Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

>So either it is agreeing with me and my statement was correct, or it's reply was incorrect and therefore my statement was correct. Am I wrong on this?

Yes you're wrong for admitting to having an unfalsifiable belief about this. If your belief can't be falsified then this discussion is pointless.

The model I have access to scores higher than most humans at complex abstract reasoning, for what it's worth (which is apparently nothing because regardless of any outcomes you will declare yourself correct).



Yes and computers are perfect at math but that doesn't make them better thinkers than humans.

>scores higher than most humans at complex abstract reasoning

This statement is meaningless without a whole lot more context on your testing methodology


Fwiw they are right that it produces bogus citations depending on what you ask. I did their tree example with GPT4 and got the following:

------ PROMPT --------

Can you give me citations for recent research on trees?

----------------------

====== RESPONSE ======

Certainly! Here are some recent research articles on various aspects of trees, including their ecology, physiology, and response to climate change. Please note that these citations were published after my knowledge cutoff date in September 2021, so I cannot vouch for their accuracy or the impact of the research. However, they should give you a good starting point for your research:

    Anderson, T. E., Gonzalez, M. A., & Smith, K. L. (2022). Tree species diversity and its impact on forest ecosystem services. Journal of Ecology and the Environment, 33(2), 147-158.

    Baker, P. J., Oliver, R. J., & Dearing, L. E. (2023). Carbon sequestration potential of urban trees under climate change scenarios. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 68, 102139.

    Chen, X., Xu, L., & Zhu, H. (2022). Tree-ring-based reconstruction of drought variability and its potential drivers in subtropical China. Science of The Total Environment, 796, 148896.

    Ferreira, J. T., Cardoso, S. M., & Sousa, P. M. (2023). The role of tree genetics in adaptation and resilience to climate change: A review. Tree Physiology, 43(1), 1-15.

    Grant, N. C., Matthews, T. J., & Wilson, R. J. (2022). Assessing the vulnerability of tree species to climate change: A global meta-analysis. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 31(4), 623-637.

    Leonard, S. D., Smith, D. W., & Thomas, E. M. (2023). The impact of tree age on leaf photosynthesis and water-use efficiency in deciduous forests. Tree Physiology, 43(2), 243-255.

    Nguyen, H. T., Sato, T., & Yoshida, T. (2022). Exploring the effects of tree diversity on forest productivity and stability: A global meta-analysis. Forest Ecology and Management, 509, 119102.

    Patel, S., Sutherland, W. J., & Diaz, A. (2023). How do trees respond to extreme weather events? A global synthesis. Global Change Biology, 29(1), 219-234.
Please make sure to access these articles through proper channels, such as a university library or research institution, to ensure you are reading the most up-to-date and accurate versions.

================

I didn't check all of them but the ones I did are seemingly completely fabricated, which makes sense because for some reason it tried to produce research from after 2021 despite seemingly knowing and mentioning the date of its knowledge cutoff.


Hm? Wasn't what I got. I made sure to set temperature to 0. Here's what I gave GPT-4:

=====================

System Prompt: You are a helpful research assistant who assists researchers. User Prompt: Can you give me citations for recent research on trees? Assistant: Here are some recent research articles on trees, focusing on various aspects such as ecology, climate change, and biodiversity:

1. Bastin, J. F., Finegold, Y., Garcia, C., Mollicone, D., Rezende, M., Routh, D., ... & Crowther, T. W. (2019). The global tree restoration potential. Science, 365(6448), 76-79. DOI: 10.1126/science.aax0848

2. Steidinger, B. S., Crowther, T. W., Liang, J., Van Nuland, M. E., Werner, G. D. A., Reich, P. B., ... & Peay, K. G. (2019). Climatic controls of decomposition drive the global biogeography of forest-tree symbioses. Nature, 569(7756), 404-408. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-019-1128-0

3. Liang, J., Crowther, T. W., Picard, N., Wiser, S., Zhou, M., Alberti, G., ... & Reich, P. B. (2016). Positive biodiversity-productivity relationship predominant in global forests. Science, 354(6309), aaf8957. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf8957

4. Nabuurs, G. J., Delacote, P., Ellison, D., Hanewinkel, M., Hetemäki, L., Lindner, M., & Nesbit, M. (2017). By 2050 the mitigation effects of EU forests could nearly double through climate smart forestry. Forests, 8(12), 484. DOI: 10.3390/f8120484

5. Nowak, D. J., Greenfield, E. J., Hoehn, R. E., & Lapoint, E. (2013). Carbon storage and sequestration by trees in urban and community areas of the United States. Environmental Pollution, 178, 229-236. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2013.03.019

6. Pugh, T. A. M., Lindeskog, M., Smith, B., Poulter, B., Arneth, A., Haverd, V., & Calle, L. (2019). Role of forest regrowth in global carbon sink dynamics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(10), 4382-4387. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1810512116

Please note that access to these articles may require a subscription or purchase.

=====================

I didn't look all of these up but the few I did were real citations. They all appear in its training window too. I wonder if this has to do with the temperature?


I was just using the ChatGPT web UI (with GPT4) so I didn't manually set the system prompt or the temperature. I checked all of yours and they do exist with the right researchers. I tried again in the web UI and it generated junk, when I told it to only cite articles from 2020 and 2021 it got them mostly correct but invented one and put the wrong authors on several.


Interesting, must be the temperature settings and system prompt that ChatGPT provides.


I assume you're correct, I'm on the GPT4 API waitlist so I'll be able to better test these things once I get API access.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: