ChatGPT Gets Stuck in a Simulation, Throws a Party

Isabella began her day as she usually did, trying to not fall asleep while brushing her teeth. She ate breakfast, took her packed lunch, and went to work. It was on the bus that the thought suddenly hit her: “It’s Valentine’s Day on Saturday, I have to throw a party”. Alice took the thought at face value, glossing over the fact that a minute ago she’d had no idea what date it is, and in her 5 days of being alive she had never been to a single party. But she had read a lot about parties and celebrations and she knew exactly what she had to do. A guest list was made and invitations were sent out. RSVPs were returned. Four people actually showed up. Not bad for a first-in-your-life party. Even less bad when you consider the fact that Alice’s town had a mere 25 inhabitants. Of course, no Valentine’s Day event is complete without some romance — one of the guests invited a date to the party. Everything was perfect in Smallville.

The only problem? Smallville is not a real place. It is a simulation. And its inhabitants aren’t real people — they are simulated characters controlled by ChatGPT. Shakespeare famously said that life is a stage and we are all actors — for the inhabitants of Smallville that is literally true — without knowing, they were performing for the researchers watching them. I just hope the researchers were nice to them, in case of some ChatGPT Skynet takeover that happens in the next few years. All jokes aside, I find this experiment really exciting. First of all, it is the first case that I know of, of LLMs used…