Barry is still sentient and can perform quite a few tasks quite admirably. I still wouldn't use him as a sole source reference for obscure facts however.
(I don't actually have a cousin Barry, this is for illustration).
They usually just say they don't know, or they think it might be X but they're not totally sure.
People sometimes lie when it's in their self interest for various reasons, e.g. where they were last night, or when writing an Op-Ed or on the campaign trail, but not just lying willy-nilly about regular facts when asked a normal question.
ChatGPT's motivation is simply that it was trained to do so. Huamns usually have more nefarious motives for their lies.
Point being, yes the LLM loves to make shit up. Lots of people dismiss it as a result. It's still bloody impressive, we just need to be aware of its limitations.
I get that the current US president is senile. But that sets a low bar. Why do we need to pretend something is good if it’s as shitty at facts as some people? People want something that’s better and more trustworthy.
Talk about self denial. chatGPT literally passed the turing test and people are still literally just thinking it's just a probability word generator.
It's more then just a word generator.
Nobody is understanding the high level emergent effects of LLMs plus training. What the ML scientists say has as much credibility as a lay person in this regard.