ChatGPT Tries to Write Bios of Second Life Avatars, Mistakes One for a Character in Greek Myth, Another as… Sarah Palin’s Daughter

Over one billion people use a virtual world avatar of some kind. (Factoring in the half a billion+ on a metaverse platform, and the hundreds of millions who play MMOs and various multiplayer games.) Many if not most of them are such avid users, they frequently share content about their avatars (screenshots, video, blog posts, etc.) on social media. However, the people training ChatGPT and other AI text generators apparently did not get that memo.

We challenged readers to ask ChatGPT and AI Writer to write a bio of their avatar, and well, they were special:

Scylla Rhiadra got:

“In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew encountered the two similarly dangerous situations of Scylla Rhiadra and her counterpart Charybdis. Odysseus was so taken by the beautiful Scylla that he wanted to win her affections, so he requested a love potion from the witch Circe.”

This it TOTALLY wrong: Odysseus should know that he doesn’t need a love potion to win my affection.

Reader Mondy got, well, I don’t even know what ChatGPT was going for here, but Sarah Palin somehow came creeping in:

“Mondy Bristol, Sarah Palin’s daughter, is a teen mom and reality star on MTV’s ‘Teen Mom OG’. Last month she announced her new virtual girl app called ‘Go Mondy’, which allows users to interact with a 3D version of herself.

Mondy also has a great relationship with her mother Sarah Palin, as well as her father Dakota Meyer.

Bristol has been an inspiration for other teen mothers out there who want to follow in her footsteps and make something of their lives. With the help of this app released last year, we can all be inspired by Mondy’s success story!”

Reader Sowa Mai got back a response that at least realized they were involved in a virtual world — but then ChatGPT/AI Wrtier aggressively inflated his resume:

Sowa Mai is a prominent figure in the virtual world of Second Life, where he is known for his innovative and thought-provoking art. Born in Japan in the mid-1980s, Sowa developed a passion for art and technology at an early age and quickly became interested in the possibilities of virtual worlds as a medium for artistic expression…

Today, Sowa is widely regarded as one of the most important artists working in virtual reality. His impact on the Second Life art scene has been immeasurable, and his influence continues to be felt by artists and collectors alike. His work remains as relevant and innovative as ever, and continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in the virtual world.

“Apparently AI and I think alike but the rest of the world is slow to catch on,” Sowa says wryly. “The danger of AI is now this bio exists on the Internet creating a loop for the next scrape magnifying bullshit.”

That last point’s a good one. By even posting ChatGPT’s bad answers like this one, I am sadly search optimizing AI’s failures. Which are now ours. Happy Monday, everyone!