Yesterday, the shady company behind ChatGPT sent me an API key so I could do extra stuff with their GPT-4 AI model. I was mainly interested in using it for Auto-GPT.

Don’t you know what’s Auto-GPT? Some clever people figured out that if you give ChatGPT access to the internet and various other tools (such as your operating system’s commands), and trap it in a loop of reasoning, planning and criticizing itself, you can drop into that loop some task, such as growing your business or gathering particular information from the web, and ChatGPT will work itself to the bone for you. They called this implementation Auto-GPT, and it’s the closest thing we got, that I’m aware of, to AGI (artificial general intelligence), which is the holy grail of AI, and possibly the thing that will kill us all.

Anyway, here’s a video that shows you what this Auto-GPT can do (the video includes plenty of cool new stuff about AI):

I was aware that Auto-GPT can write, test and run Python code for you (apparently just Python; although I dislike the language, it seems to be the favorite of scripters who want stuff done quick, so you must be familiar with it). I started thinking about what I could tell Auto-GPT to do that would help me for real, and I came down to the fact that I look up words very, very often while writing, mostly to check particular definitions or to get synonyms. I search the definitions of words so often, in fact, that Google has at times demanded that I proved that I was human. So what if ChatGPT could write me a Python program that would provide all the information I need from a word, with a single command from Powershell?

The instructions were clear enough. Auto-GPT did write code that gave me synonyms, antonyms and some other shit for any word I would input, but when I ordered it to change the code so that the word got passed as an argument, Auto-GPT got mired in trying to figure out how to pass command-line arguments from within the Docker container with some dedicated functions.

When I gave it a break so it could write tests for the function in another file, it had trouble correcting the original code so that the tests would pass, but I think that was mostly my fault, as ChatGPT would need to have previous knowledge of, for example, what synonyms a word would have, and in that case, what’s the point of writing a test?

Anyway, I got bored with Auto-GPT itself, but not with the notion that ChatGPT could write that Python program, so that’s what I forced it to do in a couple of hours. Behold the results of passing the word “horse” as an argument:

Information about horse

Meaning of horse

• solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times
• a padded gymnastic apparatus on legs
• troops trained to fight on horseback
• a framework for holding wood that is being sawed
• a chessman shaped to resemble the head of a horse; can move two squares horizontally and one vertically (or vice
  versa)
• provide with a horse or horses

Part of speech for horse

• verb (transitive)
• noun

Etymology of horse

• “solidungulate perissodactyl mammal of the family Equidæ and genus Equus” [Century Dictionary], Old
  Englishhors”horse,” from Proto-Germanicharss-(source also of Old Norsehross, Old Frisian, Old Saxonhors, Middle Dutchors, Dutchros, Old High Germanhros, GermanRoß”horse”), of unknown origin. By some, connected to PIE rootkers-“to run,” source of Latincurrere”to run.” Boutkan prefers the theory that it is a loan-word from an Iranian language
  (Sarmatian) also borrowed into Uralic (compare Finnishvarsa”foal”),The usual Indo-European word is represented by Old
  Englisheoh, Greekhippos, Latinequus, from PIE rootekwo-. Another Germanic “horse” word is Old Englishvicg, from Proto- Germanicwegja-(source also of Old Frisianwegk-, Old Saxonwigg, Old Norsevigg), which is of uncertain origin. In many
  other languages, as in English, this root has been lost in favor of synonyms, probably via superstitious taboo on
  uttering the name of an animal so important in Indo-European religion. For the Romanic words (Frenchcheval,
  Spanishcaballo) seecavalier(n.); for Dutchpaard, GermanPferd, seepalfrey; for Swedishhäst, Danishhestseehenchman. As
  plural Old English had collective singularhorseas well ashorses, in Middle English also sometimeshorsen, buthorseshas
  been the usual plural since 17c.Used at least since late 14c. of various devices or appliances which suggest a horse (as
  insawhorse), typically in reference to being “that upon which something is mounted.” For sense of “large, coarse,”
  seehorseradish. Slang use for “heroin” is attested by 1950. Toride a horse that was foaled of an acorn(1670s) was
  through early 19c. a way to say “be hanged from the gallows.”Horse latitudesfirst attested 1777, the name of unknown
  origin, despite much speculation.Horse-pistol, “large one-handed pistol used by horseback riders,” is by 1704. Adead
  horseas a figure for something that has ceased to be useful is from 1630s; toflog a dead horse”attempt to revive
  interest in a worn-out topic” is from 1864.HORSEGODMOTHER, a large masculine wench; one whom it is difficult to rank
  among the purest and gentlest portion of the community. [John Trotter Brockett, “A Glossary of North Country Words,”
  1829]The term itself is attested from 1560s.The horse’s mouthas a source of reliable information is from 1921, perhaps
  originally of racetrack tips, from the fact that a horse’s age can be determined accurately by looking at its teeth.
  Toswap horses while crossing the river(a bad idea) is from the American Civil War and appears to have been originally
  one of Abe Lincoln’s stories.Horse-and-buggymeaning “old-fashioned” is recorded from 1926 slang, originally in reference
  to a “young lady out of date, with long hair.” Tohold (one’s) horses”restrain one’s enthusiasm, be patient” is from
  1842, American English; the notion is of keeping a tight grip on the reins.

Synonyms of horse

• horse_cavalry
• Equus_caballus
• sawbuck
• buck
• sawhorse
• cavalry
• horse
• knight
• gymnastic_horse

Related phrases and expressions with horse

• to the horse in English
• your high horse and don
• is a horse dick !
• : The horse ?
• , that horse is peeing
• a Spanish horse .
• on a horse ?
• [ a horse and carriage
• [ the horse and carriage
• get a horse too .
• take a horse !
• taking the horse and I
• smells like horse shit .
• I mean horse .
• got that horse and his
• — Horse carriages ,
• only a horse could love
• is a horse !
• and the horse didn ‘
• take this horse and I
• your new horse , honey
• light that horse on fire
• get a horse thief financing
• the smelly horse carriages on
• with this horse .

Semantic field(s) of horse

• chessman
• provide
• gymnastic_apparatus
• framework
• equine
• military_personnel

Hyponyms of horse

• pommel_horse
• eohippus
• pony
• stalking-horse
• pinto
• sorrel
• steeplechaser
• liver_chestnut
• mesohippus
• roan
• remount
• hack
• wild_horse
• workhorse
• palomino
• pony
• gee-gee
• pacer
• stablemate
• male_horse
• bay
• racehorse
• harness_horse
• protohippus
• chestnut
• trestle
• vaulting_horse
• hack
• mare
• saddle_horse
• stepper
• post_horse
• polo_pony

Hypernyms of horse

• military_personnel
• gymnastic_apparatus
• chessman
• equine
• framework
• provide

Meronyms of horse

• horseback
• cavalryman
• encolure
• foal
• gaskin
• horse’s_foot
• poll
• horsemeat
• withers

Domain-specific words related to horse

• armed_forces
• military_machine
• chess
• war_machine
• chess_game
• armed_services
• military

Associated nouns with horse

• horse

Associated verbs with horse

• horse

Stylistic variations of horse

• bathorse
• horsepox
• horseflesh
• dishorse
• horselike
• horselaughter
• ahorseback
• horsewhipper
• sawhorse
• demihorse
• horsekeeper
• Horsetown
• horsefettler
• horseshoe
• horsehead
• ahorse
• horseman
• horsetree
• underhorsed
• woodhorse
• horsehide
• drawhorse
• horsewomanship
• overhorse
• horsetongue
• horsemint
• horseleech
• horsecloth
• clotheshorse
• horseboy
• horseherd
• horseload
• horseplay
• horsepower
• horsedom
• horsefish
• horsetail
• horsepond
• horsefair
• horsehood
• rearhorse
• horselaugh
• horsemastership
• horsefly
• cockhorse
• waterhorse
• horsehair
• horseway
• horsebreaker
• horsemonger
• horsewoman
• unhorse
• horsegate
• horsehoof
• horseweed
• horser
• horseshoer
• horsefight
• horsewood
• horselaugher
• horsemanship
• studhorse
• horsecraft
• horsefoot
• horsejockey
• horseback
• horseplayful
• horsewhip
• underhorse
• horsehaired
• horsebacker
• hobbyhorse
• horsecar
• horseless

A couple of weird points about this implementation, although they don’t bother me:

• I gather the etymology from a website, but some words end up stuck together for whatever reason. Also, no paragraphs. Not sure if it can be fixed, because the html tags don’t come through the request.
• The section “Related phrases and expressions” only looks for a few words around the passed word, from a dataset that ChatGPT recommended. The results are often strange.

Because I’m obsessive (and compulsive), I kept bothering ChatGPT by telling it to come up with more useful information that the program could provide about any given word. I didn’t know what a hyponym was.

Anyway, this little program ended up being a great tool for writing, which is what I should have done with my afternoon instead of getting involved with ChatGPT. Its auto version has huge potential; I probably need to come up with better use cases.