The Genius Dog and the Conventional Dog

I kept trying to get ChatGPT to analyze some text and report on word frequency (a very bread-and-butter computer task). It was very reluctant to do this grunt work, suggesting I find and use a specialist program.

"I advise using text analysis tools or software for in-depth tasks like subset analysis, as they're designed for such operations." The conversation continued:

Eventually, I offered a surprising metaphor, and the AI began spinning its cursor, taking nearly a minute to construct its responses. I was afraid I'd broken it! But it performed well, I thought. As abstract as I was getting, I never lost it.

This is a good illustration of an AI being very different from a conventional computer program.