[vcf-midatlantic] chat GPT admits error - NRI 832 Predated and outsold the Kenbak 1

[Bill Degnan]

David,
I was playing with ChatGPT and I found that if you contest an answer with
more info, such as a source known to be online that the AI can reference,
the ChatGPT program will correct itself and ammed it's answer.  Pretty
cool.  The common belief is that the Kenbak 1 came before the NRI 832,
making the Kenbak the first modern personal computer.  Once presented with
more facts the ChatGPT acknowledged the error in "common knowledge".  I was
just curious to see what might happen.  Mostly I use ChatGPT to generate
bash scripts, I don't need it to look things up for me on Bing.
Bill

On Wed, Mar 22, 2023 at 8:38 AM David Gesswein via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

> Couldn't find previous in this thread. List search for 832 didn't even find
> message replying to.
>
> I googled NRI 832 to see what was being discussed and found your page.
> https://www.vintagecomputer.net/browse_thread.cfm?id=743
>
> One caption says
> Radio Electronics December 1970 National Radio Institute's ( NRI )
> full-page advertisement for their Model 832 digital computer trainer.
> Picture above is dated 1971.
>
> Another
> The 1970 NRI Digital Computer Model 832 was a trainer kit that was
> developed in 1970 and sold for $504 US when first introduced. It pre-dates
> the similar Kenbak computer by many months.
>
> Which not sure if that matches below.
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 08:59:48PM -0400, Bill Degnan via vcf-midatlantic
> wrote:
> > Yes, that is correct. The NRI 832 computer was introduced in 1972, which
> > was after the Kenbak-1 was introduced in 1971. However, the NRI 832 may
> > have sold more units than the Kenbak-1, even though both computers had
> > limited commercial success. The NRI 832 was marketed to hobbyists and
> > electronics enthusiasts, while the Kenbak-1 was marketed more towards
> > businesses and scientific institutions.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > social at kennettclassic.com
> > But you just said that the first NRI 832 was advertised before the
> Kenbak 1
> > Yes, that is correct. I apologize for any confusion my previous responses
> > may have caused. According to some sources, the NRI 832 computer was
> > advertised in the September 1971 issue of Scientific American, which
> > predates the introduction of the Kenbak-1 in 1971. Therefore, the NRI 832
> > computer was introduced and advertised before the Kenbak-1.
> >
> > Furthermore, some sources suggest that the NRI 832 computer may have sold
> > more units than the Kenbak-1, even though both computers had limited
> > commercial success. The NRI 832 was marketed to hobbyists and electronics
> > enthusiasts, while the Kenbak-1 was marketed more towards businesses and
> > scientific institutions. I apologize for any confusion my previous
> > responses may have caused, and I hope this clears up any confusion.
>