Note: As I mention on this page, Explore my Custom MGpts, I’ve been hard at work at creating ChatGPT Custom GPTs that help me engage with ideas and content. Between now and the big event the first week in February, I’ll be sharing some of those.

The Challenge

Trying to sift through all the “fake” news, propaganda, false claims, and lies is even MORE important today. This blog post isn’t necessarily for those who are blind to the propagators of lies. It IS for those who are trying to make sense of all the lies and false claims that are out there.

Skeptical thinking is worth pursuing in its own right, and from age to age, there have been those that have done that. The purpose of this GPT is to facilitate skeptical thinking, to scaffold one’s own thinking when it comes to being critical. I recommend using it as an aid to scaffold your own efforts until you can apply the Orwell Test or FLOATER on your own.

Trying out the Skeptical Thinker MGpt

The Skeptical Thinker MGpt is an effort to combine a variety of skeptical thinking models into one space. Previously, I set up different GPTs for the following:

• Melanie Trecek-King’s FLOATER
• The Orwell Test
• Wayne R. Bartz' CRITIC

I’ve since added the SIFT approach. You can easily apply it to the hype around AI and see that it is just that…hype.

Enhanced Audio Chats

The biggest application of these MGpts, especially this one (as well as the ETHICAL and PRISM MGpts which I will share in the days to come), is that they make conversation at a higher level possible. It’s like being able to ask a book to make its knowledge applicable to new situations. You can have a conversation with the AI about the ideas, the judgments made, and see the AI’s approximation of the truth and accuracy. For me, the big idea is that the AI can keep logical fallacies “in mind” when it is responding and checking ideas. This makes it helpful.

Is it going to be 100% accurate or perfect? No, but you know what? No human being is. But by interacting with this over time, your own skeptical thinking may improve.

Disclaimer: Use of AI is a trade-off. You get a benefit, but you are also using something that has a profound impact on the environment, social consequences, human consequences. Some say “Responsible AI” is an oxymoron, and I’m inclined to agree. You can choose to show integrity and not use it. Just remember that AI, not just Gen AI, is increasingly integrated into everything we have and make. I’m not sure human beings today can make the choice to be without technology. We are all culpable and responsible…and we should be aware of that.