I Truly Chatted with ChatGPT – O’Reilly

ChatGPT was launched simply over a yr in the past (on the finish of November 2022), and numerous folks have already written about their experiences utilizing it in all kinds of settings. (I even contributed my very own sizzling take final yr with my O’Reilly Radar article Actual-Actual-World Programming with ChatGPT.) What extra is left to say by now? Nicely, I wager only a few of these folks have really chatted with ChatGPT. And by “chat” I imply the unique sense of the phrase—to carry a back-and-forth verbal dialog with it identical to how you’d chat with a fellow human being. I just lately chatted with ChatGPT, and I need to use that have to mirror on the usability of voice interfaces for AI instruments primarily based on Massive Language Fashions. I’m personally on this subject since I’m a professor who researches human-computer interplay, consumer expertise design, and cognitive science, so AI voice interfaces are fascinating to me.

Right here’s what I did: In December 2023 I put in the official ChatGPT iOS app from OpenAI on my iPhone and used its voice enter mode to carry a number of hour-long conversations with it whereas driving long-distance on California highways. I wore customary Apple earbuds with a built-in mic and talked with ChatGPT identical to how I’d be speaking to somebody on the cellphone whereas driving. These lengthy solo drives have been the right alternative to check out ChatGPT’s voice function as a result of I couldn’t work together with the app utilizing my arms for security causes.

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I had a really clear use case in thoughts: I wished a dialog companion to maintain me awake and alert whereas driving long-distance on my own. I’ve discovered that listening to music or podcasts doesn’t hold me alert after I’m drained as a result of it’s such a passive expertise—however what does hold me awake is having somebody to speak to, both within the automobile or remotely on the cellphone. May ChatGPT substitute a human dialog companion on this function?

The Good: ChatGPT Made Personalised Podcasts to Maintain Me Engaged Whereas Driving

To not bury the lede, it seems that it did a outstanding job! As I used to be driving I used to be in a position to have interaction in a number of hour-long conversations with ChatGPT that ended solely as a result of I needed to take a relaxation cease or hit the utilization restrict for GPT-4. (I pay for a ChatGPT Plus subscription so I can use probably the most superior GPT-4 mannequin, however that comes with a utilization restrict that I normally hit after about an hour.)

The easiest way to explain my expertise is (borrowing an exquisite time period my pal coined) that it felt like listening to a personalised podcast. Since ChatGPT did many of the speaking, it was a largely passive listening expertise on my half apart from instances after I wished to ask follow-up questions or direct it to alter matters. Critically, this meant I might nonetheless focus most of my consideration on driving safely with a degree of distraction on par with listening to a podcast. Nevertheless it stored me extra alert than a daily podcast since I might actively direct the movement of the dialog.

For a concrete instance of what such a customized podcast felt like, I began one dialog by straight-up asking ChatGPT to maintain me awake whereas I used to be driving in Southern California from Los Angeles to San Diego. So it began by making small discuss street journeys typically and asking me about varied California landmarks that I’ve visited, culminating in asking me extra about San Diego (the place I stay). When it requested me what locations I appreciated visiting probably the most right here, I discussed the San Diego Zoo and it began telling me a bit about what makes this specific zoo notable. It talked about the idea of “naturalistic enclosures”—a time period I had not heard earlier than—so I requested it to elaborate on what this meant. ChatGPT’s rationalization of this idea acquired me within the historical past of zoos, particularly the development from maintaining animals in cages to immediately’s cageless naturalistic enclosures, which goal to be higher for animal welfare. Throughout that section it talked about the time period “menagerie” in passing, which I had not heard of in that context earlier than, so I requested it to elaborate extra. It then went again farther in historical past to explain how a menagerie refers back to the phenomenon of historical rulers maintaining unique animals for show with out as a lot regard for the animals’ well-being. Listening to that made me understand that I had really heard the time period menagerie in reference to a Star Trek episode of some type, however I forgot which one, so I requested ChatGPT to jog my reminiscence. It seems that “The Menagerie” was a really well-known episode of the unique Star Trek tv sequence, so after chatting about that episode and different well-known Star Trek episodes for a bit, we acquired onto the subject of why that present was canceled after solely three seasons however later discovered a a lot bigger viewers in syndication (i.e., reruns). That in flip acquired me curious concerning the idea of syndication within the tv enterprise, so ChatGPT dived extra into this subject. A couple of extra conversational twists and turns later, then I abruptly realized that the hour had flown by and it was time to drag over for a loo break. Success!

Now, I don’t count on you to care in any respect concerning the particulars of the dialog I simply described because it wasn’t your dialog—it was mine! However I actually cared about it on the time since I used to be genuinely curious to study extra concerning the matters that ChatGPT talked about, typically offhand within the midst of telling me about one thing else. It felt a bit like diving down a Wikipedia rabbit gap of following associated hyperlinks, the place every follow-up query I requested led it down one other meandering path. It was good for maintaining me from losing interest and sleepy throughout my lengthy drive.

ChatGPT isn’t simply good at this form of superficial “personalised podcast about Wikipedia-level trivia” … it might additionally have interaction me in a extra substantive dialog a few job I really wanted assist with in the intervening time. In one other hour-long automobile chat, I prompted ChatGPT to assist me design a technique to prepare my large assortment of just about 30 years’ price of private and work-related information for backup. I’ve been diligent about information backup all through my life, however my information are fragmented amongst completely different media through the years—burning CDs and DVDs again within the day, a number of generations of exterior laborious drives (which are in varied states of decay), college servers, Dropbox, and different cloud companies. For years I had an aspirational objective of unifying all of my backups into one central listing tree, akin to the idea of a monorepo in software program improvement. I’ve just lately been brainstorming concepts for the best way to design such a system and the best way to cope with the sensible challenges of scaling and upkeep. So I figured that ChatGPT might assist me brainstorm throughout one in all my lengthy drives. Once more it did a great job at partaking me on this bespoke dialog, and the hour flew by earlier than I needed to take a relaxation cease. I received’t bore you with particulars of what we mentioned, however it felt like speaking with an skilled in information administration who was giving me recommendation about the best way to cope with my specific problem.

Intermission: Why It Feels Sort of Magical

Skeptical readers could also be considering at this level, “What’s the large deal, it’s simply ChatGPT below the hood. I can already do all this from my pc by typing into the ChatGPT textual content field!” Though that’s technically true, there’s one thing magical about with the ability to do that all hands-free by way of voice. Should you don’t consider me, simply strive it for an hour. My folks principle is that talking and listening are hardwired into our mind’s innate language circuitry, however writing and studying are discovered abilities (i.e., “software program” reasonably than “{hardware}” in our brains). And that’s why it feels extra magical to carry a verbal dialog with an AI versus having the very same dialog in a textual content field on a display screen. If the AI is nice sufficient, then it nearly feels such as you’re speaking to an actual particular person … at sure instances after I was getting deep right into a back-and-forth dialog I practically forgot I used to be speaking to a machine. Nonetheless, that phantasm broke in a number of methods …

The Not-So-Good: Usability Limitations of the ChatGPT Voice Interface

Regardless of my constructive experiences with ChatGPT’s voice mode, it nonetheless didn’t stay as much as the gold customary of feeling like I used to be speaking with a fellow human being. That’s okay, although, since that is an extremely excessive bar! Listed here are a few of the methods it fell quick.

• Should communicate total request unexpectedly: Most notably, it felt unnatural to have to talk my total request unexpectedly with out pausing. Every time I paused for too lengthy, ChatGPT would interpret what I mentioned as far as my request and begin processing it. As an analogy, when typing a request in a textual content chat, you’ll be able to hit the Enter or Ship buttons … think about how bizarre it will be if ChatGPT began answering you the very second you stopped typing for one second! Observe that in human conversations, particularly face-to-face, we use visible cues to inform whether or not our dialog companion is completed speaking or whether or not they’re pausing a bit to consider the following factor to say. Even over the cellphone, we will inform by vocal inflections whether or not they’re briefly paused and need to hold speaking, or whether or not they’re finished with their flip and prepared for us to reply. Since ChatGPT can’t do any of that (but!) I typically needed to suppose laborious about what I wished to say after which say it unexpectedly with out pausing. This was high-quality for easy requests like “Inform me extra about naturalistic enclosures in zoos,” however for extra advanced requests like describing some aspect of my information backup setup, it was painful to must blurt out as a lot as I might with out pausing. Much more annoyingly, I’d typically make errors when speaking a lot unexpectedly with out pausing. Ideally the app would do a greater job at detecting pauses in human speech, taking each context and vocal intonations under consideration. A neater hack can be to have a voice command like “DONE” or “OVER” (like when folks use walkie-talkies) to sign that I’m finished speaking; nevertheless, this may additionally really feel unnatural for informal customers.
• Unpredictable wait instances: Wait instances (latency) for ChatGPT’s responses are unpredictable, and there aren’t audio cues to assist me set up an expectation for a way lengthy I want to attend earlier than it responds. There’s a click on sound when it begins processing my request, however then I may have to attend a number of seconds in silence earlier than listening to a response … perhaps it’s just one second or perhaps it’s 5 seconds. That mentioned, if I ask it to browse the online, then it performs a steady ready sound; net shopping takes longer, perhaps 10 to twenty seconds, however at the least I get to listen to a “ready” sound. (I don’t thoughts ChatGPT taking longer right here since a human would additionally take extra time to browse the online. Nonetheless, net shopping is annoying after I don’t explicitly ask it to browse. Oftentimes I desire a quick reply however one thing I say triggers a browse with out me aspiring to.) In distinction, when talking with a human face-to-face, I can use visible cues to inform whether or not the opposite particular person is deep in thought or when they may seemingly reply; and even over the cellphone the opposite particular person could say “ummm” or “maintain on one sec, lemme suppose” or “okay let me look this up on the internet, hold tight for some time …” in the event that they want extra time to suppose by means of their response. Nonetheless, since I don’t get any of those verbal cues from ChatGPT, unpredictable wait instances break the phantasm of speaking to an individual.
• Can not interrupt whereas it’s talking: I at all times needed to await ChatGPT to utterly end speaking earlier than it will hearken to my subsequent request. And since I by no means know forward of time how lengthy it deliberate to speak for throughout a selected flip (i.e., what number of phrases its LLM-generated response is), after I wished to say one thing halfway it was aggravating to have to attend. I later noticed that I might really interrupt it by tapping on the app on my cellphone display screen, however since I used to be driving and hands-free, I couldn’t safely do this. Additionally, that looks as if a cumbersome interplay; I ought to have the ability to simply speak after I need to, even when it’s speaking. This limitation made the dialog really feel like we have been utilizing a walkie-talkie the place just one celebration can speak directly. And it’s not simply me—this idea of overlapping speech is broadly studied in linguistics and communication analysis. People naturally speak over each other for varied causes, so not with the ability to do that with ChatGPT made our dialog really feel much less fluid. Even implementing a function like a voice command for interruption can be nice, like perhaps if I say “pause” or “wait” then it might cease and await my request.
• Speech recognition errors: ChatGPT’s speech recognition system (presumably primarily based on OpenAI’s open supply Whisper mannequin) is superb, however it does at instances misread what I’m saying. What’s stranger is that typically it thinks I mentioned one thing after I didn’t, perhaps as a result of it picked up on background rumbles in my automobile. A number of instances I wouldn’t be saying something and abruptly it responds out of the blue; and after I examine the written transcript later, it thinks that I mentioned one thing like “Thanks for watching!” (which I by no means mentioned). At different instances it tries to prematurely finish the dialog although I’m not finished, perhaps as a result of it mistakenly detected that I mentioned one thing alongside the traces of “Thanks …” with none follow-up. Misrecognizing phrases is forgivable, however I really feel that it shouldn’t ever interpret background sounds as phrases. After all, if there have been different folks within the automobile with me and both they talked or I used to be speaking to them, then I might additionally perceive how ChatGPT would mistakenly interpret that as being a request for it; always-listening house assistants like Alexa have had this situation for years. A extra superior AI would study to filter out each different folks’s voices and in addition infer after I was talking with another person and never it. As an illustration, when it detects that my sentence is manner off subject, perhaps meaning I’m talking with another person within the automobile; it might at the least ask me “Had been you speaking to me simply now?” when it’s unsure. Extra typically, the concept of explicitly asking me for clarification when it’s unsure would go a great distance towards making these interactions really feel extra human; that’s what I (a consultant human!) would do if I have been on a loud cellphone reference to somebody and didn’t hear them clearly.
• Overly agreeable synthetic tone: Lastly, it’s nonetheless ChatGPT below the hood, so all of the common limitations of ChatGPT apply right here. Most notably, ChatGPT is tuned to be overly pleasant and overly agreeable (sounding like a customer support agent) so it is going to merely associate with no matter you are saying. Thus, by default it won’t be good at pushing again on you or difficult your considering in any significant methods, identical to the way you wouldn’t count on a customer support agent to problem what you say. Furthermore, the overly pleasant tone of its responses might come off as insincere and nearly sarcastic at instances, although that wasn’t the designers’ intent. Relatedly, it had a bent to ask me superficial questions after it responds, which sound mildly condescending and break the movement of our chat, like, “Sooo, what do YOU take into consideration the San Diego Zoo? What’s YOUR favourite a part of the zoo?!?” … when a traditional human wouldn’t break the conversational movement so awkwardly like that. Lastly, ChatGPT is skilled on information on the general public web (and may also browse the online to get extra up to date net contents), so it received’t do as properly if you happen to’re asking about issues that haven’t been mentioned a lot on-line.

To summarize the above limitations, chatting with ChatGPT on my cellphone felt like utilizing a walkie-talkie over a loud channel to speak to a very agreeable however socially unaware customer support agent who has in depth information concerning the contents of the general public web.

Parting Ideas: Cautiously Optimistic Concerning the Future

Regardless of these limitations, I’m excited to see what’s in retailer for future voice interfaces to LLM-based AI instruments like ChatGPT. My early experiences of speaking with ChatGPT whereas driving gave me a glimpse into what many people have seen rising up in sci-fi exhibits corresponding to Star Trek, the place folks can speak to an omnipresent pc to ask questions, maintain conversations, or situation instructions. Arms-free operation isn’t helpful solely whereas driving—it could make computing really ubiquitous by letting us seamlessly work together with computation whereas we’re within the midst of doing housekeeping, cooking, or childcare; and it could make computing extra accessible to broader teams of individuals, corresponding to these with mobility impairments.

We nonetheless have an extended option to go, although. Proper now the ChatGPT iPhone app isn’t hooked as much as exterior instruments beside a fundamental net browser, however with the just lately introduced GPT retailer (and sure upcoming LLM app shops from different firms) it is going to quickly be potential to hook up LLMs to quite a lot of instruments that may handle our emails, purchasing lists, private funds, house automation, and extra. Current analysis has began exploring these concepts by connecting ChatGPT to house assistants corresponding to Amazon Alexa (2023 arXiv paper PDF). One other promising line of labor is best context consciousness: as an example, Meta and Ray-Ban just lately introduced new Good Glasses which permit customers to speak with an AI assistant that may see what they’re seeing (evaluation from The Verge). In my driving state of affairs, you can think about sporting these glasses and having the AI act extra like a passenger sitting alongside you within the automobile seeing what you see reasonably than somebody on the opposite finish of a cellphone name. Critically, a passenger can pause the dialog and let you know to look at the street extra rigorously in the event that they see a potential hazard forward; a future AI powered by such good glasses could possibly do the identical factor. Alternatively, automobiles at the moment are beginning to instantly embed AI into leisure techniques (e.g., Volkswagen announcement at CES 2024), so future iterations might combine cameras and 3D monitoring to enhance LLMs. One might additionally think about smartglasses-based multimodal interactions the place you level to things in any bodily atmosphere and begin conversations with the AI assistant about your environment (take a look at this MKBHD YouTube Brief exhibiting AI chat with good glasses).

After all, these more and more intense ranges of AI interplay and automation include dangers, corresponding to consumer overreliance, unintended command execution, psychological or bodily well being hazards, and safety/privateness violations. Thus, it will likely be essential to design methods to each handle these dangers and educate customers about the best way to safely function these more and more highly effective techniques. Thanks very a lot for studying. Sooo, what do YOU take into consideration ChatGPT’s voice mode?!? What are YOUR favourite and least favourite elements?