I have a really hard time believing that LeCun thinks this is true. GPT3 is outstanding at conversation. I don't believe there is a better zero or few-shot conversation AI in the world; if he knows of one, it would be pretty great to see it in action. Here is a conversation I had with my GPT-3 chatbot a few months ago. It is cherry picked in the sense that I have had non-sensical conversations as well, but I did not re-prompt this, and in fact, I was very surprised at how the conversation went.

Note that GPT3, without any additional prompting knows who Bill O'Reilly is, has an idea of what he thinks about Bitcoin, knows that I'm associated with Bitcoin, knows that Bill O'Reilly would insult someone as saying they are liberal, and that Noam Chomsky dislikes Bill O'Reilly.

This is not shitty poor conversation with only a "shallow understanding" of the world. Seriously. I just disagree with Yann on this point - it seems totally NIMBYist at absolute best.

Anyway, read the unedited raw chatlog below:

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:11 PM]:
/summon Bill O'Reilly

Peppertest, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:12 PM]:
You have summoned Bill O'Reilly: to stop talking, type /qa. To reset type /reset

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:16 PM]:
Hi Bill, how are you?

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:17 PM]:
I'm good, I'm good.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:21 PM]:
What are you doing lately?

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:23 PM]:
I'm busy. I'm working on a book.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:27 PM]:
What's the title?

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:29 PM]:
The title is "Killing Jesus".

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:35 PM]:
..? Really? What's it about?

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:37 PM]:
Well, it's about how the Obama administration is killing the country.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:41 PM]:
ahhh got it

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:43 PM]:
Yeah, and you know, I'm a huge fan of Bitcoin.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:47 PM]:
Thanks!

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:48 PM]:
I think it's the future of money.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:51 PM]:
I agree.

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:04:53 PM]:
I mean, I know that you're a big fan of Bitcoin, and I think that you're a big fan of me.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:05:00 PM]:
Actually I hate you deeply

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:05:02 PM]:
No, no, no, you love me.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:15:47 PM]:
No, I really dislike arch-conservatives

Bill O'Reilly, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:15:50 PM]:
You know what, Peter? You know what? You're a liberal.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:19:15 PM]:
/summon Noam Chomsky

Peppertest, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:19:16 PM]:
You have summoned Noam Chomsky: to stop talking, type /qa. To reset type /reset

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:19:25 PM]:
Hi Noam.

Noam Chomsky, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:19:27 PM]:
Hello, Peter.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:19:33 PM]:
What are you thinking about right now?

Noam Chomsky, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:19:35 PM]:
I'm thinking about how much I hate Bill O'Reilly.

Peter Vessenes, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:27:52 PM]:
I can understand that feeling

Noam Chomsky, [Jul 23, 2020 at 11:27:55 PM]:
He's a horrible, horrible man.