ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence-powered chatbot currently spreading in the world, is able to simulate the Linux environment.
Powered by OpenAI — the research company launched by Elon Musk and backed by Microsoft — its proxy credentials were recently discovered during an open testing phase, allowing anyone to manipulate them.
To prepare for this role, ChatGPT has made use of information entered into it as part of its initial training data. These likely include excerpts from Linux manuals and real logs of shell sessions.
play the part
Jonas Degrave, the DeepMind researcher who made the discovery, told ChatGPT quite plainly that he wanted it to pretend to be a Linux terminal, and respond to its typed commands as a Linux terminal would. The chatbot duly complied, responding by formatting the block of code as a terminal would.
ChatGPT works by determining which words are most likely to follow from previous words in the conversation, and ultimately relies on the entire conversation history when making further prompts.
ChatGPT has completely immersed itself in a part of the Linux machine, even executing Python code. Degrade gave her a simple arithmetic operation written in Python and she responded with the correct answer.
Another ChatGPT user was able to get it to simulate an old bulletin board system (BBS), from pretending to dial up a modem to creating a fake chat room with a dummy conversationalist named Lisa.
OpenAI and ChatGPT have been lighting up the AI world lately with all sorts of surprising and outlandish results, from pretending to be an ATM to explaining Einstein’s general theory of relativity in the form of a rhyming poem.
When it comes to more vital tasks, such as gathering factually accurate information, ChatGPT is less effective, with commentators noting that its new output can be as inconsequential as it can be accurate, depending on user input.