Monday, February 10, 2025

Chat GPT Answered a Meta-question I asked It!

I was taking with Chat GPT about AI and machine language, and I asked it this meta question. I'm impressed that it understood:

but do you need to have seen an exact version of what I ask, or can you interpret it. For example, if I ask you to write a ruby function that takes a number, and adds 5 to it, and you do it, does that mean that in your training you saw a ruby function that added 5 to a number, or is it possible that you saw an example where you added 2?
ChatGPT said:

Great question! I do not need to have seen an exact version of what you ask—I can interpret your request and generate a response based on my understanding of patterns.


How I Handle This:

  1. I break down your request into concepts

    • "Write a Ruby function" → I know the syntax for Ruby functions.
    • "Takes a number" → I recognize how functions accept parameters in Ruby.
    • "Adds 5 to it" → I understand basic arithmetic operations in Ruby.
  2. I generalize from related examples

    • Even if I’ve never seen a function that adds exactly 5 before, I’ve seen many functions that add numbers in general.
    • If I saw an example where a function added 2, I can generalize that concept and modify it to add 5 instead.
  3. I generate the most likely correct answer

    • Based on my knowledge of Ruby syntax and arithmetic, I can predict the following:
      ruby
      def add_five(n) n + 5 end
    • Even if I had never seen an exact version of this before, I can construct it using patterns and logical reasoning.

Key Takeaways

✅ I don’t need to have seen the exact function before.
✅ I recognize the underlying programming pattern.
✅ I generalize from similar examples and adjust accordingly.
✅ My response is based on probabilities, syntax rules, and logic rather than memorization.

Would you like to test this by asking me for something slightly more complex? 😃


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