# Ship Captain Believes ChatGPT Told Him To Change Course **URL:** \ **Category:** Professional Mariner Forum\ **Created:** [March 17, 2023, 11:56am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646 "2023-03-17T11:56:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 11:56am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/1 "2023-03-17T11:56:31Z")
> **[Ship Captain Believes ChatGPT Told Him To Change Course](https://gcaptain.com/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/)** > > by John Konrad (gCaptain) gCaptain has obtained a troubling report from an American captain, who claims that a shipowner utilized an AI bot, potentially ChatGPT, to suggest modifications to the... Interesting article. This seems like a good approach. > In the meantime, shipping companies could simply be more transparent and notify the captain of any messages sent to a ship including the help of AI. This notification can be as simple as “ChatGPT was used to correct grammar in this email” to “here are some additional ideas to that problem created by Bing AI”. ---
**Author:** ![powerabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@powerabout](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/powerabout)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/2 "2023-03-17T14:40:30Z")
Chatgpt is going to be the worlds best excuse for just about everything… ---
**Author:** ![jdcavo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/jdcavo/32/108_2.png) [@jdcavo](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/jdcavo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 2:55pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/3 "2023-03-17T14:55:39Z")
Indeed. I’m going to start saying “ChatGPT told me to do that…” instead of “I meant to do that…” ---
**Author:** ![jdcavo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/jdcavo/32/108_2.png) [@jdcavo](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/jdcavo)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 3:06pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/4 "2023-03-17T15:06:17Z")
> [@Kennebec\_Captain](#): > > [Ship Captain Believes ChatGPT Told Him To Change Course](https://gcaptain.com/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/) From the article: _At this point, it’s difficult to prove the message was created by an AI, but it’s certainly in a style similar to that produced by AI…_ Not sure that’s valid conclusion. ChatGPT can write in any style you direct. For example, here’s a [recent NMC announcement](https://www.dco.uscg.mil/Portals/9/NMC/pdfs/announcements/2023/e_sign_documents_option_012323.pdf) that I asked ChatGPT to re-write as rhyming verse written by a pirate: _Ahoy me hearties, listen up ye swabs We got news to share, no need for jabs National Maritime Center (NMC), hear ye hear ye E-signatures be accepted, it’s a decree_ _CG-719 forms and supporting docs, it’s true For merchant mariner credentials, medical certs too E-sign yer applications with software-generated signs Like Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat, they’ll be just fine_ _Sea service, assessments, training docs and more Qualified assessor requests, we got ye covered, for sure But beware me mateys, any missin’ signs Will be returned to ye, causing delays and whines_ _Submit yer MMC app to regional exam centers Or [MEDAIP@uscg.mil](mailto:MEDAIP@uscg.mil) for medical certs, no need to enter E-mailing yer app with e-signatures be our preference But check yer e-mail provider, avoid any inconvenience_ _Remember, me hearties, incomplete info will be rejected Cause delays and frustration, and leave ye dejected For any queries, contact NMC’s customer service crew E-mail [IASKNMC@USCG.mil](mailto:IASKNMC@USCG.mil), or call 1-888-IASKNMC, they’ll see ye through_ _Ye can also scan the QR code, visit the website or use online chat For assistance and guidance, we got yer back, that’s a fact._ ---
**Author:** ![Urs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/958977/32.png) [@Urs](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Urs)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 10:42pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/5 "2023-03-17T22:42:57Z")
> [@powerabout](#): > > …Chatgpt is going to be the worlds best excuse for just about everything… Then, who will be jailed? The inventor of ChatGTP? ---
**Author:** ![freighterman1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/freighterman1/32/11176_2.png) [@freighterman1](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/freighterman1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/6 "2023-03-17T23:19:25Z")
Last night I was listening to a podcast and I heard an advertisement for a ChatGPT-type app, with a big difference: It is all voice based. You presumably talk to the app for awhile, expressly for it to learn your voice in order to mimic it, and sound just like you. The rest is just a Chat-bot, but with the app speaking in _your_ voice. Quite terrifying. I hope I wasn’t listening correctly, and it was all parody. But it didn’t sound like that… ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Shore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Lee\_Shore](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Lee_Shore)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 11:26pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/7 "2023-03-17T23:26:17Z")
> [@freighterman1](#): > > I hope I wasn’t listening correctly, It’s here. I saw a bit on it on TV a day or so ago. We’re not that far from being able to order a walking talking robot with our voice and appearance. ---
**Author:** ![freighterman1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/freighterman1/32/11176_2.png) [@freighterman1](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/freighterman1)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2023, 11:35pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/8 "2023-03-17T23:35:47Z")
Voice is a powerful thing. The human/eye brain is pretty good at sorting out a real face from an animated one, even today. But a voice absent a face can be compelling. I can see this going sideways in a hurry. ---
**Author:** ![powerabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@powerabout](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/powerabout)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 12:06am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/9 "2023-03-18T00:06:42Z")
who went to prison for the 2008 banking/mortgage CDO scandal? ---
**Author:** ![dbeierl](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/dbeierl/32/11833_2.png) [@dbeierl](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/dbeierl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 12:12am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/10 "2023-03-18T00:12:01Z")
> [@freighterman1](#): > > I can see this going sideways in a hurry. It’s already being used in scam phone calls from “relatives”. ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Shore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Lee\_Shore](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Lee_Shore)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 5:12am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/11 "2023-03-18T05:12:21Z")
> [@Urs](#): > > The inventor of ChatGTP? Alan Turing’s name comes up as AI royalty but he wouldn’t be available for a grilling from Congress. His life is depicted in a movie titled Breaking the Code. ---
**Author:** ![powerabout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@powerabout](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/powerabout)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 8:23am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/12 "2023-03-18T08:23:19Z")
the scam was phone messages saying a relative was in trouble send money , now you will be talking to a robot that sounds like your relative, plus we already had the technology top make a video of your face saying things it has never said… ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 10:03am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/13 "2023-03-18T10:03:00Z")
[An email exchange on whether the machines will kill us](https://richardhanania.substack.com/p/pinker-on-alignment-and-intelligence) From [Marginal Revolution](https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2023/03/steven-pinker-on-existential-risk.html?utm_source=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=steven-pinker-on-existential-risk) ChatGPT was GPT-3.5 now GPT-4 ---
**Author:** ![Lee\_Shore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Lee\_Shore](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Lee_Shore)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 10:40am UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/14 "2023-03-18T10:40:10Z")
#dbeierl - Imagine the voice bot’s commercial potential. When the floating billboard boys connect the dots they’ll deliver their messages using your mom and dad’s voices over loudspeakers. In smarmy euphemistic prose, they’ll present it as “an opportunity for the beachgoer to enjoy the interactive canvas experience on a deeper level.” ---
**Author:** ![Kennebec\_Captain](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/kennebec_captain/32/13_2.png) [@Kennebec\_Captain](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Kennebec_Captain)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 12:12pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/15 "2023-03-18T12:12:56Z")
I see the term “digital watermark” mentioned in context of people using chatbots to create or assist in creating documents such as emails. If there was communication between parties maybe a checkbox system to show the degree of chatbot use would be useful for, example to show all, some or no assistance was used. Not foolproof of course. ---
**Author:** ![New3M](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/new3m/32/394_2.png) [@New3M](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/New3M)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 2:20pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/16 "2023-03-18T14:20:59Z")
Bing AI describing Silicon Valley Bank collapse in monkey terms ([Memes on Instagram: "Need this for all complex explanations (Via Titkok/build\_in\_public)"](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CptO-yLA64u/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=)) ---
**Author:** ![Sailor51](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sailor51](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/Sailor51)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/17 "2023-03-18T14:38:18Z")
Great now Captains are going to have to deal with AI emails on the weekend when every shore employee is out of the office. I guess the Monday mornings calls from the charterer after they realize where the vessel is, is now a thing of the past. I love it when you finish cargo and leave port early on a weekend then get calls Monday asking what’s your best speed to X port or can you make it to X port by this date? Etc etc etc. you go from trying to kill time all weekend to racing to the next port…… anyway I’m rambling ---
**Author:** ![OneEighteen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.gcaptain.com/oneeighteen/32/819_2.png) [@OneEighteen](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/OneEighteen)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 3:39pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/18 "2023-03-23T15:39:23Z")
I recognize that instructions generated by AI could contain errors. I would say that proper management should catch those errors. Consider these two scenarios: 1. Boss walks out of office headed for meeting and says over his shoulder “Gabby, prepare a note to Pat at Commerce Bank. Tell them to take our last deposit and put it in the escrow account. Put in the usual pleasantries.” 2. Boss, while walking to the meeting dictates the same message to his AI software. If that message gets out of the office without the boss looking at it then whose fault is it if their last deposit goes to S. Crowe’s account? AI is going to be a tool like writing itself, printing, calculators, spreadsheets, and yes, auto-pilot, electronic charts, and GPS. All those things malfunction at times. At one time in the US large numbers of people freaked out about building elevators without an operator to take them up and down. I’m not making this up. They would walk up the stairs rather than take a chance on an elevator that wasn’t supervised by a person. We’ve mostly gotten over those. Yuval Harari, in the book “Homo Deus” posits that, in the broad sweep of evolution, we are all just biological algorithms. We are trying to develop an auto that can be safely operated by computer AI. We already have cab drivers who are biological algorithms that do the same thing. You tell the driver you want to go to the Hilton Hotel and they choose a safe route and deliver you there. Of course, the driver might be a novelist working on the great American novel when he isn’t driving, but for you, the cab algorithm works fine. ---
**Author:** ![neutralobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c0e974/32.png) [@neutralobserver](https://forum.gcaptain.com/u/neutralobserver)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 6:35pm UTC](https://forum.gcaptain.com/t/ship-captain-believes-chatgpt-told-him-to-change-course/65646/19 "2023-03-23T18:35:24Z")
Do we know that this happened, or is this more Konrad Klickbait?