What We Still Don't Know About How A.I. Is Trained

There is no doubt that GPT-4, the latest iteration of the artificial-intelligence engine created by the company OpenAI, is innovative and cool. It can create a poem in the style of Basho, spell out the chord progression and time signature for a simple tune, and provide a seven-step recipe for a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich. When I asked it to write a musical about a narcissistic politician who holds the fate of the world in his hands, it delivered a story in two acts, with a protagonist named Alex Sterling who "navigates a maze of power, manipulation, and the consequences of his decisions," as he sings "Narcissus in the Mirror," "The Price of Power," and about a dozen other invented songs. Those songs appear to have been created out of thin air; certainly, no human conceived them. Still, Alex's story, which "explores themes of self-discovery, redemption, and the responsibility of leadership," is quite familiar.