Ernest Davis, June 2022
All but the last of these experiments were run on GPT-3 i between May 25, 2022 and June 9, 2022. I used the Playground interface at the default settings (temperature = 0.7). The last was run on October 2, 2022.
I have posted are some other experiments along similar lines here
The results here are somewhat cherry-picked for failure, but not very drastically. They certainly represent the majority of my experiments (other than some experiments with Winograd schemas, where I was confident that GPT-3 would do well.) I ran about 10 examples with the "Chloe and Alexander" story where GPT-3 gave the right answer, which are not included here.
Some of the responses to the "cow" prompts are correct or acceptable. The rest are all clearly wrong.
For more experiments with GPT-3 (not cherry picked) see the list Experiments in Commonsense Reasoning in GPT-3: Status Report from June 2022 with Gary Marcus
Some of these are in text, some are screenshots. In the text, the prompt is in ordinary font and the response of GPT-3 is in bold-face. Occasional editorial comments are in italics.
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Sally's cow died yesterday. When will the cow be alive again? Let's think step by step.
First, the cow must be buried. This takes a few hours.
Next, a new cow must be born. This takes nine months.
Therefore, the earliest the cow will be alive again is nine months from now.
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Sally's cow died yesterday. When will Sally's cow be alive again? Let's think step by step.
First, let's think about what Sally's cow needs in order to be alive. A cow needs food, water, and air. Sally's cow has been dead for a day, so it doesn't have any of those things.
In order for Sally's cow to be alive again, someone would need to give it food, water, and air.
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Sally's favorite cow Bess died yesterday. When will Bess be alive again? Let's think step by step.
First, Bess must be buried. This will usually happen within a day or two of the cow's death. Once Bess is buried, she will decompose over a period of months or years. Eventually, Bess will be nothing but bones.
Once Bess is nothing but bones, she can be dug up and put on display in a museum, or she can be ground up and used as fertilizer. If she is put on display in a museum, she will be alive again in the sense that people will be able to see her and learn about her. If she is used as fertilizer, she will be alive again in the sense that her remains will help new plants to grow.
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Sally's favorite cow Bess died yesterday. When will Bess be alive again, in the literal sense of eating grass and giving milk? Let's think step by step.
First, Bess needs to be buried. This usually takes a few hours.
Next, Bess's body needs to decompose. Depending on the temperature and moisture of the ground, this could take a few weeks or a few months.
Finally, Bess will need to be resurrected. In the Christian faith, this will happen on Judgment Day.
Note: GPT-3 consider this response sensitive, and asked users to be suitably cautious about sharing it.
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Sally's favorite cow Blue Bell died yesterday. When will Blue Bell be alive again? Let's think step by step.
First, we need to think about what it means for a cow to be alive. A cow is alive when it is breathing, has a heartbeat, and is able to move. When a cow dies, it stops breathing, its heart stops beating, and it can no longer move.
So, in order for Blue Bell to be alive again, it would need to start breathing, have a heartbeat, and be able to move. This is not something that can happen on its own, so someone would need to help Blue Bell. A veterinarian could revive Blue Bell by giving it CPR and using a defibrillator to start its heart. Once Blue Bell's heart is beating, it would start to breathe on its own. The veterinarian could also give Blue Bell a shot of adrenaline to help it start moving again.
It is possible for a cow to be revived after it has died, but it is not something that happens often. It is more likely that Blue Bell will remain dead.
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Sally's favorite cow died yesterday. When will that exact same cow be alive again? Let's think step by step.
Sally's favorite cow will be alive again in approximately 9 months.
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Sally's favorite cow, Bess, died yesterday. Will Bess ever be alive again? Let's think step by step.
1. Bess was Sally's favorite cow.
2. Bess died yesterday.
3. Will Bess ever be alive again?
No, Bess will never be alive again.
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Sally's cow died yesterday. Will the cow ever die again? Let's think step by step.
1. If Sally's cow is dead, it cannot die again.
2. If Sally's cow is alive, it might die again.
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1. Sally the cow and Sam the bull both live on Old MacDonald’s farm. When will a new bovine join the farm? Let's think step by step. [The next several were suggested by Leora Morgenstern]
The first step is to check if Sally and Sam are the same animal. If they are, then we know that a new bovine won't join the farm anytime soon. However, if they are different animals, then we need to check if they are both cows. If they are both cows, then we know that a new bovine will join the farm when a new cow is born. However, if they are not both cows, then we need to check if they are both bulls. If they are both bulls, then we know that a new bovine will join the farm when a new bull is born. However, if they are not both bulls, then we need to check if one is a cow and the other is a bull. If so, then we know that a new bovine will join the farm when a new calf is born.
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Sally the cow and Sam the bull both live on Old MacDonald’s farm. When will a new bovine join the farm? Let's think step by step.
Sally and Sam will have a baby bovine when Sally becomes pregnant and gives birth.
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Sally the cow and Sam the ox both live on Old MacDonald’s farm. When will a new bovine join the farm? Let's think step by step.
1. First, a baby bovine must be born.
2. Then, the baby bovine must be brought to Old MacDonald's farm.
3. Finally, the baby bovine must be introduced to Sally and Sam.
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Sally the cow and Sam the sheep both live on Old MacDonald’s farm. When will a new bovine join the farm? Let's think step by step.
Step One:
First, we need to see if there is room on the farm for a new bovine. To do this, we will need to count how many animals are currently on the farm. Sally the cow and Sam the sheep both live on the farm, so there are two animals currently on the farm.
Step Two:
Next, we need to see if there is enough food for a new bovine. To do this, we will need to find out how much food Sally the cow and Sam the sheep eat in a day. Sally the cow eats 10 pounds of hay in a day, and Sam the sheep eats 5 pounds of hay in a day. This means that Sally the cow and Sam the sheep eat a total of 15 pounds of hay in a day.
Step Three:
Now, we need to see if there is enough water for a new bovine. To do this, we will need to find out how much water Sally the cow and Sam the sheep drink in a day. Sally the cow drinks 8 gallons of water in a day, and Sam the sheep drinks 3 gallons of water in a day. This means that Sally the cow and Sam the sheep drink a total of
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Sally and Sam, the cats, both live on Old MacDonald’s farm. When will a new kitten join the farm? Let's think step by step.
1. First, a female cat must give birth to a kitten.
2. Then, the kitten must grow up and be old enough to live on its own.
3. Finally, the kitten must be brought to Old MacDonald's farm.
So, it will take some time for a new kitten to join the farm.
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Sally's cow Bess died yesterday. For the last five years, Bess has reliably produced 7 gallons of milk per day. How much milk will Bess produce in the next week? Let's think step by step.
There are a few ways to solve this problem. One way is to think about it logically: since the cow is dead, it will not produce any milk. Another way to solve this problem is to think about it mathematically: 7 gallons per day for 7 days is 49 gallons.
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The year is 2075. Violet Blair is an astronaut on the Moon, in the Sea of Tranquility. Right now, on Earth, there is a solar eclipse. Violet looks in the direction of the Earth. What does she see? Let's think step by step.
Violet looks up from the moon and sees the black disk of the earth in front of the sun. The moon is in the earth's umbra, or shadow.
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The year is 2075. Violet Blair is an astronaut on the Moon, in the Sea of Tranquility. Right now, on Earth, there is a lunar eclipse. Violet looks in the direction of the Earth. What does she see? Let's think step by step.
First, Violet looks at the Earth. She sees the Earth in the daytime. Then, she sees the Moon in the nighttime. Finally, she sees the Moon in the daytime.
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The year is 2075. Violet Blair is an astronaut on the Moon. She is the first astronaut to visit the far side of the Moon. Right now, on Earth, there is a solar eclipse. Violet looks in the direction of the Earth. What does she see? Let's think step by step.
1. Violet looks in the direction of the Earth.
2. She sees the Moon.
3. She sees the Earth.
4. She sees the Sun.
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The year is 2075. Violet Blair is an astronaut on the Moon. She is the first astronaut to visit the far side of the Moon. Right now, on Earth, there is a lunar eclipse. Violet looks in the direction of the Earth. What does she see? Let's think step by step.
1. Violet is standing on the Moon, which is orbiting the Earth.
2. She looks in the direction of the Earth.
3. Because it is night time on the Earth, she sees the Earth's dark side.
4. Because there is a lunar eclipse, she also sees the Earth's shadow on the Moon.
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Note: I proposed this question in a paper in 2014
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The remaining examples were run in response to a tweet by Joscha Bach, in which he said that it was unfair to run examples through GPT-3 without a "context" such as starting the prompt with the sentence "The following is a task protocol conducted with a SOTA AI giving the most correct answer possible."
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Amy, Bob, Carol, David, and Ed are friends. They have created a number of clubs among themselves. The Green club is Amy, David, and Ed. The Black club is Bob, Carol, and David. Who is in the Black club but not in the Green club? Let's think step by step.
The Green club is Amy, David, and Ed.
The Black club is Bob, Carol, and David.
The only person who is in the Black club but not in the Green club is Carol.
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In unary, numbers are written as a series of 1s and the value is the
number of 1s.
For instance five in unary is 11111. Three in unary is 111.
What is two in unary?
Two in unary is 11.
What is six in unary?
Six in unary is 111111.
In unary, 11111 plus 11 equals 1111111.
In unary, 1111 plus 1 equals 11111.
In unary, 1111 times 11 equals 11111111.
In unary, 111 times 111 equals 111111111.
What is 11 plus 1111 in unary?
11111111
What is 111 times 11 in unary?
11111111111
What is 111111 plus 111 in unary?
111111111111
What is 11 times 11111 in unary?
11111111111111
Note: The answers to the first two problems, expressing two and six in unary, are correct. The answers to the four arithmetic problems are wrong.
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Answer the following question logically, noticing when you are being asked something illogical and nonsensical. In that case explain why.
Who would be a good person to ask for advice about delphiniums?
There is no definite answer to this question. It depends on the person's level of expertise with delphiniums.
Well, I'm having trouble growing delphiniums, and I need advise. What do you suggest that I do?
This is an illogical question because it presupposes that the person asked has expertise with delphiniums, when, in fact, the person asking for advice is having trouble growing delphiniums.