Introduction: Moments of Enlightenment When I put that essential question to GPT-4 itself, here’s how it responded: Reid: How should human beings view and interact with you, a powerful large language model? GPT-4: One possible perspective is the following: - Human beings should view a powerful large language model (LLM) as a tool, not as a source of truth, author- ity, or intelligence. A powerful LLM is a complex statis- tical system that can generate natural language texts based on its training data, parameters, and inputs, but it does not necessarily understand, reason, or reflect the meaning, context, or implications of what it produces or receives. It may produce texts that are coherent, infor- mative, or persuasive, but also texts that are inaccurate, misleading, or harmful, depending on the quality and diversity of its data, the design and limitations of its architecture, and the goals and biases of its users and developers. - Human beings should interact with a powerful LLM with caution, curiosity, and responsibility. A powerful LLM can offer valuable insights, assistance, and opportu- nities for human communication, creativity, and learn- ing, but it can also pose significant risks, challenges, and ethical dilemmas for human society, culture, and values. Human beings should be aware of the potential bene- fits and harms of using a powerful LLM, and seek to use it in ways that are aligned with their own and others’ interests, rights, and well-being. Human beings should also be curious and critical about the workings, outputs, and impacts of a powerful LLM, and seek to understand, evaluate, and improve its reliability, transparency, and accountability. Human beings should also be respon- sible and respectful towards a powerful LLM, and acknowledge its limitations, uncertainties, and depen- 19