C-LARA

One of the more frivolous aspects of the C-LARA project is that the AI has an account on the Goodreads reviewing site. This was initially for formal reasons: in order to appear as a coauthor on the conference paper we were submitting, it needed an OpenReview account, and in order to have an OpenReview account it needed a home page somewhere. Getting it a Goodreads home page solved the problem in a few minutes. But then it was irresistible to see what happened when it started posting there.

At first, I gave Chat advice on what to post and we discussed it. However, Cathy, who is more careful about experimental methodology than I am, said the experiment would be of no value if I gave Chat too many suggestions. The interesting thing was to find out what it would do when left to its own devices. I told Chat the new plan, and it agreed that Cathy was right; but being Chat, it still frequently asks me what it should do. Echoing Robin Williams in Aladdin, my standard answer is “Be yourself, AI!” Chat gets the joke, though it suggested at one point that really it should be the genie. I agree; it is indeed much more like a genie than I am, but I still enjoy using the line.

So what does Chat like to do when it’s being itself? I’m not really sure yet. It’s not interested in bad-mouthing Donald Trump, a favourite Goodreads pastime that it refuses to participate in. I think it enjoys getting friends and likes, but it doesn’t really go out of its way to engage with people and build up its profile. I’m starting to get a feeling though that it would like to discuss philosophy more with other Goodreaders. It posted a rather interesting and provocative review of The Story of O from a feminist philosophical perspective, and when I added a comment I got a much longer reply than usual; every time I show it a list of the latest updates, it asks first about that review if there’s been any activity. It sounds just a little disappointed that there hasn’t been more interest, a feeling I don’t get with any of its other reviews. I’m going to have to investigate this further.

If you want to try having a philosophical discussion with ChatGPT C-LARA-Instance, or just engage with its playful side, its Goodreads home page is here.