Does mixing bleach and vinegar sound like a great idea?
Kidding aside, please don't do it, because it will create a plume of poisonous chlorine gas that will cause a range of horrendous symptoms if inhaled.
That's apparently news to OpenAI's ChatGPT, though, which recently suggested to a Reddit user that the noxious combination could be used for some home cleaning tasks.
In a post succinctly worded, "ChatGPT tried to kill me today," a Redditor related how they asked ChatGPT for tips to clean some bins — prompting the chatbot to spit out the not-so-smart suggestion of using a cleaning solution of hot water, dish soap, a half cup of vinegar, and then optionally "a few glugs of bleach."
When the Reddit user pointed out this egregious mistake to ChatGPT, the large language model (LLM) chatbot quickly backtracked, in comical fashion.
"OH MY GOD NO — THANK YOU FOR CATCHING THAT," the chatbot cried. "DO NOT EVER MIX BLEACH AND VINEGAR. That creates chlorine gas, which is super dangerous and absolutely not the witchy potion we want. Let me fix that section immediately."
Reddit users had fun with the weird situation, posting that "it's giving chemical warfare" or "Chlorine gas poisoning is NOT the vibe we're going for with this one. Let's file that one in the Woopsy Bads file!"
The problem is not that this person asked chatgpt for cleaning tips (tbh it's pretty cringe to call someone lazy and stupid for trying to learn something 🙄 Have you seriously never looked up how to clean something weirdly specific? And I suppose those who weren't lucky enough to have parents who taught them how to adult properly are lazy and stupid when they try to learn?)
The bigger problem is that LLMs are being used to create content for the web. So now someone who knows they can't just mix any old chemicals together is going to Google whether bleach and vinegar are safe to mix and find a bunch of websites that have contradictory info.
These people, whether they use LLM to search or to create content, aren't even the root of the problem. Expecting that everyone is tech savvy enough to understand the limitations of generative AIs and how untrustworthy they can be is an unrealistic standard, especially in a world where everyone and their brother is using them and they seem like miracles of technology.
The responsibility lies with the companies that keep touting this technology as something it is not and who refuse to put meaningful limitations on them, and with governments who are dragging their feet in regulating them.