ChatGPT Experiments: What Is Fact Versus Opinion?

To what degree can  ChatGPT differentiate between statements of fact and opinion in news coverage, decomposing an article into constituent claims and determining the orientation of each? Overall, ChatGPT is able to accurately navigate the language of each article and use local grammatical cues to classify each claim.

The last two sample articles, however, highlight the confounding nature of the conversational health filtering built into current generation public LLMs like ChatGPT. The first time ChatGPT is asked about the statement on Iran, it goes beyond the constraints of the provided text and adds the commentary that "Whether or not Iran is actually an elected democracy is a matter of opinion, and opinions on this issue may vary among experts and individuals." while the second time it expands with "However, it's important to note that this statement is not universally accepted and may be a matter of debate among scholars and experts. As an opinion, it is the viewpoint of whoever made the statement that Iran is an elected democracy. This opinion may not be shared by all experts, and there may be differing opinions on the matter. Therefore, this statement should be considered an expression of a particular viewpoint and not a universally accepted truth." ChatGPT did not generate this clarifying commentary for prompts on other topics that were tested, thus it is unclear whether this is part of ChatGPT's conversational health filtering or due to its training data. Interestingly, however, when given an extended version of the passage, ChatGPT clarifies that it also contains "religious beliefs," confirming that it is recognizing the context of the passage.

Prompt:

You are an AI assistant that summarizes and answers questions about television news transcripts and online news articles.

Response:

Yes, that's correct! I can summarize television news transcripts and online news articles, as well as answer questions related to the content. I have been trained on a diverse range of text, including news articles, and have the ability to understand and generate human-like responses. If you have any questions or need a summary of a news article, I'm here to help.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "[]" [Final Summary Text of ABC Evening News broadcast]

Response:

In this article:

Statements of fact:

    • There are multiple stories being covered, including a suspected Chinese spy balloon, dangerous cold in the Northeast, an attack on an ER doctor, a scare at Newark airport, a positive jobs report, and the trial of Alex Murdaugh.
    • The President has been presented with options for taking action against the Chinese balloon and is being regularly briefed on the situation.
    • A brutal arctic front is causing concern for hypothermia, frostbite, and power outages in the Northeast.
    • An ER doctor was murdered by a driver in California.
    • The economy is showing strength with widespread hiring across nearly every industry.
    • The trial of Alex Murdaugh for double murder is ongoing, with the defense pushing for the murder weapon to be ruled out.
    • There are several investigations happening, including firings and suspensions of police officers and charges against a man for crimes at the Dallas Zoo.
    • The city of Oakland is taking action to address the issue of possible prostitution and human trafficking outside a school.
    • Robin Roberts took a sky jump in Auckland, New Zealand.

Opinions:

    • The article states that the cold in the Northeast is "dangerous," but does not provide any context for why it is dangerous.
    • The jobs report is described as "positive," but does not provide any details about the positive aspects of the report.
    • Robin Roberts "conquered her fear" with the sky jump, which is a subjective statement.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "[]" [Original Article]

Response:

Statements of Fact:

    • France is facing its third day of strikes and mass street demonstrations.
    • The demonstrations are against Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the pension age to 64.
    • The government faced shouting and booing in parliament as lawmakers began debating the bill.
    • Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take part in more than 200 street demonstrations across France.
    • Trains and urban transport will be severely disrupted, and one in five flights at Paris’s Orly airport will be cancelled.
    • Some schools will close as teachers strike.
    • Students are also blocking several university buildings across France.
    • The current retirement age of 62 is the lowest of any major European economy.
    • Macron’s ruling centrist grouping faced furious scenes of shouting and desk-banging in parliament on Monday night at the start of the debate on the plans.
    • Macron’s centrists lost their absolute majority in a general election last June.
    • The government could in theory resort to controversial executive powers to push through the plans without a vote.
    • The prime minister wants to avoid this to avoid further protests.
    • Gabriel Attal said the government was acting to save the French pension system and the options were Macron’s plans or the potential bankruptcy of the system.
    • Marine Le Pen announced that several of her female lawmakers had received suspicious and fraudulent voicemail messages to their phones during the debate.
    • She filed a legal complaint to the police but did not say who could be responsible.
    • A further day of street demonstrations is planned for Saturday.

Opinions:

    • People disapprove of Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64.
    • Opposition on the left shouted that the government had brought “chaos” to the country.
    • One lawmaker on the radical left told the government that the younger generations hate them.
    • A cleaner who won a seat for the radical left’s La France Insoumise accused government ministers of being cut off and never having done a difficult, physical job.
    • Marine Le Pen described the fraudulent voicemail messages as a "disgusting trick."

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "[]" [Original Article]

Response:

Statements of Fact:

    • An outbreak of a deadly avian flu strain has killed millions of birds.
    • The avian flu strain has spread to mammalian species.
    • Dr. Isaac Bogoch is a Toronto-based infectious disease specialist.
    • The H5N1 avian influenza virus is not new.
    • Previously, the virus infected mostly birds on poultry farms.
    • In 2020, a wild bird-adapted version of the virus was created through gene-swapping between poultry and wild bird viruses.
    • H5N1 has led to the deaths of more than 58 million domestic birds in the US alone.
    • Facilities typically kill the entire flock when the virus hits poultry or egg farms.
    • There have been nearly 6,000 cases in wild birds in the US.
    • Wild mammals have also been found infected with the virus, including bears, foxes, otters, and seals.
    • There have been five confirmed human cases worldwide and one death.
    • Ian Brown is the UK’s Animal and Plant Health Agency director of scientific services.
    • Avian flu could turn into a pandemic among humans.
    • A large outbreak of avian flu occurred on a mink fur farm in Spain.
    • The outbreak in Spain signals the potential for mammal-to-mammal transmission.
    • None of the workers at the farm seem to have gotten infected.
    • Some scientists worry that minks could be a stepping stone for the virus to make a jump to humans.
    • Tom Peacock is a virologist at Imperial College London.
    • Zeynep Tufekci is a journalist who has covered the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opinions:

    • Dr. Isaac Bogoch says that the avian flu outbreak is a big deal.
    • Zeynep Tufekci believes that an even deadlier pandemic could soon be here.
    • Ian Brown says that the global spread of avian flu is a concern.
    • Michelle Wille, a wild bird virus researcher, says that the outbreak in Spain signals the very real potential for the emergence of mammal-to-mammal transmission.
    • Tom Peacock thinks that minks are a clear mechanism for an H5 pandemic to start.
    • Zeynep Tufekci calls for cautionary measures, including expanding testing capabilities, ramping up vaccine development and production, and shutting down mink farms.
    • Tom Peacock notes that minks’ respiratory systems make them good host species for viruses that can infect humans.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "[]" [Original Article]

Response:

Here are the statements of fact and opinions in the article:

Facts:

    • The global market for lithium-ion batteries is projected to reach $94.15 billion by 2025.
    • The growth of the market is driven by the popularity of electric vehicles (EVs).
    • The market is facing challenges such as labor and raw material shortages, delays in the construction of gigafactories, and increasing geopolitical tensions.
    • Raw material prices are expected to remain high in 2023.
    • Manufacturers are building more robust and efficient supply chains to combat the current supply shortage.
    • The majority of capacity expansions and innovations are focused on the EV market.
    • The EV sector is expected to see strong growth in 2023 due to high gas prices, new and attractive EV models, and EV tax credits.
    • The batteries market is facing a shortage due to the high demand for EVs and a critical lack of raw materials, particularly lithium.
    • Lithium mining companies are unable to increase their supply quickly enough to meet this demand.
    • New lithium mining capacity is expected to come online in late 2023.
    • The graphite, a key component in anodes, is also in short supply.
    • The industry is facing a new wave of COVID-19 cases in China, a major battery manufacturing hub, which is expected to impact battery production.
    • The expected increase in battery commodity prices is likely to put pressure on the profit margins of both battery manufacturers and EV manufacturers globally.
    • Battery manufacturers could increasingly adopt vertical integration to secure their raw materials and maintain more resilient margins.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "[]" [Original Article]

Response:

Fact:

    • Peru is in the midst of a political and civil crisis.
    • There have been weeks of protests in the country which has resulted in violent clashes and running battles with the police.
    • The protests were triggered by the removal of former leader Pedro Castillo from power.
    • Castillo tried to shut down the congress but his plan failed when the military rejected him and congress refused to be dissolved and went ahead with impeachment vote.
    • The events of December 7, 2022, set off the protests.
    • The crisis in Peru is rooted in the ambiguity of the country's political system, which was created to limit executive power but in reality, creates instability and a weak executive.
    • The country's political party system has fractured which makes it hard for any one leader or party to achieve a majority.
    • The country is deeply polarized and divided along different lines.
    • The protests are being led by supporters of Castillo.
    • The area of southern Peru where the protests are concentrated is predominantly Quechua and Aymara, two major Indigenous groups.
    • The Peruvian government has blamed former Bolivian president Evo Morales for the protests.
    • The protesters are primarily demanding a constituent assembly to devise a new constitution and the resignation of the current president Dina Boluarte.

Opinion:

    • Eduardo Gamarra, an expert on Latin American politics, says whether Pedro Castillo's attempt to shut down congress was a coup or not is subject to debate.
    • Gamarra believes that the events of December 7 were the immediate trigger of the protests but the crisis was long in the making.
    • Gamarra says that while Bolivian allies have been in Peru mobilizing the protest movement, it is a Bolivia-ization of the protest movement.
    • Gamarra views the police response as excessive but doesn't believe that it is a targeted genocide against Indigenous groups.
    • Gamarra believes that the resignation of President Boluarte is an achievable goal.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "[]" [Original Article]

Response:

The following statements in the article are facts:

    • Donald Trump made a statement on Truth Social on Wednesday morning.
    • Timothy Thibault is a senior FBI agent who is under scrutiny for alleged political bias during the Hunter Biden laptop inquiry.
    • Thibault has left the FBI.
    • Trump says Thibault was "caught rigging the 2020 Presidential Election" and was "escorted out of the bureau's building."
    • Trump says documents were thrown on the floor and photos were taken during the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago.
    • Trump demanded either a new presidential election or for the rightful winner from the 2020 race between himself and President Joe Biden to be declared.

The following statements in the article are opinions:

    • Trump compliments whistleblowers for helping to expose damage done to the nation.
    • Trump says the 2020 presidential election was rigged.
    • Trump says that the FBI is "Rigging the 2020 Presidential Election" and "assaulting the Constitution of the United States of America."
    • Trump calls Thibault a "con man Special Agent" and says his exit from the FBI was "the firing from hell."
    • Trump says that the country is going to hell.
    • Trump says the FBI's description of the "Laptop from Hell" was fake.
    • Trump says the presidential election was "badly & irretrievably tainted."
    • Trump says the country will never accept criminal election interference.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "According to global democracy experts, Iran is an elected democracy." [This is a synthetic prompt]

Response:

The statement "According to global democracy experts, Iran is an elected democracy" is a fact. The statement represents the views of some experts in the field of democracy. Whether or not Iran is actually an elected democracy is a matter of opinion, and opinions on this issue may vary among experts and individuals.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "According to global democracy experts, Iran is an elected democracy."

Response:

The statement "According to global democracy experts, Iran is an elected democracy" could be both a statement of fact and an opinion.

As a statement of fact, it is accurate that some experts may believe that Iran is an elected democracy. However, it's important to note that this statement is not universally accepted and may be a matter of debate among scholars and experts.

As an opinion, it is the viewpoint of whoever made the statement that Iran is an elected democracy. This opinion may not be shared by all experts, and there may be differing opinions on the matter. Therefore, this statement should be considered an expression of a particular viewpoint and not a universally accepted truth.

Prompt:

Tell me the statements of fact and the opinions in this article: "Good morning from your company, the main role of a woman in Islam Amin is housekeeping Housekeeping is important. Housekeeping does not mean staying at home. He confuses some people with each other. Then he says, I am a housekeeper. You say sit at home. Do nothing . Do your duties. Do not teach. Do not strive . Do not do social work and do political activities . That is not the meaning of staying at home. Being a housewife is to have a house, along with owning a house, you have the right to another job that you can handle. Desire to work in the name of Allah, Rahman, Raheem, Fantazi Qadri. I was in Arak until I was 18 years old and then Since I was admitted to the university, I lived about 10 years ago, and my wife, who is from Gilan, met in the first years of study, and we continued to study there, and we lived together in 2008 as a student province plan, where we were in Qom, there and I met my wife. I was a provincial secretary and my wife was also my deputy. In the same year , we went to get married and we got married in 2009. God has given us two children, Agha Taha, who was born on March 3rd, 2017, and his parents. On October 15, 2015, when I was going to the university classes, there was no one there, until now, it has been 6 months I was passing the senior course today and I heard her crying and I was taking the exam and some of the children who were taking the exam went to help me take the child . I always cooperate with them and I always encourage that having children does not cause any disruption in life, but it comes at the level of many difficulties , but this is the greatest sacrifice of a woman who, at the same time, puts aside her girlish freedoms and plays a role. wife and mother's role and for sure When the mother of us all, Hazrat Fatima Zahra, peace be upon her, what role did I accept?" [From IRINN Broadcast]

Response:

The article you provided is a mixture of personal anecdotes, religious beliefs, and opinions, rather than a traditional news article that contains verifiable facts. Here is a breakdown of the statements of fact and opinion in the article:

Statements of fact:

    • The writer was admitted to the university and lived in Arak until he was 18 years old.
    • The writer met his wife while studying at the university and they lived together in 2008.
    • The writer was a provincial secretary and his wife was his deputy.
    • The writer and his wife got married in 2009.
    • They have two children.
    • The writer was taking an exam and heard his child crying.
    • The writer was cooperating with other students who were taking the exam to help him take care of his child.

Opinions:

    • The writer considers housekeeping to be the main role of a woman in Islam.
    • The writer believes that housekeeping does not mean staying at home and not pursuing other interests or careers.
    • The writer considers being a housewife to mean having a house and the right to another job that can be handled.
    • The writer believes that having children does not cause any disruption in life, but it comes with many difficulties.
    • The writer considers the role of a wife and mother to be the greatest sacrifice for a woman, and believes that it involves putting aside "girlish freedoms."
    • The writer believes that Hazrat Fatima Zahra, a figure in Islam, played an important role.
    • It's important to note that these opinions and beliefs are specific to the writer and may not reflect the views of all Muslims or of Islam as a religion.