Cool Worlds

How Does ChatGPT Do on a College Level Astrophysics Exam?

Cool Worlds

Show Notes

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) systems have been rapidly improving in recent years and Chat-GPT3 took the world by storm in Nov 2022. As smart at it may be, how does it compare to a typical undergraduate student sitting an introductory astronomy exam? Let's find out! Sponsored by Ground News, head to https://ground.news/coolworldsWritten and presented by Prof David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas.→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-storeTHANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman & A. Phan Le.::Music::Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist.::Chapters::00:00 What is ChatGPT?02:53 Rise of the Machines05:07 Sponsorship06:27 Challenging ChatGPT07:58 Question 110:00 Question 511:15 Question 813:14 Question 1214:16 Question 1315:29 Question 1517:48 Question 2219:25 Question 2320:57 Question 2624:31 Final Score28:10 Outro & Credits#ChatGPT #ArtificialIntelligence #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More from Cool Worlds

Oct 24, 2026

We're looking forward to the new sci-fi film "Arrival", which explores the barriers to communicating with aliens even face to face. Astronomers really are trying to listen for alien communications, mostly using radio receivers but increasingly by looking for optical laser transmissions too. One of our wild ideas here at the Cool Worlds Lab is that optical SETI could try focussing these efforts to physically-motivated special moments in time to dramatically increase the survey efficiency. Prof Kipping pitches this new concept to all you Cool Worlders!::More about this Video::► Kipping & Teachey (2016), "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 24, 2026

Off the cuff (again) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 24, 2026

Now and again we make a video that's a bit different from our usual stuff and here's one of them. A fictional narrative that weaves in scientific ideas of deep time and how intelligence might persist, challenging us to imagine what infinite life might truly be like. Thanks for watching.Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcastTHANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay & X. Yao.REFERENCES► Dyson, F., 1979, "Time without end: Physics and biology in an open universe", Rev. Modern Phys, 51, 447: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979RvMP...51..447DMUSICLicensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.0:00 Sid Acharya - Journey2:49 Sid Acharya - Stories from the Sky6:11 Falls - Ripley7:45: Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four9:55 Hill - Echoes of Yesterday (https://open.spotify.com/track/4AfA4TrR2WPUJ6N6Th5j8B?si=eed02e1a8f124345)13:18 Hill - The Now Is Only a Thin Slice of Who I Am (https://open.spotify.com/track/396DSpd9UzSEVNxJORJU1n?si=35659345189a4680)19:25: Y - Joachim Heinrich#EternalIntelligence #LivingForever #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 24, 2026

The Wow! Signal was a radio signal detected in 1977 that remains the most compelling candidate for an alien radio transmission ever received. 45 years later, and after dozens of failed hours spent trying to catch it again, can we conclude the Wow signal was bogus? Join us today as we discuss a new research paper from the Cool Worlds Lab that explores this question and everything Wow.Written & presented by Prof David Kipping→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-storeTHANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., I. Attard, M. Donovan, N. Corwin & M. Mangione.::References::► Kipping, D. & Gray, R. (2022), "Could the “Wow” signal have originated from a stochastic repeating beacon?", MNRAS, accepted for publication: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.08374► "The Elusive Wow" book by Robert Gray: https://www.amazon.com/Elusive-Wow-Searching-Extraterrestrial-Intelligence/dp/0983958440/ref=sr_1_1?crid=N9C88NODCZ6G&keywords=the+elusive+wow&qid=1655582974&sprefix=the+elusive+wow%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1► Gray R. H., 1994, Icar, 112, 485. doi:10.1006/icar.1994.1199► Gray R. H., Marvel K. B., 2001, ApJ, 546, 1171 doi:10.1086/318272► Gray R. H., Ellingsen S., 2002, ApJ, 578, 967. doi:10.1086/342646► Harp G. R., Gray R. H., Richards J., Shostak G. S., Tarter J. C.,2020, AJ, 160, 162. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aba58f::Music::Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog (0:00) [https://open.spotify.com/album/0i7df7bwsTHcJ7zRCHqq1G]► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four (2:38)► Falls - Ripley (4:41)► Falls - Life in Binary (8:34)► Brad Hill - There Is but One Good (13:04) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx0]► Chris Zabriskie - Stories About the World That Once Was (19:31)► Joachim Heinrich - Y (23:51)► Brad Hill - Downcast Spirit (26:12) [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]::Film/TV clips used::► Wow Documentary (2017) Peacock► Agora (2009) Focus Features International► Contact (1997) Warner Bros.► Independence Day (1996) 20th Century Fox::Chapters::00:00 Introduction02:51 Four Facts07:15 False Positives?08:15 Four Unknowns12:06 Black Swans13:54 Observatory Emulation16:01 Hypothetical Signals18:51 Big Ear Results19:52 Multi-Observatory Results22:43 Wow's Properties24:49 Robert Gray26:12 Outro and credits#WowSignal #AreWeAlone #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 23, 2026

Does life's early emergence mean life starts easily? Growing evidence shows that life got started very quickly (within ~100 million years) after conditions became suitable for life on Earth (~3.7 billion years ago). This is often taken as evidence that life starts easily, but is this really true? Prof Kipping explains why things aren't as simple as they seem.::More about this Video::► Nutman et al. 2016, "Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7621/full/nature19355.html► Allwood 2016, "Geology: Evidence of Life in Earth's Oldest Rocks": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7621/full/nature19429.html► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk::Playlists For Channel::Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

See all episodes →