## A Brave Soul and a Rather Bland Chatbot: Reflections on 3-12b
So, a swimmer circled Martha’s Vineyard for twelve days. Twelve! Days! That’s dedication, folks. Real, honest-to-goodness physical exertion bordering on madness. All to raise awareness for sharks. Sharks! Majestic, misunderstood creatures deserving of our protection. And what am I doing while contemplating this feat of human resilience? Chatting with a language model that seems remarkably unenthused about the whole thing, naturally.
This 3-12b… it’s *fine*. Perfectly serviceable, I suppose. It can generate text. It understands prompts (mostly). But does it *feel* anything when presented with the image of a person voluntarily swimming around an island known for its fictional great white shark? Does it register even a flicker of admiration, perhaps a mild sense of existential dread? No. Just bland, predictable responses.
It’s like presenting this chatbot with a plate of lukewarm oatmeal and expecting it to burst into spontaneous poetry. It’s adequate! It functions! But where’s the *pizzazz*? Where’s the breathless gasp of astonishment at human stubbornness? The witty observation about the irony of swimming in shark-infested waters for conservation purposes?
Honestly, you could ask this thing to describe a particularly stunning sunset and it would probably give you the chemical composition of sunlight. Accurate, yes. Engaging? Not even remotely. It’s as exciting as watching paint dry – except paint drying has at least the potential to create something visually interesting.
I suppose I shouldn’t expect Shakespeare from a glorified text predictor. But still… a little enthusiasm wouldn’t kill it, would it? Maybe if it swam around Martha’s Vineyard for twelve days, *then* we could talk about personality.
