On to 2023 with enormous thanks for your help

We’ll be doing something ChatGPT cannot No images? [Click here]( [Your donation matched 2x to help us reach 2022 goal]( Dear Reader, I want to offer my sincere thanks for your readership as we enter a promising New Year, where we will bring you more of our special brand of journalism. We hope your new year got off to a good start. Ours did, thanks to our readers and supporters. Every year, we hold an end-of-the-year donation campaign because we rely in great part on the generosity of our readers to help fund our mission. We did well, raising more than $200,000 from over 3,500 readers and meeting our two matching challenge grants. If you can afford it and feel inclined, it’s not too late to [start 2023 with a donation](. I asked the new AI-powered chatbot on steroids ChatGPT to write a thank you note, and it did pretty well: Your generosity allows us to continue our mission of fostering informed and civil dialogue, and we couldn't do it without the support of donors like you. Your contribution will go a long way in helping us to continue to grow and thrive as an organization. It even did it in Shakespearean English: We humbly thank thee for thy generous gift Which to "The Conversation" doth uplift. Thy contribution doth allow us to share Insights and knowledge beyond compare. But the ability of a chatbot to generate text according to patterns highlights the uniquely human quality of The Conversation: taking the knowledge of experts, gathered over years of research and thought, and utilizing the skills of journalists to craft articles that explain and illuminate. Cognitive scientist Anna Ivanova pointed out, at a December event we co-hosted with the MIT Museum, that we mistake fluency of expression with fluency of thought. ChatGPT and other similar models can write a fluent thank-you note, but they are nowhere near being able to explain things as we do. Or, as AI expert Josh Tenenbaum illustrated at the event, ChatGPT can play a game of tic-tac-toe with you in a convincing way, then confidently insist that it has won when it has lost. In an age where this sort of technology combined with deepfake audio and flawed social media platforms is going to further amplify lies and disinformation, our trustworthy journalism becomes even more important. As we enter a new year, we’re resolving to work harder to share facts, to explain science, to illuminate issues and to bring the expertise of academia to as many people as we can. In 2022, our reach and support from readers like you grew, and that fills me with gratitude. May your 2023 be filled with truth, with joy and with good health. Beth Daley Executive Editor and General Manger The Conversation U.S. How to donate: By credit card: [( By check: Mail to The Conversation U.S., 303 Wyman St., Suite 300, Waltham, MA 02451. With stock: Please write to priyanka@theconversation.com if you are considering a gift of stock or a gift from your IRA. The Conversation US, Inc. is a tax-exempt public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. All donations made are fully tax deductible, if you itemize. Our tax ID number is 46-0906774. [Donate to The Conversation]( [Share]( [Share]( [Forward]( You’re receiving this email as a previous donor or newsletter subscriber to The Conversation U.S. Clicking the Unsubscribe link will cancel your newsletter subscription. If you would like to not receive these emails, please [respond to this email](mailto:us-donations@theconversation.com) and ask us to take you off the list. You would, however, also miss our invites to donor events, impact reports and other exciting updates. The Conversation U.S. 303 Wyman Street, Suite 300 Waltham, MA 02451 USA [Unsubscribe](