# Beat AI at finding a quote for me **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** ai\ **Created:** [March 28, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255 "2025-03-28T13:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/1 "2025-03-28T13:42:39Z")
I prompted Chat GPT-4o mini to find me a particular quote. My initial prompt was “find me a published quote that means people often fight the hardest about things that matter the least.” Chat GPT’s responses completely missed the theme. I believe the straightdope hivemind will do much better in less time. Please have at it! The initial response to the prompt from Chat GPT-4.0 mini contained two quotes: Mark Twain: “It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” and Friedrich Nietsche: “He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster.” The suggested quotes didn’t get better from there until I gave up. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/2 "2025-03-28T13:46:09Z")
Is this basically what you’re pointing to? > **[Benford's Law of Controversy](https://brainlenses.substack.com/p/benfords-law-of-controversy)** > > Free essays and podcast episodes are published every Tuesday, and paid subscribers receive an additional essay and episode on Thursdays. > Passion is inversely proportional to the amount of real information available. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/3 "2025-03-28T13:48:08Z")
No, but it’s way closer than Chat GPT. Your statement is more about fighting harder when we have less foundation on which to even base our disagreement. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/4 "2025-03-28T13:48:35Z")
> The sentiment you’re referring to is encapsulated in Sayre’s law, which states: “In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake.” This observation is attributed to Wallace Stanley Sayre, a U.S. political scientist and professor at Columbia University. A corollary to this law explains, “That is why academic politics are so bitter.” ​[Quote Investigator+2Wikipedia+2Ask MetaFilter+2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre%27s_law?utm_source=chatgpt.com) > > This concept has been echoed by various figures. For instance, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is often quoted as saying, “University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small.” ​[Goodreads+3BrainyQuote+3Ask MetaFilter+3](https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/henry_kissinger_103671?utm_source=chatgpt.com) > > These observations highlight the paradox that disputes in environments like academia can become particularly intense, despite involving issues of relatively minor importance. Chat GPT 4.5 with web search seems to get the right answer. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/5 "2025-03-28T13:50:26Z")
Indeed. But the game was to see if Straightdope could beat a lighter weight model. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/6 "2025-03-28T14:00:48Z")
> **[Sayre's law](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayre%27s_law)** > > Sayre's law states, in a formulation quoted by Charles Philip Issawi: "In any dispute the intensity of feeling is inversely proportional to the value of the issues at stake." By way of corollary, it adds: "That is why academic politics are so bitter." Sayre's law is named after Wallace Stanley Sayre (1905–1972), U.S. political scientist and professor at Columbia University. > On 20 December 1973, the Wall Street Journal quoted Sayre as: "Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of pol... ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/7 "2025-03-28T14:02:53Z")
Yes, and I’ll assume you didn’t peek. Still a pretty fast result in my opinion. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/8 "2025-03-28T14:14:55Z")
I’m not sure what constitutes peeking, but I just googled the phrasing I was familiar with, “because the stakes are so low”. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/9 "2025-03-28T14:17:16Z")
I meant peeking at the answer above yours. Or using AI. I think what you did counts. I found the quote the same way when I needed it but then I tested the AI model and was kind of shocked at how far off it was. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2025, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beat-ai-at-finding-a-quote-for-me/1016255/10 "2025-03-28T14:23:58Z")
I’m starting to think that “A.I.” means “Artificial Idiot”