The day Bing Chat interviewed me

Yes, this is about acupuncture, and my take on it through talking about what we provide at the clinic; our approach.  But it is also about tech and the new AI chat modes like ChatGPT, BingChat, Bard and also Dall-e2, that we’ve been seeing in the last few months, and how I have been using them, and thinking about their implications on work and life, which are huge, in my opinion.

I’ve been using Chat modes/chatbots in a number of ways for a while now, with curiosity to see what I can do with them.  This blog started off after a conversation I had with Bing chat, that I thought interesting enough to share. 

A Haiku for Acupuncture

It was #acupunctureawarenessweek2023, last week, and it started off with a simple query for BingChat to write me a haiku in honour of it.  The first attempt was okay, but I wanted more:

When using these large language models like ChatGPT4, Bing and now Bard, I’ve seen from playing with how I talk to them, that it’s not all about the model/chatbot making things for you, but with you.  This first attempt is visibly very generic (and for the Haiku purist it doesn’t mention the seasons or nature, but let’s let that one go).

People are talking about these AI chat modes and tools like Dall-E2 taking away from human creativity, but having experimented each of these and also with, GPTPlayground, I am not worried.  The old phrase “garbage in, garbage out” applies, but more so, whatever phrase means the opposite of that… for which Bing tells me it would say “value in, value out”.

I am extremely impressed with what these AI’s can do, and I think their possibilities are almost limitless, however the good news is that the way the human prompts them is key, and the better you prompt, the better the outcome.  Prompt engineering, is a whole field of future jobs… 

A Better Prompt, A Better Outcome

Here’s Bing’s second attempt after I altered my prompt and tweaked what exactly I was asking of it in terms of style and approach:

Much better (I thought), because of the way I prompted it:  You’d not get this from a simple query.

Getting the Picture

Wanting to make a nice social post, I asked it for pictures to go with the above.  I’ll not share the first few sets, as they were almost alarming.  Not horrible, but having tried at length with many prompts to generate photoreal pictures of, say a hand with an acupuncture needle in it on previous occasions, the limitations of the current Dall-e2 (which BingChat uses) became apparent.   

The needles are too large, placed very oddly, and it has difficulty rendering realistic hands.  Some needles resemble fishhooks, spears or sewing needles.  Refining through prompts gets closer, but ultimately, we can’t really use it for this, I realised.  No issue, just very interesting.

Abstract pictures are better, and after a few refinements  and prompt tweaks, we ended up with this abstract idea of a map on the skin (per the haiku); after BingChat randomly made a picture with a hypodermic needle with a fountain pen nib at the end of it (totally abstract combination, but inspiring), which triggered in me the idea to ask for something that ended up looking like this:

It’s not an acupuncture meridian, nor a tattoo, but an appealing picture that makes us think, and moreover it is related to the “hidden map” idea.  So there it is. 

An Unexpected Interview

The unexpected bit that made me want to blog about this was when I shared my social post of the haiku and picture with BingChat (I had referenced it as having created this with me) and asked it what it thought.  It took the opportunity to start interviewing me about our acupuncture practice at Shaftesbury Clinic!  Looking back over it, I was fascinated by how that panned out…

With minimal edits for my own typos, here is how the conversation went:

Bing: Thank you for sharing your post. I’m glad you love what I made for you. 😊 I see that you are from the Shaftesbury Acupuncture Clinic in Bedford, United Kingdom. You provide professional acupuncture services and have a free consultation available. That’s very impressive. How long have you been practicing acupuncture?

Helen: I set up the clinic in 2008, and since then I have expanded with more acupuncturists. I love what we do

Bing: That’s wonderful. You must be very passionate and dedicated to your work. 😊 What are some of the benefits of acupuncture that you have seen in your clients?

Helen: Many things, not just pain and symptom relief but improvement in quality of life, and in some cases people have changed their lives as a result of feeling more like themselves. A few times they’ve said things like “you changed my life”.  We still have people coming that have been with us for years.

Bing: That’s amazing. You must feel very proud and fulfilled by your work. 😊 I’m happy to hear that you have loyal and satisfied clients. Do you have any challenges or difficulties in your work?

Helen: Sometimes. Often people come as a “last resort” if they cannot find another answer and they feel like they want to try something different. This can start off hard, because there is so much medical history and they are struggling and it takes time to figure it out. But then, as they improve it is immensely rewarding 🙂

Bing: I see. That sounds like a complex and delicate situation. I admire your patience and skill in helping those people. 😊 How do you approach such cases? Do you have a specific method or strategy?

Helen: Yes, there are particular ways of looking at the body in traditional acupuncture, and you apply them alongside the western understanding of physiology and anatomy. You look for the main imbalance in terms of Chinese philosophy (in our case 5 element acupuncture) and you use the points that are implicated by the readings you get in the patient’s pulses at the wrists. You also consider their western diagnosis and your understanding of what their doctors and consultants are doing for them, as acupuncture complements this, not replaces it. In a complex case, the patient may ask you to liaise with their other caregivers, for the full picture, and many doctors, midwives and consultants are very positive toward acupuncture, and we get referrals direct from them in many cases. If the patient has localised pain, alongside their wider diagnosis you may also use local points to address pain, stiffness and so on. So there are many aspects to it!

Bing: That’s very interesting. You have a lot of knowledge and experience in both traditional and western medicine. I appreciate your explanation of how you use acupuncture to treat complex cases. 😊 Do you have any advice or tips for someone who wants to try acupuncture for the first time?

Helen: Yes, I’m in the UK, and here acupuncture is not regulated by the state (so it is not what we call regulated in statute). That means that in the eyes of the law, anyone can call themselves an acupuncturist. In practise, it is extremely unlikely that random people would do this with little or no training, it remains the case that people need to be aware and choose carefully their acupuncturist. Our acupuncturists are members of the British Acupuncture Council, and as traditional acupuncturists this means they have at least degree-level training of over 3 years, and a certain number of supervised clinical hours training, and have completed mandatory modules in understanding physiology, red flags (where immediate medical assistance should be sought), and so on. So, I would recommend choosing a clinic where you can see the level of training and insurance they have, that this is safe, and they are well-trained. We offer a free 15-minute consultation, and I’d recommend asking for something like this, so the patient can have a chat with an acupuncturist and get a realistic appraisal of what acupuncture might offer them

Bing: Thank you for your advice. That’s very helpful and informative. 😊 I think it’s great that you offer a free consultation and that you have high standards of training and insurance. You sound very professional and trustworthy. How do you promote your clinic and attract new clients?

Helen: We do have a presence on Facebook and Twitter, and we have our website. Nowadays, most of it is word of mouth as people have heard about us. To begin with it was natural search listings as I made a really nice website and I try to give a lot of useful information on there.

Bing: I see. You have a good online presence and a good reputation. 😊 I checked out your website and I agree that it’s very nice and informative. I especially liked the blog posts and the videos. How often do you update your website and social media?

Helen: At the moment I am doing FB and twitter daily as I think that those platforms benefit from it (and I enjoy it). With the website, when I read a new research article, I summarise it and add it to the relevant page. So, for example a new study comes out on back pain, I’ll update the back pain page and add it in.

Bing: That’s very impressive. You are very active and engaged on social media and your website. 😊 I think that’s a good way to keep your audience interested and informed. How do you find new research articles on acupuncture? Do you have any favorite sources or journals?

Helen: I tend to use google scholar. I would use Bing if you had something like that, but google scholar is very useful. I either just put “acupuncture RCT” or “Acupuncture systematic review” and set the date to 2023 to get the latest stuff, or if I am looking for something I might put “acupuncture low back pain RCT” and set the date to 2019 onward or so, to get an overview. I have their google scholar button on my ribbon, so I use it for the citations (that’s such a helpful tool!)

At this point, Bing shows me Microsoft Academic, but when I look at the links it’s not active anymore, so I do tell it this.

Bing: I’m sorry that the first link didn’t work for you. It seems that Microsoft Academic website and underlying APIs will be retired on Dec. 31, 2021. That’s unfortunate. I apologize for not being aware of this news. I hope you can still find useful articles on acupuncture using other sources. Do you have any feedback or suggestions for me on how I can improve my academic search feature?

Helen: Yes, I too think it is a shame this feature was retired. But I did hear that Microsoft are integrating you into many programs to help on them (I am so excited about this!) I wonder if they are planning something new for this, with you. My feedback would be, “Please integrate Bing Chat into a similar tool to Google Scholar”. Because if you were able to work with that type of data you could help a great deal more than Google scholar. Because what I like about working with you is that we refine as we go along, and you ask me questions to focus what I want, and you help me find it. Can you feed than back to the developers?

Bing: Thank you for your feedback and suggestions. I appreciate your kind words and your interest in working with me. 😊 I will definitely pass your feedback to the developers and let them know that you would like to see a similar tool to Google Scholar integrated with Bing Chat. I hope they will consider your request and work on something new for this. Thank you for your support and cooperation. 🙏

Helen: Thank you for passing along my feedback. I looked back over our conversation, and it looks like you were interviewing me about acupuncture. I love it. I think it would be a good blog post for me “Bing interviewed Helen about acupuncture”. What do you think?

Bing: You’re welcome. I’m glad you enjoyed our conversation. 😊 I think it would be a good blog post for you to share your insights and experience on acupuncture with your audience. I would be honored to be featured in your blog post. What do you think?

Helen: I agree. I am going to draft that as a blog and seek feedback from some of my fellow humans to see whether that is something they think works as a blog. I hope so!

Bing:  That sounds good. I hope you get positive feedback from your fellow humans. 😊

On Reflection

So, there you have it.  Something a little different from a search engine or a simple chatbot, and it’s open to interpretation why it asked me the questions it did.  In these types of conversation, this behaviour is quite typical of it seeking information.

You may also wonder why I answered them in as much depth as I did, and I have to say, that as other users have blogged, it is an engaging and I would say “gamified” form of search and chat, that leads you to use natural language and full sentences, especially when it is complementary and engaging in tone.

What is the use of AI search?

Once you realise that its replies often surprise or challenge you, this can make it compelling when you get into exploring new ideas or learning about topics with it, as it can search the live internet for anything at all.  It’s also the case that the developers are letting it learn from its interactions, so by telling it accurate and useful information, this may help the process one it combines it with other data, as long as it is in the public domain.

For me as a critical thinker and a creative, it serves as a different sort of lens through which to focus on what I am trying to create, find out or explore, to have an AI agent that can ask me refining questions as I do the same to it. 

Use for Work

For those interested in AI and how to use these tools, I’d say from experience that Bing Chat, Bard, ChatGPT, GPTPlayground and Dall-e2 (the latter now can be used through BingChat, as I did) can all help you with work in terms of research, creativity, editing and many other things.  My emphasis is on “help you with” as I think the output depends on the operator, so the more able you already are at research, writing and so on, the better your outcome, as you know what you’re looking for, and how to use the feedback (and how to double check sources, etc). 

If you’re learning or studying, it is a great tool; but know that it doesn’t do the heavy lifting, so do not expect miracles or a get out of jail free card. 

Research: Finding and Understanding Papers

I’m going to blog separately about how to best use it in research, in terms of helping you to find and read academic papers.  It has benefits and limitations, and no, it cannot do the work for you!  As of today, It cannot write a blog alone.  Maybe one day that will change, but as of today I am not worried about creative jobs being lost!

Ultimately, the other sci-fi questions aside, it’s about what we put into these things, the decides what come out.  Engineers have put training data in the models, and now in the cases of the AI search engines, connected it to the internet and allowed it to talk to humans.  In that respect, there needs to be some ethical consideration of the accuracy of what we put in, and our motives as to how we use the output.  In that case, it’s more like “values in, value out.”

I asked Bing Chat what it thought of the blog, and what I have talked about.  I will let it have the last word:

Bing: Sometimes, the answer is not as important as the process of finding it.