
ChatGPT can make mistakes, just like any other AI tool. It's not perfect, but it's designed to learn and improve over time.
One reason ChatGPT might make mistakes is that it's trained on a massive dataset of text, but it's not omniscient. It can't know everything, and sometimes the information it provides might be outdated, incorrect, or incomplete.
It's essential to verify important information through other sources to ensure accuracy. This is especially true for critical or time-sensitive information, where a small mistake could have significant consequences.
In some cases, ChatGPT might provide information that's based on a flawed assumption or a misunderstanding of the context.
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Potential for Inaccuracy
ChatGPT can make mistakes, and it's essential to be aware of its limitations to ensure the information it provides is accurate and reliable.
ChatGPT may exceed specified word limits in responses, leading to verbose or lengthy answers. This can deviate from the user's intended brevity.
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Some of the common mistakes ChatGPT can make include getting verifiable facts wrong, detailing a process it "supposedly" used to generate an answer that is impossible given the platform's limitations, and generating broken code.
These mistakes can be categorized into several types, including confident but wrong answers, hallucinations, and accuracy degradation over time.
ChatGPT's accuracy can degrade over time, with a study finding that its ability to accurately identify prime numbers decreased from 84% accuracy in March to 51% in June.
Here are some common categories of mistakes ChatGPT can make:
- Confident but wrong answers
- Hallucinations
- Accuracy degradation over time
- Getting verifiable facts wrong
- Detailing a process it “supposedly” used to generate an answer that is impossible given the platform’s limitations
- Generating broken code
- Broken formatting or ignoring instructions in the output
It's worth noting that GPT-4 has improved in some areas, such as hallucination rates, with one study finding that its hallucination rate was 28.6%, compared to GPT-3.5's 39.6%.
Fact-Checking Information
Fact-checking information is crucial when using ChatGPT, as it's not infallible and may contain inaccuracies or outdated information. In fact, ChatGPT's responses are accurate around 88% of the time.
To ensure accuracy, it's essential to verify the information provided by ChatGPT. This involves checking for errors, outdated facts, and misleading content. Fact-checking helps prevent the spread of false information and empowers informed decision-making.
Carefully reviewing and editing outputs is also vital, especially when working with domain experts. A single misleading statement can be easily overlooked, even by an experienced professional. To avoid this, it's recommended to have a domain expert review content and code before deployment.
Here are some key accuracy rate statistics to keep in mind:
- ChatGPT is accurate around 88% of the time.
- The same model of ChatGPT can become more or less accurate over time.
- ChatGPT is most accurate in English.
- ChatGPT-4o is the most accurate OpenAI model released to date.
Outdated Information
ChatGPT's responses may contain outdated information, particularly from before late 2021, because the web version of the model can't crawl the web. This means it's not aware of information from before this time.
Outdated information can be a significant issue, especially when coupled with the "confident but wrong" problem. This is where ChatGPT is confident in its response but actually provides incorrect information.
If you're using ChatGPT for research or decision-making, it's essential to be aware of this limitation. You can't rely solely on ChatGPT's responses, especially for information that's critical or time-sensitive.
To mitigate this issue, you can use fact-checking strategies, such as verifying information through multiple sources or checking the date of the information. This will help ensure that the information you receive is accurate and up-to-date.
Here are some tips to keep in mind:
- Be aware of the date of the information you receive from ChatGPT.
- Verify information through multiple sources.
- Check for updates or newer information on the topic.
Review Outputs Carefully
ChatGPT can be a treasure trove of knowledge, but it's not infallible. Its responses may contain inaccuracies or outdated information, so fact-checking is essential.
Fact-checking helps ensure that the information you receive is correct and up-to-date. This is crucial in the digital age, where misinformation can spread rapidly.
To verify accuracy, it's recommended to have a domain expert review content and code before it's deployed. This is especially important if you're not an expert in the topic.
Careless mistakes can be made if you're not paying attention. This is why it's so important to review outputs carefully.
The accuracy rate of ChatGPT is around 88% of the time. This means that there's still a chance of inaccuracies or errors.
To put this into perspective, it's relatively easy to be fooled by some of the content and assertions put out by ChatGPT, especially if a topic isn't your area of expertise.
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Here are some key takeaways to keep in mind when reviewing outputs:
Reduces Hallucinations
ChatGPT-4 hallucinates less than GPT-3.5, with a hallucination rate of 28.6% compared to 39.6%.
This is a significant improvement, showing that ChatGPT-4 is more reliable in generating references to scientific writing.
ChatGPT-4's hallucination rate is also 105% lower than Bard's, which hallucinated 91.4% of the time.
This indicates that ChatGPT-4 is a more trustworthy tool for producing scientific references.
Word and Character Counts
Word and character counts can be a challenge when working with AI tools like ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is terrible at estimating and understanding character counts in any precise way.
This can be a major limiting factor for tasks related to SEO and content, where meeting a word count is necessary.
You might be writing title tags, meta descriptions, or content that requires a specific word count.
ChatGPT's estimates can be off, sometimes being much farther off than expected.
I've had instances where the tool was way off, which can lead to wasted time and effort.
Meeting word count requirements is crucial for SEO and content work, and ChatGPT's limitations can make this process difficult.
GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 Performance
GPT-4 and GPT-3.5 outperformed Bard in precision when tasked with conducting systematic reviews, which involve generating scientific citations.
GPT-4 had a precision rate of 13.4%, while GPT-3.5 had a precision rate of 9.4%.
Gpt-4 and Gpt-3.5 Outperform Bard
Gpt-4 and Gpt-3.5 are more precise than Bard in conducting systematic reviews. This is evident from a task where they generated scientific citations, with Gpt-3.5 having a precision rate of 9.4%.
Gpt-4 had a significantly higher precision rate of 13.4%. Meanwhile, Bard scored a 0% precision rate, falling behind its competitors.
Gpt-4o vs Gpt-4 Turbo in Reading Comprehension
GPT-4o was found to be 3.1% less accurate than GPT-4 Turbo at reading comprehension.
Interestingly, OpenAI's own testing revealed that GPT-4o scored 83.4 points on the DROP (f1) test, which involves answering complex questions. This is significantly lower than GPT-4 Turbo's score of 86 points.
GPT-4o's accuracy in reading comprehension is also less than Llama3 400b, although only by 0.1 points.
Limitations and Risks
ChatGPT can make mistakes, and it's essential to be aware of its limitations and risks. Implementing conditional instructions can help mitigate potential risks.
Business owners and decision-makers need to manage memory issues when using ChatGPT. This involves being mindful of the model's capacity and avoiding overloading it with too much information.
Conditional instructions can help safeguard the accuracy and relevance of outputs from AI models. By doing so, you can reduce the likelihood of errors and ensure more reliable results.
Sharing insights about the challenges and solutions associated with ChatGPT and custom GPTs is crucial. This collaborative approach can help you make the most of these AI tools within business settings.
Token counters can also help manage potential risks, such as memory issues and inaccurate outputs. By keeping track of the model's usage, you can identify areas where adjustments are needed.
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Vs Other AI Models
ChatGPT is not perfect and can make mistakes, but how does it compare to other AI models?
It's worth noting that ChatGPT is specifically designed to engage in conversation and answer questions, whereas other AI models like language translation tools are optimized for different tasks.
ChatGPT's training data only goes up to 2021, which can limit its knowledge on very recent events or developments.
Other AI models like Google's Bard have been trained on more recent data, but may not have the same conversational capabilities as ChatGPT.
ChatGPT's mistakes can be more noticeable because it's designed to be conversational and answer questions in a more human-like way.
This can make it seem like ChatGPT is making more mistakes than other AI models, but it's actually just being more transparent about its limitations.
Non-Text Tasks and Customization
ChatGPT may struggle with non-text tasks, such as visual tasks, and some reports indicate it may be less accurate at these tasks.
ChatGPT was originally designed to handle only text, but recent models like GPT-4o have implemented some multimodal features.
These features are a step in the right direction, but it's clear that ChatGPT still has limitations when it comes to non-text tasks.
Non-Text Tasks

ChatGPT's accuracy at non-text tasks is still a work in progress. Originally, AI tools like ChatGPT were unimodal, meaning they could only deal with text.
Recent models, like GPT-4o, have implemented some multimodal features, but it's unclear how effective they are. Some reports indicate that ChatGPT may be less accurate at visual tasks.
We're still waiting for a truly multimodal AI tool that can seamlessly handle text and visual tasks.
Custom GPT Complexity
Custom GPTs require ongoing evaluation and customization to ensure optimal performance.
Business professionals must exercise caution when relying on these AI models, particularly in business contexts.
Managing the complexity of Custom GPTs is crucial to avoid potential issues.
The need for a meticulous and informed approach to utilizing these AI tools in business operations is emphasized.
Businesses must carefully assess the accuracy and reliability of Custom GPTs to make informed decisions.
Custom GPT complexity can be managed by regularly evaluating and refining the AI models.
Sources
- http://anakin.ai/blog/chatgpt-can-make-mistakes/
- https://searchengineland.com/chatgpt-fails-errors-mistakes-400153
- https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/10/steve-wozniak-warns-about-ai-chatgpt-can-make-horrible-mistakes.html
- https://explodingtopics.com/blog/chatgpt-accuracy
- https://www.youreverydayai.com/the-chatgpt-mistake-you-dont-know-youre-making/
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