GPT-4 could solve a 60-year old Challenge in Computer Science

Martin Thoma
8 min readApr 16, 2023
Photo by D koi on Unsplash

Cooking is a common analogy to programming. You have to write down instructions in a very clear way as the computer just executes those instructions — not more, not less.

We are not used to make such precise instructions, which is hilariously shown in the “exact instructions challenge”:

Computers, in their current state, do not possess the ability to think; they merely execute explicit instructions. However, the potential productivity gains offered by genuine thinking machines that can comprehend the nuances of human communication and compensate for imprecise or incomplete orders are immense. The concept of thinking machines has long captivated the human imagination, with philosopher René Descartes musing about automata interacting with humans as early as 1637. Yet, it was only with the advent of modern computers that the notion of intelligent machines began to solidify.

Fast forward to 2023, and the development of ChatGPT has made the prospect of thinking machines increasingly tangible. This progress invites a critical…

--

--

Martin Thoma
Martin Thoma

Written by Martin Thoma

I’m a Software Engineer with over 10 years of Python experience (Backend/ML/AI). Support me via https://martinthoma.medium.com/membership

No responses yet