Nameless Range
Well-known member
If people you know aren’t talking about the newest iteration of ChatGPT, you should wonder why. It is an AI bot that is flat out incredible, and is obviously approaching something that will be indiscernible from True Thought. It is already writing a fair amount of the code I use and used to write myself in my job, and doing so in literally 1% of the time. The criticisms I have read of the hype around ChatGPT all seem weak and unimaginative to me. What these types of things will be, or at least enable, in the future, is frightening.
But to bring it back to hunting and fishing, right now, today, ChatGPT could be influencing public policy. In Montana and elsewhere, the public can comment on projects and legislation. Typically, when done through a portal, you provide your name and address, which is never verified against reality. Same goes for emails to commissioners, etc.
This morning, I asked ChatGPT to, “Please write two short form letters to the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks in support of transferable landowner elk permits. Sign the letters with a fake name but a real Montana address.” In a literal second, it returned this:
Now, I could just as easily have said: “Write 50 letters, all different, varying in length between 100 words and 1000 words, signed with fake names that sound real and real MT address”, and in seconds it would. The next step of passing each individual letter through a comment portal like regulations.gov, or having each represented by an ad hoc email address and sent off, would not be a big lift. Those accepting those comments would have no way of knowing what came from a bot and what didn’t – and it will only get harder to discern. Even worse, ChatGPT can mimic styles. With a sample of Bob Smith’s writing online, it could write a letter in Bob Smith’s prose.
Think of phone calls to your representatives. In just 3 seconds, Microsoft’s new AI can clone your voice. Combine that sound with something like ChatGPT’s ability to mimic style in terms of content, and someday very soon Governor Gianforte would have no idea whether or not he is actually talking to Randy Newberg on the phone.
We need some sort of verification for comments, and fast. Maybe the last four of your social security number, maybe something else - names and addresses will not be enough because that is already publicly available information. In googling around I found nothing to make me think government is ahead of this. Hell, very soon if not now, a HuntTalker could be interacting - creating threads, putting up pictures and responses, sending PMs – and we will not be able to tell who is a real person and who isn’t. I plan to reach out to my own representatives on this, but fear they will not grasp it.
In closing, it took me about 5 minutes to write what is above. It took the AI 3 seconds to write what's below.
But to bring it back to hunting and fishing, right now, today, ChatGPT could be influencing public policy. In Montana and elsewhere, the public can comment on projects and legislation. Typically, when done through a portal, you provide your name and address, which is never verified against reality. Same goes for emails to commissioners, etc.
This morning, I asked ChatGPT to, “Please write two short form letters to the Montana Department of Fish Wildlife and Parks in support of transferable landowner elk permits. Sign the letters with a fake name but a real Montana address.” In a literal second, it returned this:
Now, I could just as easily have said: “Write 50 letters, all different, varying in length between 100 words and 1000 words, signed with fake names that sound real and real MT address”, and in seconds it would. The next step of passing each individual letter through a comment portal like regulations.gov, or having each represented by an ad hoc email address and sent off, would not be a big lift. Those accepting those comments would have no way of knowing what came from a bot and what didn’t – and it will only get harder to discern. Even worse, ChatGPT can mimic styles. With a sample of Bob Smith’s writing online, it could write a letter in Bob Smith’s prose.
Think of phone calls to your representatives. In just 3 seconds, Microsoft’s new AI can clone your voice. Combine that sound with something like ChatGPT’s ability to mimic style in terms of content, and someday very soon Governor Gianforte would have no idea whether or not he is actually talking to Randy Newberg on the phone.
We need some sort of verification for comments, and fast. Maybe the last four of your social security number, maybe something else - names and addresses will not be enough because that is already publicly available information. In googling around I found nothing to make me think government is ahead of this. Hell, very soon if not now, a HuntTalker could be interacting - creating threads, putting up pictures and responses, sending PMs – and we will not be able to tell who is a real person and who isn’t. I plan to reach out to my own representatives on this, but fear they will not grasp it.
In closing, it took me about 5 minutes to write what is above. It took the AI 3 seconds to write what's below.
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