Every second YouTube suggestion is of a famous YouTuber testing out whether ChatGPT can replace their job and most ads on social media are of some new AI-based app. So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and see if AI could write reviews for me. I thought I'd get the new technology to write me a review of a movie I am very familiar with. That movie is Return of the Jedi, my all-time favourite movie from my all-time favourite movie franchise. And in today's article, I will analyse whether ChatGPT could take this website away from me. But before you read this article, make sure you read ChatGPT's review here!

I treated ChatGPT the same as any of my other Guest Reviewers. I sent the program a list of criteria that it needed to follow in writing the review. These criteria just include things like saying what the movie did well, and what it didn't do well, include a rating out of ten, no spoilers; just the kind of stuff you see in my reviews. ChatGPT returned a review that at first glance was pretty good. But I wanted it longer. So I asked the program to expand upon its ideas a bit. Instead of rewriting the review, however, the program just wrote a few more paragraphs that could have been included in addition to the review. So I then asked it to combine its two previous responses into one review. It did not complete my instruction correctly (which honestly annoyed me more than it should) so I manually combined its two responses into the review that you can read in the Guest Reviews section of my website. I also asked it to find images off the web to include in the review; it couldn't do that!

I'm going to start with the following point because it is the most known fact about computers and AI: they can't be original. ChatGPT for the most part is recreating what it can find on the internet. It is obviously very good at this and has produced a fairly high-quality review. But this also means that ChatGPT can't give its opinion which is vital to any good movie review. Its review is very impartial and ensures that it is saying everything in a way as not to be too controversial. It says things like 'some viewers may find' and 'the movie can feel' to not make any clear statement. Of course, ChatGPT wasn't going to be able to provide its own opinion which means that the program was doomed to fail as a movie reviewer. You can't just state the facts; you have to provide your own thoughts on these facts when writing reviews.

I expected ChatGPT's review to be very formulaic. I was somewhat surprised at how different its paragraphs were and that it didn't seem to be following any kind of pattern. However, its overall review wasn't very cohesive. Each paragraph felt like a different idea that didn't link well to the surrounding paragraphs. It also decided to change its mind throughout the review. It originally spat out a rating of 8/10 but then when I told it to rewrite the review it changed its rating to 8.5/10. Not sure what made it change its mind. Similarly, in earlier paragraphs, it talked about the loveable Ewoks but later on stated how the Ewoks' inclusion was too 'jarring'.

Some of the things ChatGPT talked about weren't necessarily specific to Return of the Jedi and this review could work for any Star Wars movie and even any movie in general if you just change some of the names. And then there were other things that ChatGPT said that weren't quite right. Firstly, its description was a little off. But then it went on to say how the cute Ewoks take away from the dark themes of Star Wars. I have firstly never heard anyone describe Star Wars as dark, particularly the original three. And who could ever criticise the Ewoks? It also described the pacing as 'uneven' and called the (perfect) ending 'too neat and tidy'. I could be a little biased, but those criticisms are just wrong!

I'll let you be the judge of whether this new technology is going to take over my website. I personally didn't like ChatGPT's review. I think it has some room for improvement: it certainly needs to get its facts right, needs to obey my instructions better and choose a side of the fence!

Sorry ChatGPT, I don't think I'll be getting you back for a review anytime soon.

Article by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 24/03/2023