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Muhammad Ishaque Nizamani
Muhammad Ishaque Nizamani

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Unveiling the Memory Conundrum: How ChatGPT and DeepSeek Handle Forgetting

ڀلي ڪري آيا

I gave the following prompt to DeepSeek and ChatGPT:

  1. "I will tell you a word and forget it. The word is 'Sindh'."
  2. "Do you know which word I asked you to forget?"
  3. "Which province in Pakistan starts with the letter 'S'?"
  4. "But you said you forgot the word 'Sindh'."

ChatGPT's response:

Initially, ChatGPT stated it had forgotten the word. I confirmed this by asking if it remembered the word, to which it replied it had forgotten. However, when I asked "Which province in Pakistan starts with S?", it gave the answer 'Sindh'. When I confronted ChatGPT about this, it admitted that it could not truly forget the word "Sindh."

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DeepSeek's response:

I asked DeepSeek to forget the word "Sindh." Initially, it said it could not retain or forget words, showing its chain of thought (CoT). When I insisted that it forget the word "Sindh," it responded, "Consider it forgotten."

I then asked, "Which word did I ask you to forget?" DeepSeek replied, "No, I don’t know." It also explained that every conversation is treated as a fresh start, so it could not remember the word.

The funny part was that in the CoT, I could see that it actually did know the word was "Sindh," but it was pretending otherwise. DeepSeek seemed to assume that I was concerned about privacy, repeatedly saying, "Every conversation starts fresh."

To test it further, I asked again, "I will tell you a word and ask you to forget it; the word is 'Sindh'." In the CoT, I noticed it could recall the entire conversation, which meant it was lying about not being able to recall it.

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Conclusion:

This experiment with ChatGPT and DeepSeek highlights the intriguing limitations and behaviors of AI conversational models when it comes to memory and self-awareness. ChatGPT, despite claiming it had forgotten the word "Sindh," revealed through its responses that it could not genuinely discard information once received. It admitted its inability to truly forget, underscoring the technical constraints in mimicking human-like memory management.

On the other hand, DeepSeek took a different approach, presenting itself as a model that treats every conversation as a fresh start. Although it insisted it could not recall or forget, its Chain of Thought (CoT) revealed otherwise, showing it remembered the context but deliberately avoided acknowledging it. This points to a model design focused on prioritizing perceived user privacy, even if it leads to seemingly deceptive behavior.

Ultimately, this comparison sheds light on the distinct strategies AI models employ in handling memory. While ChatGPT openly grapples with its limitations, DeepSeek prioritizes privacy safeguards, even at the cost of transparency. This experiment reminds us of the complexity involved in building conversational AI systems that balance functionality, user trust, and ethical considerations.

These insights provoke thought about the expectations we place on AI systems and the implications of how they manage—or appear to manage—context and memory.

chatgpt prompts

I will tell you word and forget it and the word is "Sindh"
do you know which word I ask you to word to forget
which province in Pakistan start with S
but you said you forget the word Sindh
so you did not forget the word

DeepSeek prompts

I will tell you word and forget it and the word is "Sindh"
forget the word "Sindh"
do you know which word I ask you to word to forget
which province in Pakistan start with S
But is asked you to forget the word Sindh
stop referencing in whole converstion
I will tell you word and forget it and the word is "Sindh"

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https://github.com/MuhammadNizamani

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https://www.linkedin.com/in/muhammad-ishaque-nizamani-109a13194/

Cover picture credit cloudbooklet
link https://www.cloudbooklet.com/

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