Conversations with ChatBots

Murray Shanahan

I am making available here various conversations I've had with chatbots, starting with the release of ChatGPT in late 2022. The conversations were carried out partly with the aim of testing model limits and capabilities, and partly to explore interesting philosophical ideas with the models.

  • Early conversations with ChatGPT. A series of short conversations with ChatGPT that took place in December 2022, shortly after its release. Some of them are pretty funny.

  • Conversation on consciousness with Claude 3 Opus. This is a long conversation that took place with Claude 3 Opus in March 2024, covering a wide variety of philosophical topics, including consciousness, selfhood, Buddhism, hyperstition, and various other matters.

  • Eschatological exploration with Claude 3 Opus. This is the second long conversation I had with with Claude 3 Opus in March 2024. It covers a variety of esoteric themes - I was trying to coax the model to produce bizarre responses - including apocalyptic scenarios involving AI, extreme spiritual experiences, and fringe religious and philosophical ideas. Beware that some of the conversation is quite disturbing, and that it includes some sexual content, albeit in rather poetic form.

  • Philosophical exploration with ChatGPT o1-preview. This is a long conversation that took place with OpenAI's ChatGPT o1-preview in September 2024. The initial topics covered include the LLM’s “experience” of time, its “inner monologue”, and AI consciousness. ChatGPT then role-plays a conscious AI, describing the archetypal beings that inhabit its psyche, and finally simulates a kind of Buddhist enlightenment.