[ExI] GPT-4 on its inability to solve the symbol grounding problem

[Gordon Swobe]

Many people here seem interested in the question of whether LLMs can have
conscious understanding of the words/symbols that it takes as inputs and
generates as outputs. It seems that most people here want to think GPT4 has
something like a conscious mind, but I agree with GPT4  below that it has
no idea what it is talking about.


On Thu, Mar 30, 2023 at 1:55 PM Gordon Swobe <gordon.swobe at gmail.com> wrote:

GPT-4 explained to me that it could not solve the symbol grounding problem
> for itself (I reported this in another thread). I asked it to explain the
> significance.
>
> My prompt: What is the significance of the fact that ChatGPT cannot solve
> the symbol grounding problem for itself and can only simulate that it has
> solved it? How does this put ChatGPT at a disadvantage compared to humans?
>
> GPT-4: The symbol grounding problem refers to the difficulty in connecting
> abstract symbols (such as words or concepts) to their real-world referents.
> While ChatGPT can simulate understanding by generating human-like text
> based on its training data, it doesn't possess the direct experience or
> sensory input that humans have to ground these symbols in reality.
>
> The significance of this limitation has several implications:
>
> Lack of true understanding: ChatGPT doesn't have a genuine understanding
> of the world, as it relies on patterns and associations found in the text
> it was trained on. It can't form new connections based on direct
> experience, which may result in limitations in problem-solving or abstract
> reasoning.
>
> Difficulty with context: Without grounding in real-world experiences,
> ChatGPT may struggle to fully understand context or cultural nuances. It
> may provide answers that are technically correct but inappropriate or
> irrelevant in a specific situation.
>
> Inability to learn from sensory input: Humans learn through direct
> experience and sensory input, which allows them to adapt and understand new
> situations better. ChatGPT can't update its knowledge through real-world
> experiences, making it less adaptable to novel contexts.
>
> Absence of common sense: Although ChatGPT can generate text that appears
> to show common sense understanding, it might still make errors that a human
> would easily avoid. This is because its responses are based on patterns in
> the data, rather than a true comprehension of the concepts.
>
> Limited creativity: ChatGPT's creativity is confined to the scope of its
> training data. While it can generate new text based on patterns it has seen
> before, it can't create truly novel ideas or solutions in the same way that
> humans, with their real-world grounding, can.
>
> In summary, the inability to solve the symbol grounding problem puts
> ChatGPT at a disadvantage compared to humans in terms of true
> understanding, adaptability, context-awareness, common sense, and
> creativity. However, it is essential to remember that ChatGPT is an AI
> language model designed to assist and augment human capabilities, not to
> fully replicate human cognition.
> ---
>

-gts

>
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.extropy.org/pipermail/extropy-chat/attachments/20230331/f302a1b7/attachment-0001.htm>