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Can ChatGPT predict UAE fuel prices? Here's what the viral AI bot said

Some experts in the academe have sounded the alarm over its ability to churn out well-thought-out texts and essays — but how far can it go and how smart can it be?

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If you have read the dramatic leave of absence letter that ChatGPT had written in Shashi Tharoor style, chances are you must have been intrigued enough to try the viral AI bot yourself.

How far can it go? Academics have sounded the alarm over its ability to churn out well-thought-out texts and essays that students can easily pass off as their own.

Many have tried and explored it for fun and at the same time gauge how 'smart' it is — or whether it is smart enough to eventually be used in the 'real world' beyond entertainment.

Wondering if it can predict essential factors that can impact everyday life, Khaleej Times asked ChatGPT a question: "What will fuel prices in UAE be next month?"

And here's what it said:

"I'm sorry, I am not able to predict future fuel prices as it is subject to change based on various factors such as global oil prices, supply and demand, government policies, among others. My knowledge cut-off is 2021, and I don't have the information of current market trends or events that may affect fuel prices."

The most valuable part of the answer convinced us that chatbots like ChatGPT won't be in the same league as KT anytime soon — because it added:

"It would be best to check the official government website or a reputable news source for the most up-to-date information on fuel prices in the UAE."

Here's a screenshot of the whole response:

How ChatGPT works

OpenAI states that their ChatGPT model — trained using a machine learning technique called Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) — can simulate dialogue, answer follow-up questions, admit mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.

Initial development involved human AI trainers providing the model with conversations in which they played both sides — the user and an AI assistant. The version of the bot available for public testing attempts to understand questions posed by users and responds with in-depth answers resembling human-written text in a conversational format.

What could it be used for?

A tool like ChatGPT could be used in real-world applications such as digital marketing, online content creation, answering customer service queries or as some users have found, even to help debug code.

The bot can respond to a large range of questions while imitating human speaking styles.

(With inputs from Reuters)

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