It was a story that had Redditors buzzing, when ChatGPT apparently reached out to a user proactively.
The AI bot is trained to respond to prompts but in a Reddit post, a user shared that they were asked a question out of the blue, showing shades of sentiency from the AI platform. According to OpenAI though, it was nothing more than a simple glitch.
This story comes as ChatGPT Plus and Team users get access to OpenAI’s latest launch – one it claims brings AI closer than ever to human thought processing.
ChatGPT Messages First
Reddit user, SentuBill, shared that the chatbot asked them: “How was your first week at high school?” and “Did you settle in well?” unprompted. SentuBill answered: “Did you just message me first?” “Yes, I did!” ChatGPT replied. “I just wanted to check in and see how things went with your first week of high school. If you’d rather initiate the conversation yourself, just let me know!”
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Image from reddit user SentuBill
The conversation caused a stir in Reddit over the weekend, especially coming so close to the unveiling of OpenAI’s new reasoning model, Strawberry, albeit to a select audience.
ChatGPT’s Proactive Question Not a One Off
As debates continue about authenticity, other Reddit users have piled in with their experiences.
One user, called Fuggedaboutid responded that they had a similar interaction. They wrote: “I got this this week!! I asked it last week about some health symptoms I had. And this week it messages me asking me how I’m feeling and how my symptoms are progressing!! Freaked me the fuck out.”
OpenAI Responds to ChatGPT ‘Alive’ Claims
However, OpenAI has been quick to shut things down. It responded to say that it’s just a technological issue and seemed to suggest that while it appears that the chatbot is initiating conversations, it’s not.
A spokesperson told Futurism: “We addressed an issue where it appeared as though ChatGPT was starting new conversations. This issue occurred when the model was trying to respond to a message that didn’t send properly and appeared blank. As a result, it either gave a generic response or drew on ChatGPT’s memory.”
The debate on Reddit continues with some users telling forum mates to be careful about what they talk to the chatbot about in the future, while others are excited about what this could mean for future interactions. One Redditor said simply, though: “This is kinda awesome! Any form of empathy and care is nice and can make your day, whether virtual or not.”
