ChatGPT is all the shiz these days. The artificial intelligence-powered blockbuster chatbot can answer question, seduce lonely humans and even write complex computer codes. ChatGPT single-handedly ushered in new appreciation (and fear!) of artificial intelligence in popular imagination. It appeared that human intelligence was soon to be obsolete. Jobs would be lost and machines would take over. But now a dog has defeated ChatGPT when both were asked to select shares that would be profitable. The shares selected by ChatGPT yielded 3.5 per cent profit while those selected by the dog registered a profit of a whopping 13.5 per cent. The Times reported about this experiment.
Both, Freddy and ChatGPT, were given a notional amount of 19000 euros and were asked to pick shares.
ChatGPT does not give specific suggestions for investment, but it reportedly volunteered to assemble “diversified portfolio of stocks [in firms] that demonstrate solid accounts, have growing sales, remain profitable and have a high market capitalisation”.
The ‘Warren Wooffett’ selected shares from energy, AI and tech hardware companies. The dog also chose Nvidia, a high-end chipmaker.
The portfolio reportedly earned profit of 13.5 per cent.
So what does this mean?
Financial theorists have wondered since the 19th century whether trading in shares needs a specific expertise or it is just a matter of chance.
The Times reported that in tests in which schoolchildren and animals were asked to select shares by throwing darts at a wall, it was found that the shares that were ‘selected’ outperformed those chosen by financial analysts.
The Chicago Sun-Times reportedly hired a monkey as its star investment columnist in the 2000s. The monkey chose stocks by circling items with a red felt-tip pen. This, says The Times, beat financial analysts more often than not.
