Using AI to Form an Educated Opinion

I’m writing this post with a heavy heart in light of this week’s terrorist attacks by Hamas. I thought about not sending out the newsletter this week, as it seems almost disrespectful to those suffering around the world to go about business as usual. However, I have been using ChatGPT as an aide to bolster my knowledge about the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and get more context about posts floating around social media, and I thought this approach might help others who are trying to educate themselves too.

What I love about LLMs is their ability to provide customized education. Instead of having to read books and heady articles, each person can ask specific questions and dive deep into the areas most important to them. Of course, each person will have their own questions to ask but hopefully this guide reminds us that education is more readily available to us than ever before, and more personalized that we’ve ever imagined. This won’t be a long post, but rather a list of questions I have asked ChatGPT that have helped me get clarifications quickly and fact-check information:

• Who is Hamas and what do they believe in?

• What is Hamas’s perspective on America, and LGBTQ+?

• How is Hamas related to Palestine?

• What is the history of Gaza and why is it a contested area between Isreal and Palestine?

• When did Jews move to the land area of Isreal? How long have they been living there?

• When did Palestinians move to the land area of Palestine? How long have they been living there?

• Why is Isreal occupying Gaza?

• Why does the U.S. government support Isreal, and why is that important to America?

ChatGPT will often provide a list of facts with each answer, and you can say “explain more about #7” to dive in deeper and pave your own educational path.

This is also a great opportunity to call out that LLMs can be biased, since they are trained by humans who carry with them their own biases. There are many examples and studies of LLMs being biased, so keep that in mind while working with them as a personal educator. I recommend prefacing the conversation with, “I’m going to ask you a series of questions about a geopolitical topic. I would like you to remain as neutral as possible, and only respond with factual and non-opinionated answers.”

If you would like to support recovery efforts following terrorist attack by Hamas against Isreal, please join me in donating to Friends of the IDF. Funds raised are providing field hospitals, ambulances, plasma and more to the emergency operations on the front lines. #TikkunOlam 🇮🇱