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We know George Frederic Watts as one of the finest artists of his generation. What is less well known is that he was a superb conversationalist. William Ewart Gladstone’s sentiment was typical: “Watts is one of the most captivating conversationalists as well as one of the most charming characters I know.”
What made him so popular was the clarity of his thinking, the breadth of his knowledge and his ability to make everyone he met feel more energised, more wise and more joyful. He achieved this by being able to combine the poetry and passion of his artistic temperament with a strong, enquiring and analytical mind. He was fascinated by the world’s cultures, religions and philosophies, and by the new revelations in science, from archaeology and geology to astronomy. Darwin and evolution were another fascination for him, and he was even knowledgeable on the current scientific methods in agriculture. To acquire this knowledge, he and Mary read profusely and had enquiring discussions with the great thinkers of the day.
For us, the world changed in 2023. For the first time, everyone has free access to a knowledgeable conversationalist. I refer to AI - ChatGPT and its peers.
ChatGPT demonstrates levels of intelligence that in some domains can perform cognitive tasks at least as well as humans. It probably won’t leave you more joyous and energised but it could certainly leave you wiser.
ChatGPT can be your expert personal assistant. Today over 100 million people use ChatGPT every week – either for fun or work. For example, interpreting images or creating new images, summarising articles, writing programmes, analysing data, or for doing homework. In many A Level standard exams ChatGPT can achieve scores better than 80% of the human students.
At the heart of these systems is software trained on all the knowledge available on the internet - Wikipedia, books, websites – everything, and it behaves as if it understands the English language. It doesn’t, but it behaves as if it does. The scientists who created ChatGPT do not fully understand how it does this. It is a mystery.
Philosophers have long debated concepts such as knowledge, intelligence and consciousness. For the first time we now have a system that allows us to test what we mean by these concepts.
G F Watts would have loved the philosophic implications and mystery of these systems, and like us, he would have been concerned about the impact on jobs and the nature of work.
When ChatGPT was trained it had access to a lot of bad content on the internet, such as: ‘How to kill my partner without being caught.’ To prevent their tools being used for harm, developers provide filters on the information going into and out of these systems and these filters implement the ‘HHH framework’ of being Helpful, Honest and Harmless. Add in love, and you have George’s philosophy of life.
G F Watts sitting at a laptop, image generated by AI software Midjourney.
I asked ChatGPT if G F Watts was well liked during his life.
ChatGPT replied:
“George Frederic (sic) Watts, often called "England's Michelangelo," was highly respected during his lifetime. A celebrated artist known for allegorical works and portraits, he was part of elite social circles, counting artists, poets, and politicians as friends. Watts received numerous honours, including the prestigious Order of Merit. He was also a philanthropist, using his art to address social issues, further enhancing his popularity. His enduring legacy, evidenced by institutions like the Watts Gallery, attests to his significant impact and admiration in the art world.”
On this one topic, and this one topic alone, I think ChatGPT has given a more honest answer than George would have given!