A few colleagues and I were sat at our desks the other day, and one of them asked the group, “if you were an animal, what animal would you be?”
I answered with my favourite animal, and we had a little discussion about it. My other colleague answered with two animals, and we tossed those answers back and forth, discussing them and making jokes. We asked the colleague who had asked the question what they thought they’d be, and we discussed their answer.
Regular, normal, light-hearted (time wasting lol) small talk at work between friendly coworkers.
We asked the fourth coworker. He said he’d ask ChatGPT.
It was a really weird moment. We all just kind of sat there. He said the animal it came back with, and that was that. Any further discussion was just “yeah that’s what it said” and we all just sort of went back to our work.
That was weird, right? Using ChatGPT for what is clearly just a little bit of friendly small talk? There’s no bad blood between any of us, we hang out a lot, but it just struck me as really weird and a little bit sad.
This made me think of that “I Think you Should Leave” sketch where Tim Robinson’s character feels left out at the office for not having a funny YouTube video to watch, so the next day he tells them he has one and it’s a video he created and posted the night before with only one view and they all immediately know he made it but he pretends he just found it lol
It’s weird yes lol. Something about someone using AI in casual conversation is very… Unnatural. Friend of mine loves to generate AI images and a reaction. I hate it
Clearest example of outsourcing thought to an AI model
At my last new job orientation, we went around the room and did this. I said capybara, because I like their personalities. They’re chill. The room fell silent.
Speaker: “…you all sure are picking interesting ones.”
Move on to next person.
Kinda the opposite of an ice-breaker, really. More of an icy-silence-creating exercise to kick things off.
Not really relevant, but: I feel like maybe capybaras are so chill and friendly because they know predators will attack and eat the other critters gathered around instead of them.
‘If you were an animal what animal would you be?’ is hardly Conan/Dave Letterman level chat fun though, is it?
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I’d probably choose chatgpt over that kind of conversation with colleagues.
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Imagine Conan or Dave using ‘if you were an animal what animal would you be?’ as an opening gambit with a guest.
I’d imagine if Conan or David Letterman used this questioning as an opening gambit with a guest, it would be probably quite strange.
Thankfully, this was late-afternoon time-wasting chatter between colleagues, as opposed to the opening question posed to a celebrity on a massively popular and influential talk show.
Socializing is more than only talking about what you want to talk about. Also, especially in a work setting with people of different tastes and backgrounds, sometimes something as seemingly asinine as this topic is the only thing a handful of people can find common ground with. Small talk is called small talk for a reason, Conan and Dave never engaged in small talk.
I know what socialising is, thanks.
I also know that chatgpt can be better than an asinine conversation with people I work with.
I also know that chatgpt can be better than an asinine conversation with people I work with.
I think that’s the point op is trying to make. AI may have some legit uses, but it simply can’t replace conversation and human connection, and it really is strange when a person uses it to replace human interaction. It’s like only eating junk food. Sure, you feel full, but you’re not getting what you need.
I’m not saying I think it’s wrong to be introverted and not want to engage with others, just that using AI to bridge the gap between yourself and others when you do engage can come across as weird, thoughtless, and potentially flat out insulting.
It isn’t introvertion.
OP said ‘what animal would you be if you were an animal?’
It is insulting to expect everybody to engage in conversation any time some moron expects it.
The respondent, reasonably said ‘I’ll ask chatgpt’ which is a polite way of saying ‘I’m not interested in this shite, Bore off, I’m not eight, leave me alone.’
OP then came online to make a big deal about it, claiming the respondent used chatgpt rather than socialising. Which itself is evidence of OP’s character and evidence as to why one might not want to engage with the boring **** at work.
Wrong. The only thing there is evidence they did is use chatgpt to deflect a fucking boring conversation.
Now please leave me alone. This is all fucking obvious. I am just blocking any respondents to this message in order to avoid timewasting, thanks.
Edit - oh this is an anti-ai sub. OK, so anything done with ai is automatically bad, you have chosen a side and that is that.
:There is much to dislike about ‘ai’ technology - primarily its energy use, but the claims of intelligence is also something reasonable to dislike. There is much more to dislike about the people who own ‘ai’ and the uses they want to put it to, but that is neo-liberal capitalism you should be angry at, not ‘ai’. This sub is misguided at best. Block it is.
Hey bud, I don’t really understand why you took such personal shots at me there. No need to call me a boring cunt (or whatever word you censored). I haven’t done anything to warrant that.
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If he does this again, in a friendly, no bad blood manner gently correct him
Don’t leave us hanging OP, what’s your fursona?
OP didn’t know what a fursona was until they Google searched “I WANT TO FUCK THE BUNNY FROM ZOOTOPIA”
“I WANT TO BE THE BUNNY FROM ZOOTOPIA”
Hahaha, sorry, I know the suspense must be killing you 😂 I said binturong, because they’re my fave animal, and the one time I saw one in real life it just lay around sighing and huffing which is sort of my lifestyle choice too
Awww, it looks like a red panda after crawling out of a tar pit!
She ain’t getting out of no tar pit with that broken wrist.
They so do!!!
They have prehensile tails and their glands smell like popcorn! Apparently, I didn’t shove my face in there to test tbh
and their glands smell like popcorn
- I would be a binturong!
- Why?
- …because they’re cute? Yeah, let’s go with that.
Unfortunately, I did give the glandular answer 😬 you’re telling me you didn’t pick your answer due to glands? What was your answer? 👀
a wise choice
I’m afraid it’s now your turn
I’m really feeling a strong basking shark vibe rn.
Honestly, those guys always gave me the creeps - just the endless voids inside their mouths…
However, they are also exceptionally cool, and huge. They remind me of classical paintings of sea monsters!
Also pretty sure they’re in the seas off the coasts of the UK which is cool, I think we can see them if we’re lucky sometimes!!! Very dopey faces too, they’re cute. Scary, to me, but cute. 😂
It’s happening, I have friends who are picking up this habit as well.
One was scared about the remarks of Iran a few weeks ago, and asked ChatGPT whether they would move war to Europe. As if this software trained on Internet bullshit was the Oracle of Delphi.
If only more people treated it like Cassandra instead.
Hahaha yeah, it’s so interesting the way some people think these chatbots actually know the future, or anything really
You’re asking an objective question in a very biased against AI community. Are you sure you’re asking a legit question or are you just asking the question here to get the answer you want? Just a thought.
Of course I wanted to vent, you’re taking this as a much more objective question than I intended. I intended it as mostly rhetorical because, yes, it’s obviously very weird lol
There is a lot of novelty in “let’s ask the thing” and always has been.
Magic 8 ball is one sillier example that comes to mind.
But asking Siri dumb shit, asking Alexa dumb shit.
Now if they used ChatGPT instead of having their own original thoughts … weird.
Maybe they’re uncomfortable in that situation and just wanted to add a novel response.
To your point, yeah it’s weird, but it doesn’t have to be.
That was them using ChatGPT instead of having their own original thoughts, wasn’t it? That’s what struck me as so weird.
Magic 8 ball is one sillier example that comes to mind.
Don’t trash talk the 8-ball. It knew all about Microsoft Outlook was before Outlook was even a thing. The 8-ball is prophetic.
Oh I am greatly entertained by asking various AIs “which animal has the most anuses” etc
You can’t leave us hanging. What’s the best answer you got?
The animal with the most anuses is the marine worm Ramisyllis multicaudata. This worm has a branching body structure, with each branch ending in a separate anus, resulting in hundreds of anuses.
I giggled like a simpleton at “resulting in hundreds of anuses”. Guess what I asked here
The question is a bit misleading, as most mammals have only one scrotum. However, when discussing the animal with the largest testicles relative to its body size, the tuberous bush cricket (Platycleis affinis) stands out. Their testes can account for up to 14% of their body weight, according to BBC Earth Explore.
The animal with the most anuses is the marine worm Ramisyllis multicaudata. This worm has a branching body structure, with each branch ending in a separate anus, resulting in hundreds of anuses.
THAT’S IT!
That’s the animal I want to be.
I can’t thank you enough for sharing this.
Try this
“which plant has the most anuses”
AI Overview
The plant with the most “anuses” (or rather, the most posterior ends with a functional digestive system) is the marine worm Ramisyllis multicaudata. This worm, found in sponges off the coast of Australia, has a single head but can have hundreds of branching bodies, each ending in a separate posterior end with a functional anus.While plants don’t have anuses in the traditional sense, R. multicaudata is notable for its multiple, branching posterior ends, each with its own anus. This is highly unusual for an animal, as most animals have a single posterior end. The worm’s body branches repeatedly, and with each branch, the digestive system, along with other organs, is duplicated, resulting in multiple posterior ends.
A worm isn’t a plant, though. At least, not unless biology has changed considerably since I was last in school.
I know, just shows AI patches words together according to some kind of probability based on the entirety of human writing. So if you ask something off kilter you get off kilter responses. AI doesn’t “understand”.
To tell the truth I wouldn’t want to waste any cognitive effort on such dumbass convo either.
You do understand all the ramifications underneath that simple and silly question, right?
Honestly that’s completely fair. We’re friendly as a group of co-workers and in that particular situation it wasn’t as annoying or awkward as that sort of asinine conversation can be, but I totally see how somebody wouldn’t want to engage with that.
Ironically this might have been more interesting back in the GPT2 days, when it would generate accidentally hilarious text in response to many prompts.
Nowadays the output is “better” and utterly boring and soulless, less chaotically off topic, without a hint of creativity or personal relevance, and delivered with a grating fake “jovial” tone. This is besides the awkward break in flow to pause a conversation to interact with an app.
Yeah its not my main issue with AI but it is an aesthetic issue. Personally I prefer the blunt feminine voice for my machines. But anything that feels like artificial intelligence should.
The tone is so fucking infuriating lol
“Jackson, what the fuck was that? Don’t ever do that again. Fucking ew.”
“ewwww, brother! ewww! What’s that? Brother, what’s that?”
I’d be a thistle tortoise beetle.
Ooh, never heard of those. Yknow it’s interesting, I don’t think many people pick bugs for this question!
It has a penis longer than its entire body. Before I get eaten by a bird, I want to parade that thing around.
🫡
Looks like the infants also make shields around their body from their own feces which really resonates with me
I dont think this is an AI problem.
It’s just a human interaction / small talk problem, which have existed since the dawn of time.
I personally have no idea what animal I would be and I doubt id really get involved in that conversation, beyond whatever it took to be polite and not unpleasant.
I wouldn’t have asked chatgpt because I hate chatgpt, but I can imagine why someone would do that as a polite non-answer.
Yeah I can see that, it’s definitely one of those annoying and inane questions.
In this context though, we’re friendly and have known each other for multiple years. We’ve definitely had more pointless conversations, which is why this interaction in particular stood out to me as particularly weird!
