In early June of last year, we conducted an experiment. It was not very scientific, but we used ChatGPT to simulate Interviews with Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin. Some questions were identical and some were specific. Now, as the final note on the use of ChatGPT to respond as Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin, we look at the two replies and compar them to common questions to see if there are fundamental differences between the two, which we would associate with the AI system infusing the answers with the ‘personality’ of the two scientists. On the other hand, if we do not detect any fundamental differences between the answers , we could deduct that there has been very little personality infusion into the answers.
After reviewing the answers, we have come to the conclusion that only the question about God has had an infusion of Einstein and Darwin in the answer. For Einstein, it makes it very clear that he had an awe about the universe, and believed that the sum of all the physical laws (known and unknown to humans) constitutes his God. It also makes it very clear that he did not believe in organized religion or the God that watches and judges every individual alive in the past, present, or the future.
For Darwin, on the other hand, it did not refer to the awe of the universe, but the fact that he had moved from a religious background to becoming an agnostic, when he observed the scientific evidence. As it was the case for Einstein, the response did mention that later in life he gave up the belief in organized religion.
As for the other common questions, such as passion, curiosity, and Pataphysics, the answers of the two AIs were quite similar in nature, even though the formulations were different. In particular, when we challenged them that their respective discoveries (general relativity for Einstein and origins of species for Darwin) could be considered Pataphysics, their responses were quasi identical. One last point, we were not able to conclude anything specific from the answers to specific individual questions (on relativity for Einstein and on the survival of the fittest for Darwin).
In summary, we conclude that as efficient as the system is in gathering knowledge from the environment, either ChatGPT is not yet able to infuse personality unto its answers, or we are not good enough at prompting the system properly. The exception about the opinions on God must have come from the fact that this topic has been written about widely, namely Einstein and Darwin’s views on God, so the system was able to mine the information more specifically and provide answers that reflect the personality of the scientists.
January 19, 2024, Cambridge,
Berta Seintan, PhD & Charlene Wardin, PhD