SCOTLAND’S answer to ChatGPT – GlasgowGPT – is a 28-year-old opinionated Glaswegian from Govanhill who is pro-independence and supports Celtic.
At least, that's how it responded when I peppered it with questions.
Launched last Saturday, the seemingly first-ever Scottish artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot fields questions with a twist – in "Glesga" slang, and with a brutally honest Scottish personality.
GlasgowGPT has already answered tens of thousands of questions – ranging from what it thinks about First Bus to the SNP finance probe – and is receiving interest from investors in Germany and South Korea.
“I kinda made it as a joke,” said 28-year-old founder and playwright David Hewitson.
He continued: “I was thinking why isn't there an AI that actually talks like a Scottish person that could wind up my pals?”
A self-taught coder, Hewitson created GlasgowGPT over the course of a weekend using the same language model as its more well-known and powerful cousin ChatGPT.
The significant difference between the two is that GlasgowGPT is more opinionated, chattier and offensive. Created by a playwright, after all, it’s basically a character with its own personality.
GlasgowGPT being so outspoken and malleable is by design. Hewitson said: “When you're talking to ChatGPT, you get this Silicon Valley, centrist, polite personality. AI is becoming more and more part of our life, and all of the personalities are basically coming from American culture.
“And I just thought it would be refreshing to have a character that was completely of its own, who was willing to be sarcastic, to joke and have controversial opinions.”
After asking GlasgowGPT a few questions myself, I can say that it is 28 years old and lives in Govanhill, supports Celtic, likes to jog (somehow) and go to the famous Admiral Bar in Glasgow for “a swally and some banter”.
To note, it has been known to make the odd Glasgow slang error or even throw in a bit of doric on occasion.
Politically, GlasgowGPT said it wouldn’t vote for any of the main political parties and would describe itself as “far left”.
The Tories are, according to GlasgowGPT, “a bunch of upper-class w**ks. Labour are a “bunch of spineless cowards who will say anything to get elected”, and it doesn’t even know what the LibDems stand for.
Does GlasgowGPT support independence? It responds: “Aye, you better believe it, pal! I'm 100% pro-independence for Scotland.”
The program does appear to change its mind sometimes. Once saying it was staunchly anti-SNP, on a second asking it says it is now a “supporter”.
Hewitson has been overwhelmed by the response since posting about it on Reddit, and is relying on donations to keep the skyrocketing server costs in check.
He said: “It’s been crazy. We've had 80,000 chats coming through in five days. It’s fun that so many people have connected to it already.
“When you're in a city like Glasgow, there's a certain way of speaking, certain references that you make.
“If you’re talking to a machine, I think it's much less alienating in a way to talk to if it’s a little bit more like you. I think there is probably a market for that.”
The playwright from South Ayrshire has already received interest from an investor in Germany. He has also already received offers to buy the data he has gathered from GlasgowGPT.
Hewitson said: “This data is immensely valuable. And I'm aware that there's a lot of responsibility around collecting that information and making sure that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
“Because at the moment, people are desperate to build systems like this. And I've had to turn down a few people just saying, you know, this is a community project. None of this is for sale.”
Hewitson is also concerned by the rise of AI. He said: I'm fascinated as much as I'm kind of terrified of it, to be honest.
“In the past year, we've had these AIs like ChatGPT that can potentially do your job. My concern is – what happens to all those people that are currently employed who are going to lose work.
“I would argue we should be getting a cut of the profits of AI. So, in a way, this is kind of a protest of these larger models [like ChatGPT] because there's so much economic potential.”
