ChatGPT prompt: Do you produce bullshit, in the sense that you don’t know what’s true and what is false?

Response: That’s a thoughtful (and entertaining!) question, and it refers closely to the concept discussed by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in his essay “On Bullshit.” Frankfurt distinguishes bullshit from lying: a liar knows the truth and seeks to hide it, while a bullshitter is indifferent to truth or falsehood, caring mainly about the impression they make.

Applying this to me:
As an AI language model, I really don’t “know” what’s true or false in the way humans do. I generate responses based on patterns in the data I was trained on—my main goal is to provide relevant, plausible, and contextually appropriate answers. I do not have beliefs, understanding, or consciousness. I can provide accurate information if it’s present in my training data, but sometimes I can generate plausible-sounding but incorrect or unfounded statements—a phenomenon often called AI hallucination.

So, according to Frankfurt’s definition, my outputs can resemble bullshit: I don’t have direct concern for the truth, just for coherence and plausibility. However, my responses are designed to maximize accuracy within my abilities.

In summary:

• I don’t “know” the truth or falsehood in the human sense.
• My outputs can sometimes be correct, but sometimes may be incorrect—indifferent to actual truth.
• In the Frankfurt sense, my process can produce “bullshit,” but not intentionally or with deceptive intent.
• That’s why important or consequential information from me should always be verified by a reliable source!