This post is part of LifehackersExposing AI series.
A lot of communication these days happens over text.
The issue is, you never really knowwhoyou’re talking to when the conversation is entirely text-based.
In fact, you might not be chatting with a person at all.
But even as this tech advances rapidly, it’s far from perfect.
How do chatbots work?
Modern chatbots are powered bylarge language models(LLMs).
It doesn’t understandwhatit’s saying, only that this series of words makes sense based on its dataset.
While it’s becoming more difficult to suss out the identity of chatbots, it’s not impossible.
That said, some of the words these models decide to useareweird.
Look for repetition
Bots of this kind also tend to be extremely single-minded.
Human conversation tends to be fluidsubjects are introduced, dropped, and then picked up again later.
It’s just part of their baseline instructions.
Another form of repetition to look out for?
Repeating your question back to you.
If you ask “What is the capital of the United States?”
Again, they’ll repeat what you just said for give the illusion of paying attention.
This is actually an old trick.
The chatbot therapist ELIZA, developed in the 1960s, uses it constantly.
If you tell her, Im sad, she responds How long have you been sad?
Its a simple algorithmic construction, but it offers the illusion of sentience.
Note the response speed
Another sign that youre dealing with AI is the speed of their responses.
Bots can generate responses much faster than humans.
Are they always available?
It’s not just the response speed, either.
Unlike humans, bots are always available to chatmorning, noon, and night.
Sure, there are people constantly on their phones, but all of us take a break atsomepoint.
Is the other “person” a little too enthusiastic?
Chatbots are designed to be helpful with whatever task they’re instructed to carry out.
When it comes to messaging over text, embrace cynicism.
These words are also all spelled correctly, so they aren’t trained to make typos.
Human typists, on the other hand, mess upallthe time.
Whether or not you acknowledge it, perfect spelling and grammar all the time is a red flag.
However, that doesn’t mean bots are perfect.
This kind of surprise move can disrupt an AI as well.
This is especially true with emotions and human relationships.
Still, it might still reveal their LLM-nature: A bot may say “Oh no!
I’m sorry to hear you’re depressed.
There are a bunch of Crazy Ivan moves you’ve got the option to pull here.
Switching the language of the conversation.
Tell your “friend” you’d much rather continue the conversation in another language.
You could even suggest the friend mentioned they’re fluent in that language, even if they never did.
“Sure, let’s switch to Icelandic!
Hva vilt u ra um?”
