A Thai man won nearly $60 in a lottery, based on a two-digit number generated by an AI chatbot. THE historypredictably, went viral.
Patthawikorn Boonin used ChatGPT, a sophisticated AI language model that is trained to discuss various topics, from creating shopping lists to planning trips. However, predicting the future is explicitly not part of his training.
Indeed, when you ask the chatbot to make predictions, it responds:
So how did Boonin do it?
According to local media The TigerBoonin won a total of 2,000 baht (about $59) after finding a way around the chatbot’s reluctance to play the lottery.
The details are actually less exciting than it looks: He got the AI to generate four double-digit pairs – 57, 27, 29 and 99 – which Boonin played in the Thai government lottery . To his surprise, number 99 was drawn, earning him his prize money.
Nostradamus-GPT?
The tl;dr: The chatbot made a good guess.
The heart of any (non-rigged) game of chance depends primarily on randomness. After all, if the results were predictable, no one would bet on losing options. However, there are nuances regarding the concept of “chance”.
real chance involves unpredictable events that occur naturally in our universe, such as radioactive decay or the day we die. Algorithmic randomnesson the other hand, simulates random events using mathematical algorithms called pseudo-random number generators (PRNG).
Although PRNGs create sequences of numbers that appear random, they are based on deterministic formulas and are therefore somewhat predictable. As PRNGs are based on initial values or seeds, artificial intelligence could, in theory, predict the results of these algorithms by analyzing large amounts of generated data. By detecting hidden patterns and potential correlations in number sequences, the AI could refine its model to better predict the next number generated by a pseudo-random algorithm.
Of course, that hasn’t happened yet – and it certainly hasn’t happened in Thailand since Boonin didn’t have the historical data to enter. Even if it had, ChatGPT still isn’t sophisticated enough to do the math.
We asked GPT4 if it would ever be able to predict lottery winners. He said the exploit was “highly unlikely”.
“The lottery numbers are drawn at random and the systems are designed to ensure the process is as unpredictable as possible,” he said. “To predict lottery winners, an AI would have to be able to predict true chance, which is basically impossible.” Killjoy.