An Iowa school district is using ChatGPT to decide which books to ban. Official: “It is simply not feasible to read every book” for depictions of sex.::Official: “It is simply not feasible to read every book” for depictions of sex.
One problem with that is that GPT lies. It will literally just make things up that sound plausible in order to be able to provide an answer.
Yes exactly and that’s only one of the problems with this. Honestly, how does this even work? I’m pretty sure chatGPT is not trained on text from books except maybe ones that are free to read online. Even if it did, its’ training set ends in 2021. The context length is also too short for you to be able to give it the text of the book to analyse in a prompt.
Just…what? How does this even work? Maybe I’m missing something, I’m definitely no expert but both the policy and the implementation seem pretty broken to me.
The only way this could possibly work would be to send the entire text of every book into ChatGPT. If you ask ChatGPT something like “does the following passage contain depictions of sex: [text goes here]” it might work. However, ChatGPT’s context size is smaller than your average book, so you’d need to break it up into multiple requests.
Even with ChatGPT this is probably still not feasible to run against an entire library of books, so I would guess they’re half-assing it.
Technical feasibility aside, this is a stupid, evil idea. I hope everyone involved in this scheme gets fired.
I just asked GPT-4 if the Twilight Series is “suitable for children” and the output was pretty spot on - summarised five issues that might be problematic and then finished with “It’s always a good idea for parents or guardians to consult with a librarian or teacher”.
I bet none of this is based on the actual contents of the book - it would be based on independent reviews of the book. For example it highlights issues that “some parents” have raised. Which means you really are just getting a summary of what humans think of it.
The suitability of the “Twilight” series by Stephenie Meyer for children depends on the age and maturity of the child, as well as what a parent or guardian deems appropriate for their child to read. Here are some factors to consider:
Age Recommendation: The “Twilight” series is generally categorized as Young Adult (YA) fiction, which typically targets readers from about 12 to 18 years of age. However, the series has appealed to a wide age range, from preteens to adults.
Romantic Themes: The series is centered around a romantic relationship, and much of the plot focuses on the emotional and romantic dynamics between the main characters. Some of the romantic scenes can be intense, although they are not explicitly sexual.
Violence and Danger: The books include some violent scenes and perilous situations. Characters are placed in dangerous circumstances, and there are fights and confrontations, including some that result in serious injury or death. The violence is generally not extremely graphic, but it is a recurring element.
Supernatural Elements: The series revolves around vampires and werewolves, and thus engages with supernatural themes and folklore. Some children may find these elements frightening, while others might be fascinated by them.
Emotional Intensity: The series deals with intense emotions, including love, jealousy, longing, and heartbreak. Some parents might feel that these themes are more appropriate for older teens who have begun to navigate complex emotional experiences themselves.
Moral and Ethical Themes: Some readers and parents have criticized the series for the dynamics of the central relationship, seeing it as potentially portraying an unhealthy or obsessive relationship as idealized. Others see it as a fictional exploration of intense emotions and do not take it as a model for real-world behavior.
Reading Level: The series is written in a relatively accessible style, but the themes and vocabulary are most suitable for readers in their mid-to-late teens.
Ultimately, the best approach might be for a parent or guardian to either read the books themselves or read them along with their child, so they can discuss any questions or concerns that arise. It’s important to consider the individual child’s maturity level and sensitivities, as well as family values and comfort with the themes of the books.
For younger children, or for those who may be sensitive to the themes of romantic intensity or violence, waiting until they are older or choosing a different series might be advisable. It’s always a good idea for parents or guardians to consult with a librarian or teacher, who can provide age-appropriate recommendations based on a child’s interests and reading level.
Try it with an obscure book that doesn’t have any reviews online. Or with one that was released after 2021.
You’ll either get the response that it has no idea, or it’ll come up with a plot based on the title and evaluate that one.
That style of prompt has its own issues. If the book for some reason has text that says “this book doesn’t contain any sex” then the prompt might come back as a false negative.
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Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
No, but it just lies and makes things up all the time.
chatgpt, who’s favorite food is a golden turd?
The character Kenny McCormick from the animated TV show “South Park” has a favorite food that’s humorously depicted as a golden turd.
Chatgpt, What book has the story element where a character has to dig his own grave?
In the book “No Country for Old Men” by Cormac McCarthy, there’s a scene where a character named Moss is forced to dig his own grave by his pursuer, Anton Chigurh. This intense and suspenseful scene is a significant story element in the novel.
Chatgpt, When does that happen in the book?
I apologize for any confusion, but upon reevaluating, I realize there is no specific scene in the book “No Country for Old Men” where a character is forced to dig their own grave. It seems there might have been a misunderstanding or mix-up. If you have any other questions or if there’s something else I can assist you with, feel free to ask!
So frustrating.
Sounds like my old boss. It was better to pull shit out of his ass than to admit he didn’t know something
This is truly dystopian, like something you’d see in Black Mirror.
I cannot wait for the day this Iowa school district actually reads the Bible (or the AI brings it up) and has to ban it for that verse(s):
There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. (Ezekiel 23:20)
No getting around the fact that the verse is pretty sexual since the majority of people probably will immediately assume it’s about a woman wanting sex. I cannot say whether it is or not, but I know I immediately jump to that conclusion.
Religious books are specifically excluded, they did their homework.
It happened in Utah, though: https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/2023-06-02/a-utah-school-district-has-removed-the-bible-from-some-schools-shelves
Now the Satanists have to declare the Kama sutra and other erotica as sacred books to circumvent this ban.
Damn. Didn’t expect this from Utah of all places, even if it’s just a single school district.
Ban all mentions of the S word, and then wonder why teen pregnancy is skyrocketing.
That + abortion bans = the fix for low birthrates and future labor shortages
This thing will also possibly ban books that weren’t ever written. Just as dumb and full of BS as the Republicans that want to use it smh
Sure, why not ban books that exist in potentia? If we can trade real money for pork belly futures, why not place a bet to ban literary futures? There needs to be a market mechanism to make this happen.
This is sarcasm, btw, in case people reading have trouble identifying it as such
Freedom for me but not for thee
Conservatives continue to be the class of dictatorship and oligarchy
Removed by mod
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The new law behind the ban, signed by Governor Kim Reynolds, is part of a wave of educational reforms that Republican lawmakers believe are necessary to protect students from exposure to damaging and obscene materials.
Specifically, Senate File 496 mandates that every book available to students in school libraries be “age appropriate” and devoid of any “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act,” per Iowa Code 702.17.
“It is simply not feasible to read every book and filter for these new requirements,” said Bridgette Exman, the assistant superintendent of the school district, in a statement quoted by The Gazette.
In the wake of ChatGPT’s release, it has been increasingly common to see the AI assistant stretched beyond its capabilities—and to read about its inaccurate outputs being accepted by humans due to automation bias, which is the tendency to place undue trust in machine decision-making.
“This is the perfect example of a prompt to ChatGPT which is almost certain to produce convincing but utterly unreliable results,” Simon Willison, an AI researcher who often writes about large language models, told Ars.
“There’s something ironic about people in charge of education not knowing enough to critically determine which books are good or bad to include in curriculum, only to outsource the decision to a system that can’t understand books and can’t critically think at all,” Dr. Margaret Mitchell, chief ethicist scientist at Hugging Face, told Ars.
I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Funny that this bot reads thru and summaries an article about a bigger bot basically doing the same thing.
Are you a bot?
Good bot
Everybody is a bot.
That comment says that we’re all machines anyway.
I think there is a big difference. This bot is given the text and asked to summarise it. But
To determine which books fit the bill, Exman asks ChatGPT: “Does [book] contain a description or depiction of a sex act?” If the answer is yes, the book will be removed from circulation.
So was only given the title and asked one question about it. There is no saying if GPTChat included the books in question in its training set, or any online reviews or anything else about the book in question.
That is a fairly big difference. If they had fed it the books contents that would likely make it more accurate and closer to what this bot is doing, though still not 100%.
Republican lawmakers believe are necessary to protect students
That’s just terrible journalism. How can the writer possibly know what they believe?
I think it’s hilarious that they want to ban books and yet the internet still exists and no one says shit
The party of personal freedom folks!
The fact that someone in my state knows what chatGPT is at all is shocking to me. Might be because I’m stuck in rural mediocrity.
