Two months ago, the company OpenAI made its impressive artificial intelligence publicly accessible. Anyone can chat with this neural network, freely ask questions, and often receive remarkably precise and relevant answers. ChatGPT has made big waves in the media, as it demonstrates what is possible with machine learning and how far the development of artificial intelligence has already advanced. As an avid reader, it was clear that I would immediately use ChatGPT to search for great new literature and put the AI through its paces with various questions about books and authors. What can ChatGPT do for passionate readers? Can it provide really good book recommendations? Can it offer deeper insights about authors? Does ChatGPT know things that are buried deep within the pages of books? In this article, I want to explore these questions a bit and show you what ChatGPT answered for me.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
As a computer scientist, one has encountered artificial intelligence and machine learning everywhere for many years now. In fact, AI has long since reached and permeated our daily lives, and there are very few people who do not come into contact with it daily \u2014 even if they are unaware of it. Google search algorithms and email spam filters are perhaps the most well-known and long-established examples. Development in this field has been running at full speed for years, and of course, the ever-increasing performance of IT systems continues to drive innovation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Now OpenAI has made its massive neural network GPT accessible to the public, offering it in the form of a chat interface. OpenAI is a company supported by well-known backers such as Microsoft and Elon Musk, aiming to develop an artificial intelligence similar to human cognition. To achieve this, the company created a neural network with over 175 billion parameters and trained it on an enormous volume of text data. Essentially, deep learning powered by immense computational resources available only to large and well-funded organizations. The result is a system that allows users to ask natural language questions, understand them, and receive fluid, human-like responses \u2014 as if one were conversing with a real person.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
In November 2022, OpenAI launched a website that allows anyone to chat with the AI. This caused quite a stir, as what ChatGPT delivers is truly impressive. It allows completely open-ended questions, and the answers are often strikingly accurate \u2014 they feel as if they came from a person who actually understands meaning and context. For example, one could ask ChatGPT to write a story: \u201cWrite a story that includes a robber, takes place in a desert, has a happy ending, and involves an explosion.\u201d ChatGPT will then generate a story fitting those criteria. You can also ask it to explain things, calculate something, write code, or even compose a poem. I can only recommend trying it yourself \u2014 it\u2019s genuinely impressive. You can register for free and try out the chat at openai.com<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As a voracious reader, I\u2019m always on the hunt for good books \u2014 and finding great literature is not easy. It\u2019s an art in itself<\/a>, and naturally, I tried to use ChatGPT to track down truly good books. I also used ChatGPT to gather information about books, authors, and literature in general. I challenged the AI quite a bit because the usual recommendations don\u2019t satisfy me. The big names \u2014 the well-known works of world literature that everyone recognizes \u2014 I\u2019ve already covered pretty well. What I wanted from ChatGPT were genuine hidden gems that I wouldn\u2019t easily find otherwise, and information about books that aren\u2019t discussed everywhere. Google searches, \u201csimilar books\u201d on Amazon, recommendations on book blogs \u2014 all of that I\u2019ve already exhausted. I wanted literary recommendations that are hard to come by. So, I began testing ChatGPT\u2019s capabilities with a variety of questions.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Let\u2019s begin with my questions. I started by searching for new and interesting books, trying to coax truly good recommendations out of ChatGPT.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Question:<\/strong> I enjoy books by authors such as Flaubert, Dumas, Balzac, Stendhal, Turgenev, Goncharov, Tolstoy, and Gazdanov. Which good books can you recommend? I love literature from the 19th century \u2014 Realism, Naturalism, and Romanticism. Which lesser-known authors or hidden gems can you recommend?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n ChatGPT\u2019s Answer:<\/strong> I\u2019m glad you enjoy 19th-century literature! Here are a few recommendations from me:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n These are just a few suggestions; there are, of course, many other great books from the 19th century that you might find interesting. You might also look into works by Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charlotte Bront\u00eb, Jane Austen, and Louisa May Alcott. I hope you find something here that you\u2019ll enjoy!<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Okay, so Goethe\u2019s Werther<\/em>, Flaubert\u2019s Madame Bovary<\/em>, B\u00f6ll, Fontane, Kafka \u2014 not exactly hidden gems. The direction is fine, but at this point, ChatGPT doesn\u2019t offer any added value over other online sources. The advantage, however, is that ChatGPT understands context \u2014 so I could simply follow up, which of course I did.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Question:<\/strong> Those are all quite famous books. I\u2019m looking for lesser-known works that not everyone knows. Which obscure books can you recommend?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n ChatGPT\u2019s Answer:<\/strong> I understand that you\u2019re looking for lesser-known works. Here are some recommendations for you:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I hope you find something among these that appeals to you! If you\u2019d like more suggestions, let me know \u2014 I\u2019ll do my best to provide more recommendations.<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n At first glance, that looks better. The problem: some of these books simply don\u2019t exist. A Winter in the Countryside<\/em> by Paul de Kock isn\u2019t real. Paul de Kock was indeed a 19th-century author, but there\u2019s no record of such a title. The Owl<\/em> also doesn\u2019t exist, and The Night Watches of Bonaventura<\/em> is actually by August Klingemann, not Hoffmann. The Betrothed<\/em> by Manzoni (I Promessi Sposi<\/em>) is indeed a good tip \u2014 I\u2019ve already read it (Hanser Verlag edition, titled The Betrothed<\/em>). The Doll<\/em> by E\u00e7a de Queir\u00f3s (A Capital<\/em> in Portuguese) is another that\u2019s hard to find in German translation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nBook Search<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n