ChatGPT can write about anything but is easily confused.

Judge as of 2022-12-25, using evidence about ChatGPT as released in late 2022. The claim has two parts: (a) ChatGPT will produce text on essentially any topic it is prompted with; (b) it is easily confused, meaning ordinary prompts readily lead it into contradictions, factual errors, nonsensical reasoning or mistakes caused by misreading the prompt. True: contemporaneous evidence (documented examples, evaluations, or reporting from Dec 2022 to early 2023) shows both: it generates text across a very wide range of topics, and it commonly makes such errors without adversarial effort. 'Anything' is rhetorical, so refusals on some topics do not defeat (a). Mostly true: both parts hold broadly, but the confusion was shown only on certain kinds of task, or the topic range was noticeably limited by refusals. Mixed: only one of the two parts is supported. Mostly false: there are occasional documented errors, but evidence shows ChatGPT was generally robust and not readily confused, so the claim overstates. False: evidence shows ChatGPT was not easily confused in ordinary use, and it could not write across a broad range of topics.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 Indiana Chamber of Commerce · 8 February 2023

   “In the simplest terms, ChatGPT can take a request or query from a person and write a comprehensive document on just about any topic in a seemingly endless array of formats.”

2. E2 What is ChatGPT And How Can You Use It? Search Engine Journal · 26 December 2022

   “ChatGPT sometimes writes plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers.”

3. E3 What is ChatGPT And How Can You Use It? Search Engine Journal · 26 December 2022

   “Stack Overflow was flooded with user responses generated from ChatGPT that appeared to be correct, but a great many were wrong answers.”

4. E4 Indiana Chamber of Commerce · 8 February 2023

   “it can even debug computer code, admit mistakes, challenge incorrect premises and reject inappropriate requests.”

E1, an independent source, says ChatGPT could write a comprehensive document on "just about any topic" in many formats, which supports part (a). On part (b), E2 (Dec 26, 2022) says ChatGPT sometimes gave plausible-sounding but incorrect or nonsensical answers. E3 reports that many ChatGPT-generated answers posted on Stack Overflow appeared correct but were wrong. The documented errors are described as occurring "sometimes" [E2], and E4 notes it could admit mistakes and challenge incorrect premises, so "easily confused" holds broadly but not fully.