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Importance of critical thinking to understand ChatGPT

European Journal of Human Genetics volume 32, pages 377–378 (2024)Cite this article

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This is a response to [1] providing constructive criticism about [2, 3]. In the following, we will address the points of criticism in the order of appearance as they were presented in [1].

A point of criticism raised by [1] seems to be about the term “understanding”. The authors note that ChatGPT does not have the capacity for self-awareness or cognition nor is ChatGPT conscious in any form. Furthermore, the authors point out that ChatGPT is based on predictions and not understanding. In our opinion this is correct and none argued otherwise. In fact, the term “understand” occurs only once in [3], namely in the title, stated as a question - with a question mark at the end. Also the study in [2] does not aim to go beyond the predictive ability of ChatGPT.

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  1. Predictive Society and Data Analytics Lab, Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Frank Emmert-Streib

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  1. Frank Emmert-Streib
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FES conceived and drafted the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Frank Emmert-Streib.

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Emmert-Streib, F. Importance of critical thinking to understand ChatGPT. Eur J Hum Genet 32, 377–378 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41431-023-01443-4

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