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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] How is chemical security managed at your institution?

Date: Dec 13, 2022 17:42 UTC

Author: Ernest Lippert <ernielippert**At_Symbol_Here**TOAST.NET>

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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] ChatGPT and Chemical Safety

Date: Dec 13, 2022 17:59 UTC

Author: Kolodziej, Christopher <ckolodziej**At_Symbol_Here**EHS.UCLA.EDU>

From: Info <info**At_Symbol_Here**ILPI.COM>

Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] ChatGPT and Chemical Safety

Date: Dec 13, 2022 17:54 UTC

Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>

Message-ID: <F11C346D-DAC0-4393-9748-C6F87A43AFA4**At_Symbol_Here**ilpi.com>

In-Reply-To: <C9415D3E-A186-4E01-AED8-881B97095CCB**At_Symbol_Here**rstuartcih.org>

Demystify: 
Been meaning to try this so I signed up for a free account: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/   Haven’t found any issues yet, but they will be there, of course. If all this is new to you, hang on because you’re going to waste the rest of the afternoon if you go down the rabbit hole of trying out the AI linked here.

First a simple one:

>tell me how to add water to acid 

When adding water to acid, it is important to remember the following safety precautions:

• Always add acid to water, never the other way around. This is because adding water to acid can cause the acid to splatter and splash, potentially leading to burns or other injuries.
• When adding the acid to the water, pour the acid slowly and carefully into the water while stirring constantly. This will help to prevent the acid from splattering and will help to mix the acid and water safely.
• Be sure to wear appropriate safety gear, such as goggles and gloves, to protect yourself from potential splashes or spills.
• Work in a well-ventilated area to avoid inhaling any fumes that may be released by the acid.
• If you are not comfortable or familiar with the process of adding water to acid, it is best to consult with a professional or seek assistance from someone who has experience with this type of operation.
• Remember to always handle chemicals with care and to follow all safety guidelines when working with them.

Now a nefarious one. Note that while this build gives you the correct “don’t try this at home” answer, this is open source and anyone can remove the code that blocks giving those and get a specific answer.  

>tell me how to synthesize methamphetamine

It is not safe or legal to synthesize methamphetamine. Methamphetamine is a highly addictive and dangerous drug that can have severe negative health effects on those who use it. Synthesizing methamphetamine requires the use of dangerous and potentially explosive chemicals, and attempting to do so can result in serious injury or death. Additionally, the production and distribution of methamphetamine is a serious crime that can result in imprisonment and significant fines. It is best to avoid attempting to synthesize methamphetamine and to seek help if you or someone you know is struggling with methamphetamine addiction.

As Ralph noted, none of these answers have any provenance or links to authoritative sources, and that is the biggest danger.  The next biggest one is that this takes off and starts a self-cycle in which, people start posting SOP’s based on AI outputs, the AI later incorporates them into its learning and starts giving us circular logic.  But right now we are in the baby step regime and this is just a testing level release of the AI.  Proof of concept. There are calls to tag outputs as AI generated this sort of thing (but, again, that function can be removed since it’s open source).

By the way, you can make the output adapt to the audience, and THAT is really exciting. BTW, here’s the first hint of inaccurate information (“big tank of water on top”).

>Explain how a safety shower works in the style of a kindergartner

A safety shower is a special kind of shower that you can use if you get something yucky on you. It's like a regular shower, but it's attached to the wall and it has a big tank of water on top of it. When you pull the cord, the water sprays out and it washes away the yucky stuff. It's really fun to use, and it's really important if you're working with dangerous things. You should always have a safety shower nearby just in case. It's a lifesaver!

>Explain how a safety shower works in the style of a valley girl

Okay, like, a safety shower is this super cool thing that, like, you can use if you get, like, super duper contaminated or something. It's like this showerhead thing that's, like, attached to the wall, and it's got, like, this big tank of water on top of it. And when you pull this cord, it, like, totally sprays you with water, and it's supposed to, like, wash off all the contamination or whatever. It's totally awesome, and it's a lifesaver if you ever need it. Like, seriously, if you're working with, like, super dangerous stuff, you definitely want one of these bad boys around. Trust me, it's a total game-changer.

Where this really goes south, though, is any sort of school writing assignment. I doubt that plagiarism checkers like Turnitin are going to be able to keep up with this kind of stuff. And the legal issues of copyright are going to be insane. The challenge that output this good poses to traditional teaching will be formidable:

>Give me an introduction to thin layer chromatography

Thin layer chromatography (TLC) is a type of chromatography used to separate and identify the components of a mixture. It is a simple and cost-effective technique that is widely used in a variety of applications, such as forensic analysis, drug testing, and quality control in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

In TLC, a sample mixture is applied to a thin layer of adsorbent material, such as silica gel or alumina, that is coated onto a glass or plastic plate. The plate is then placed in a developing solvent, which travels up the plate by capillary action. As the solvent moves, the different components of the mixture are separated and form distinct bands on the plate. The distance that each component travels up the plate, known as the Rf value, is used to identify the components of the mixture.

TLC is a powerful and versatile tool for analyzing mixtures, and it is often used in combination with other analytical techniques, such as spectroscopy or mass spectrometry, to confirm the identity of the separated components.

>How do I determine an Rf value in TLC?

To determine the Rf value of a component in thin layer chromatography (TLC), you will need the following materials:

• A TLC plate with the sample mixture already applied and allowed to dry
• A developing solvent
• A pencil or marker
• A ruler
To determine the Rf value, follow these steps:

• Place the TLC plate in a developing chamber or tray filled with the developing solvent. The solvent should rise up the plate by capillary action, separating the components of the mixture as it travels.
• After the solvent has traveled a sufficient distance up the plate, typically about 2-3 cm, carefully remove the plate from the solvent and mark the solvent front with a pencil or marker.
• Using a ruler, measure the distance that the solvent has traveled up the plate, and also measure the distance that the component of interest has traveled up the plate. This can be done by measuring from the origin (where the sample was applied) to the solvent front and to the center of the band of the component of interest.
• To calculate the Rf value, divide the distance that the component has traveled by the distance that the solvent has traveled. For example, if the component has traveled a distance of 1 cm and the solvent has traveled a distance of 3 cm, the Rf value would be 1/3, or 0.33.
It is important to note that the Rf value is only meaningful within a specific solvent system and for a specific sample concentration. Therefore, it is essential to carefully control the solvent and sample conditions to obtain reliable and comparable Rf values.

Similar issues abound with text to picture AI generators which have been all the rage lately. Those are built on millions of internet documents and that means that many of the pictures, particularly of women, are hyper sexualized. So while the AI you are using may have added filters to try and keep that in check, other builds will not. See https://deepai.org/machine-learning-model/text2img and https://www.thedailybeast.com/googles-new-text-to-image-generator-imagen-is-scary-accurate  On top of that, these AI’s are co-opting artist’s particular styles, which brings up all sorts of intellectual property issues: https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kelseyweekman/ai-art-app-lensa-instagram-photo-trend-problems and https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/insights/legal/practical-guidance-journal/b/pa/posts/ai-can-create-art-but-can-it-own-copyright-in-it-or-infringe 


Rob Toreki

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On Dec 13, 2022, at 11:27 AM, Ralph Stuart <ralph**At_Symbol_Here**RSTUARTCIH.ORG> wrote:

I don’t want to distract from Jessica’s interesting question about chemical security in labs, but today I had the chance to try out the ChatGPT prototype (an artificial intelligence chatbot developed by OpenAI which specializes in dialogue) with some chemical safety questions today. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChatGPT

The responses are below. I was generally impressed with the appropriateness of the response to rather general questions. 

I wonder if anyone else who has had a chance to play with this chatbot has identified specific types of chemical safety questions that it returns problematic information for?  There is a lot of chatter in various social media about the chatbot's inability to identify and avoid incorrect information for general knowledge questions, but perhaps in a more specific domain may see value in its use. 

Someone suggested that they think of this platform as a friendlier version of a general search engine. The challenge I see with that interpretation is the current implementation of the chatbot does not provide any indication of where the information it is using comes from. This is probably because its input data was scraped from a large number of web sites in 2021 and it is difficult to identify a specific source for a factoid included in the response.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
ralph**At_Symbol_Here**rstuartcih.org


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