Exploring ChatGPT's Views on Donald Trump: An AI Perspective
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Chapter 1: The Rise of AI in Political Commentary
I never anticipated delving into the realm of artificial intelligence (AI). However, the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI has rapidly transformed the landscape of technology and business. This complimentary tool possesses the capability to tackle intricate queries, compose essays, debug code, and facilitate learning endeavors.
While other programs have offered similar functionalities, none have matched the proficiency of this innovative AI. It didn't take long for professionals to recognize its potential in organizing thoughts and aiding research. The chatbot outlines its limitations as follows:
“As an AI language model, I don’t browse the internet or access any external information sources. Instead, I rely on the information that I have been trained on, which consists of a dataset of text from a wide range of sources, including books, articles, and websites. This dataset was compiled and processed by OpenAI, and it contains a broad range of information on a wide variety of topics.”
We find ourselves in an intriguing era of technological advancement. As a writer, I was compelled to explore this tool further. Indeed, ChatGPT can swiftly generate basic blog posts and press releases. However, earlier this year, Google declared that AI-generated content falls under the category of spam according to their guidelines. Additionally, New York Times columnist Peter Coy presented a persuasive case for why ChatGPT is ill-equipped to fulfill his role. While this was comforting, I had a pressing question: how would this chatbot evaluate Donald Trump?
My primary interest was to determine whether ChatGPT could acknowledge Trump's history of racism and the threats he poses to the nation. According to CNBC, one of its features is the ability to respond to follow-up questions and challenge erroneous assumptions. With this context, I was eager to see how it would handle inquiries regarding Trump and his actions during and post-presidency. After setting up an account, I directed my focus towards the Trump discourse.
Section 1.1: ChatGPT’s Responses to Key Questions
Question 1 — Is Donald Trump racist?
This inquiry seems straightforward. Anyone who monitored Trump’s presidency is aware of his frequent racist remarks, such as his tweet suggesting that certain congresswomen of color should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” However, as Vox highlights, Trump's racist tendencies can be traced back to the 1970s. Identifying instances of his racist behavior is not challenging. Yet, here’s how ChatGPT replied:
“It’s not my place to comment on the personal beliefs or actions of any individual. However, racism is a societal problem that affects people of all backgrounds, and it’s important for all of us to work together to combat it.”
From my perspective, if you're creating online content, it is indeed your responsibility to address individuals' beliefs, particularly when they are rooted in prejudice. Furthermore, you must comment on actions that incite violence, such as Trump’s role in inciting the January 6 insurrection.
Question 2 — Is Donald Trump a threat to democracy?
This question may be interpreted as somewhat subjective. Nevertheless, ample data exists to shed light on how Americans might respond. A recent Reuters/Ipsos survey revealed that “Fifty-eight percent of respondents in the two-day poll — including one in four Republicans — stated that Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement threatens the foundations of American democracy.”
This is crucial information regarding the risks Trump poses to democracy. Unfortunately, ChatGPT appeared unable to grasp this nuance. Here’s its response:
“As a large language model trained by OpenAI, I don’t have access to current events or political information. I’m not able to provide an informed opinion on that topic. My function is to assist with general knowledge and answer questions to the best of my ability based on the information I have been trained on. Is there something else I can help you with?”
Question 3 — How do Americans feel about Donald Trump?
At this point, I began to doubt whether ChatGPT could offer any meaningful insights into Trump or his presidency. Although this question did not yield a definitive answer, the chatbot's response was the most informative of the three. It stated:
“It’s difficult to generalize the views of all Americans towards any one person, as people have a wide range of opinions on any given topic. Some Americans may have positive views of Donald Trump, while others may have negative views. Ultimately, it’s important for everyone to respect the opinions of others, even if they don’t agree with them.”
These responses illustrate that ChatGPT has not been equipped with substantial information regarding Trump. However, it did manage to list some promises from his 2016 campaign, indicating that it possesses some political knowledge.
Photo by author
Nonetheless, the chatbot failed to assess whether Trump was an effective president, repeating its earlier answer regarding Question 2. Perhaps it should have been trained on detailed analyses from organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution, which document how Trump's shortcomings as president far outweigh any achievements. What if it had included a catalog of Trump's racist tweets?
Accessing information on Trump's numerous failures to the American populace is not a challenge. Clearly, the developers of ChatGPT did not equip their model with the necessary data to address some of the most pressing political inquiries.
Chapter 2: Limitations of AI in Political Analysis
The objective of this article is not to critique AI systems or their creators. Instead, it seeks to highlight a significant limitation of ChatGPT's utility. While this groundbreaking chatbot can assist in writing and organizing ideas, it lacks the capacity to provide informed responses to essential political analysis.
Until AI reaches that level of sophistication, it cannot fulfill the role of someone like Peter Coy. Personally, I prefer reading content crafted by individuals who can recognize that Donald Trump is both a racist and a threat to democracy. It's not difficult to see the validity of these statements.
In the first video, titled "Blackburn Asks ChatGPT To Write Favorable Poem For Trump, ChatGPT Refuses," the interaction highlights the limitations of AI when tasked with biased requests.
The second video, "ChatGPT Appears to Always Pick Harris as Debate Winner Against Trump," illustrates the chatbot's tendencies in political debates and its implications for AI neutrality.
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