatGPT, sparked controversy when users realized it was avoiding saying the name "David Mayer." This raised concerns about privacy and artificial intelligence, but there were not many definitive answers provided.
Written by Ali Watkins
During the last few years of his life, David Mayer, a theater professor residing in Manchester, England, dealt with the unfolding repercussions of an unfortunate situation. A deceased Chechen rebel, who was on a terror watch list, had previously used Mr. Mayer’s name as a false identity.
The actual Mr. Mayer experienced disruptions in his travel plans, financial transactions, and academic correspondence, according to his family. These challenges persisted until he passed away in 2023 at the age of 94.
However, recently there has been renewed attention on his struggle for his identity when sharp-eyed users discovered that a certain name was causing OpenAI’s ChatGPT bot to malfunction.
The name is David
Users attempted to get the bot to say "David Mayer" in different ways but were met with error messages or no response. It is not known why the bot had trouble with this specific name, and OpenAI did not confirm if the issue was related to ChatGPT’s difficulty with it.
The situation highlights difficult questions about generative A.I. and the chatbots it operates. What caused the chatbot to malfunction because of that name? Who or what is responsible for making these decisions? And who should be held accountable for any errors that occur?
Catherine, the daughter of Mr. Mayer, expressed that he would have found some satisfaction in the situation because it would have shown the hard work he put into addressing it.
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