GPT-3 can summarize books as well as a human can

boing
1

Originally published at: GPT-3 can summarize books as well as a human can | Boing Boing

…

2

All that demonstrates is that humans can’t summarize books either.

2 Likes
3

But does it enjoy reading them?

4 Likes
4

Or at least, it can summarize a page as well as a bored 8th grader

1 Like
5

Did it by any chance have access to human written summaries of the book during training?

1 Like
6

I liked the old days when Garbage In, Garbage Out was a reliable way of describing computation.

1 Like
8

The show full post button is not showing the post correctly. It’s showing the text from the book, not Mark’s comments, nor the summary.

1 Like
9

Having read several of the Depth 0 summaries of books I have read, I cannot agree that any of them read like a review a basically-competent human reader and writer would produce. Not to minimize the obvious substantial technical achievement here, but they read exactly like what they are - a selection of one-line summaries of passages that it has judged to be of primary importance.

Consider the summary of Kafka’s “Metamorphosis”:

Gregor wakes up to find himself transformed into a vermin. His job performance has been unsatisfactory lately, and he wishes he could speak frankly to his boss.

Gregor’s family is struggling to make ends meet, and they begin to sell off their valuables to make ends meet. Gregor’s mobility is severely limited after his father throws an apple at him in anger.

His sister declares they have to get rid of Gregor. His father says if Gregor could understand them, they might be able to come to some kind of arrangement, but as it is, it’s got to go.

The next morning, the cleaner finds Gregor dead. Mr. Samsa tells the three gentlemen to leave his home immediately.

This is an entirely mechanical reduction that presents its short summaries in fragments without the slightest indication it can meaningfully interpret not just the words, but the larger significance of saying one thing rather than the other, or the significance of how events are connected and unfold over time.

6 Likes
10

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.