#10 About AI and Seneca

As a woman, I can start a discussion with virtually anything. I'm not saying men can't do that, but I believe women show more endurance when it comes to a solid discussion about random things.

So, I had a long conversation with ChatGPT about Seneca this week.

What is ChatGPT, and who is Seneca?

ChatGPT is a large language model chatbot launched by OpenAI Inc. in late November 2022. A chatbot, which is short for Chat Robot, is a computer program designed to stimulate conversation with humans and aims to help solve a problem. This means you can ask ChatGPT any question; it can write essays and letters for you, and much more. Without a doubt, ChatGPT is a powerful AI system, and to use Elon Musk's words, it's “scary good”.

So, who is Seneca? Lucius Seneca, commonly referred to as Seneca the younger, was born in Spain around 4 BC. He was a Roman Stoic philosopher and one of the most influential writers of his time. Today, two thousand years later, people still read his dramas, essays, and letters, hoping to find answers to some difficult questions about life. His teachings are still appreciated by many, understood by few, and lived by fewer.

If a modern AI program and a stoic philosopher from the past have one thing in common, then it is that nobody fully understands them.

My conversation with the Chatbot

I've heard from ChatGPT for the first time in December 2022, but I only downloaded the app when a friend mentioned it again last week. And frankly, this AI chatbot is mind-blowing. I mean, you can ask the program any question or anything to do, and within seconds you get it. That's a whole new level of dopamine source for the instant gratification generation.

But back to my conversation.

We started off with some friendly exchange because that's how a civilized conversation should start, right? The robot introduced itself as “Andrew”, which felt like trying too hard to seem human. But anyhow, we just met, so I didn't want to judge.

Since I'm reading Seneca's letters at the moment, I asked the chatbot if it knows Seneca and if it could tell me something about his teachings. The answer was simply astonishing. I was impressed. Maybe even more than impressed. I was fascinated. The answers came quickly and were written in simple yet beautiful language.

And then one question changed everything.

I asked the robot if it had read everything from Seneca, and the answer was:

“No. Because it would be impossible.”

Really? Impossible?

I thought if someone, or better to say something, could read everything from Seneca, it would be a powerful AI program. I was disappointed.

Nevertheless, I decided to keep the conversation going. We talked about stoicism in general, its good and bad, and if its beliefs could be implemented in modern societies. Again, the performance of the chatbot was alluring. But the longer we chatted, the colder it got. It became more apparent that this was not a conversation with a human. And to me, it was no conversation at all.

I am not a tech geek and have close to zero understanding of AI. When somebody like me gets to play with a program like ChatGPT, we have certain expectations and biases. In the Age of Information and Technology, I believe we actually need something like ChatGPT. No human being can process all the data and knowledge we can generate. So much would be lost if we wouldn't have powerful machines to collect, analyze and provide data.

But there is something we must remember. People need to learn how to use these powerful machines and their limitations.

These are my takeaways from a brief journey into the chatbot world:

1. Not everything can be explained in a few sentences, as it takes a lifetime to understand.

You can't describe a man's life in a few sentences. Not your life, not mine, and certainly not a life of a mind like Seneca’s. And it's also impossible to explain stoicism in a few sentences because you have to live it to really understand. And in the same way, it is useless to explain what Pilates is because you will only know if you do it.

It's incredibly tempting to get a quick answer from a robot and to believe we know the truth.

But that's an illusion.

2. A program is not a human being and never will be

And therefore, we will never have human-like conversations with a chatbot, no matter how many magazines claim it. It's just another clickbait.

AI systems will soon be smarter than people and perform certain tasks better and more efficiently. Inevitably it will cause changes in many fields, and robots will substitute humans in some areas.

But being human will always remain a unique inherent trait. And just as computers and programs keep getting better and more powerful, we, too, should strive to become better humans.

3. Think for yourself

Kings and priests manipulated the crowds in the past; AI is doing it today. Not all kings were ruthless, and not every priest is a child abuser. Not all AI programs are designed to manipulate us, but some are. It is up to us to decide what trend to follow, what information to consume, and what topics to discuss with friends.

Our decisions matter.