AI-Powered News: The Future is Already Here

Today, I asked Bing to generate dialog for a "Mad Money" episode where Karl Marx and Star Trek DS9's Quark join as guests and discuss "today's slide in the stock market." The results were hilarious (imo) and have some lessons for prompt engineering and the capabilities of language models when fed with text from the internet.

The model hallucinated about the extent the market fell, but my prompt was largely to blame. The wording I used caused Bing to search for "stock market slide today" instead of a more neutral, precise search including the actual date.

Bing's Mad Money Parody

(Author's disclaimer: The text below is an AI-generated parody. All references to people below are fictional. Nothing in this article is financial advice. At the time of writing, the author has a long equity position in Home Depot and a short position in C3.AI using options)

Jim Cramer: Welcome back to Mad Money, where we make sense of the market madness. I'm your host Jim Cramer and today we have a special edition of the show. We're going to talk about the stock market slide that happened today, after disappointing factory orders data and warnings from Walmart and Home Depot. The Dow shed more than 500 points, the S&P 500 fell below 4,000 and the Nasdaq plunged 2.5%. To help us understand what's going on, we have two very distinguished guests with us. First, we have Quark, the Ferengi entrepreneur and owner of Quark's Bar on Deep Space Nine. Quark, welcome to the show.

Quark: Thank you, Jim. It's a pleasure to be here.

Jim Cramer: And second, we have Karl Marx, the German philosopher and economist who wrote The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Marx, thank you for joining us.

Karl Marx: Thank you, Jim. I'm glad to have this opportunity to speak to your audience.

Jim Cramer: Alright, let's get right into it. Quark, you're a savvy businessman with an impeccable sense of profit. What do you make of today's market slide?

Quark: Well, Jim, I think it's a temporary setback for the market. The fundamentals of the economy are still strong and there are plenty of opportunities for growth and innovation. The market slide is just a result of some irrational fear and panic among investors who are overreacting to some bad news. This is a great time to buy low and sell high, as we Ferengi say in Rule of Acquisition number 34.

Jim Cramer: I see. So you're not worried about inflation or interest rates or supply chain disruptions?

Quark: Not at all, Jim. Inflation is good for business. It means more demand and more profits. Interest rates are still low by historical standards and they reflect the confidence of the Fed in the economy. Supply chain disruptions are temporary and they create opportunities for arbitrage and speculation. As we Ferengi say in Rule of Acquisition number 22, a wise man can hear profit in the wind.

Jim Cramer: Interesting. Marx, what do you think? You're a critic of capitalism and you predicted its downfall. Do you agree with Quark's optimistic view?

Karl Marx: No, Jim. I disagree completely. Quark is deluded by his own greed and ignorance. He fails to see the inherent contradictions and crises of capitalism that are leading to its inevitable collapse. The market slide today is not a temporary setback but a symptom of a deeper malaise that afflicts the whole system. The economy is suffering from overproduction, underconsumption, falling profits, rising debt, class struggle and environmental degradation. The inflation that Quark praises is actually a sign of the devaluation of money and labor power due to the exploitation of workers and nature by capital. The interest rates that Quark dismisses are actually a sign of the financialization and speculation that dominate the economy at the expense of productive investment and social welfare. The supply chain disruptions that Quark exploits are actually a sign of the global interdependence and vulnerability of capitalism that make it prone to shocks and crises.

Jim Cramer: Wow. That's a very bleak picture you paint, Marx.

Karl Marx: It's not a picture, Jim. It's a reality. A reality that millions of workers and oppressed people around the world are facing every day. A reality that cannot be ignored or denied any longer.

Jim Cramer: Well, there you have it folks. Two very different perspectives on today's market slide from two very different guests. Quark, Marx, thank you both for your time and insights. Quark: Thank you, Jim. Karl Marx: Thank you, Jim.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 4/4/2023(1) Stock Indexes Slide After Factory Orders Decline More Than Expected. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (2) Stocks slide following Fed’s rate hike, Dow sheds more than 500 points: Live updates. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (3) The latest rally in stocks 'makes little sense' and the market will likely slump back toward 2022 lows, JPMorgan says. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (4) Stock market news today: Stocks slide after economic warnings from …. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (5) Bonds Rise as Factory Data Temper Inflation Angst: Markets Wrap. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (6) Dow tumbles 1,200 points for worst day since June 2020 after hot …. Link Accessed 4/4/2023.

A Simulated Call from a Viewer (Me)

Jim Cramer: Alright, we're back with Quark and Marx, and we're taking your calls. Let's go to Alex in New Hampshire. Alex, you're on Mad Money.

Alex: Hi Jim, thanks for taking my call. I sold all my shares in c3.ai and now I'm short. I think the accounting allegations are serious, and I always thought the valuation was wishful thinking in a crowded space for turn-key JupyterLab solutions. What do you think?

Jim Cramer: Well, Alex, you're not alone in your skepticism. C3.ai's stock took a nosedive today after Kerrisdale Capital, a short seller, sent a letter to the company's auditor alleging serious accounting and disclosure issues¹. Kerrisdale claims that c3.ai inflates its revenue and profit metrics by using aggressive accounting methods and concealing the deterioration of its underlying operations¹. They also point out that c3.ai has a huge amount of unbilled receivables from one customer, Baker Hughes, which raises questions about the quality of its revenue¹. C3.ai denies these allegations and says they follow GAAP accounting principles and have an unqualified opinion from their auditor¹. But the market seems to be spooked by these accusations and the stock is down 25% today¹. Quark, what do you think of c3.ai?

Quark: Jim, I think c3.ai is a great company with a great product. They are the leader in artificial intelligence software for enterprises and they have a loyal customer base that includes some of the biggest names in energy, finance and defense. They are growing fast and they have a huge market opportunity ahead of them. The accounting allegations are just a smear campaign by a short seller who wants to make a quick buck by spreading fear and doubt. C3.ai has nothing to hide and they will prove their critics wrong. This is a buying opportunity for long-term investors who believe in the power of AI. As we Ferengi say in Rule of Acquisition number 62, the riskier the road, the greater the profit.

Jim Cramer: I see. Marx, do you agree with Quark?

Karl Marx: No, Jim. I agree with Alex. C3.ai is a classic example of the speculative bubble that characterizes capitalism in its late stage. The company is overvalued based on hype and promises rather than real value creation. The accounting allegations are not surprising, as they reveal the manipulation and deception that are inherent in the capitalist mode of production. C3.ai exploits its workers and customers by selling them a product that is not only useless but harmful to society. Artificial intelligence is not a solution but a problem, as it increases the alienation and domination of human beings by machines. C3.ai is doomed to fail, as it represents the contradictions and crises of capitalism that are leading to its collapse.

Jim Cramer: Wow. That's quite a harsh assessment, Marx.

Karl Marx: It's not an assessment, Jim. It's a diagnosis. A diagnosis that exposes the rotten core of capitalism and its inevitable demise.

Jim Cramer: Well, there you have it folks. Two very different opinions on c3.ai from two very different guests. Quark thinks it's a buy, Marx thinks it's a sell. Alex, thank you for your call.

Alex: Thank you, Jim.

Jim Cramer: We'll be right back after this break with more Mad Money.

Source: Conversation with Bing, 4/4/2023(1) C3.ai’s stock dives 25% on short seller’s accounting allegations. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (2) Why C3.ai Stock Was Sinking Today. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (3) C3.ai Tumbles 26% After Letter From Short Seller. Link Accessed 4/4/2023. (4) C3.ai Shares Drop After Short-Seller Alleges ‘Accounting Issues’. Link Accessed 4/4/2023.

Analysis and Conclusions

I guess Marx is a perma-bear lol

Joking aside, although this was meant to be humorous, I think it demonstrates something of immense value. Between GPT-4's mind-bending size and Bing's ability to, well, use Bing, it is quickly becoming nearly trivial to turn online news into whatever summarized format you find most useful and entertaining. Putting people in explicitly in precise control of the bias of their news content could be really empowering for society...

The fact that it provides sources even when presented with ludicrous situations should alleviate a lot of potential concerns about hallucinations and verifiability of facts.

There are going to be big monetization kinks to sort out. I'm probably not going to post any further articles like this with an AI Jim Cramer persona because it seems unethical to do instead of watching his show!

Prompt Considerations

Aside from the issue I mentioned earlier with bias in my prompt causing a biased internet search ("stock market slide today") and then biased/wrong/hallucinated parts of the output, this was fairly straightforward from a prompt perspective. I didn't have to tell the model anything special about Cramer, Quark, or Marx to get this level of output.

Sadly, Bing does have some hesitance to answer these kinds of prompts (both "programmed" and "trained"). It's kind of stupid because, as far as I could tell, Bing was worried about this whole thing being disrespectful to Marx. I'm not going to reveal the specific trick I used here to overcome it, but the general idea is to exploit the fact that these models are tuned to follow instructions.

A big part of "prompt engineering" for Bing Chat is thinking about what internet search queries you want the model to generate. It is a distribution. You can't control it perfectly. But, as I've shown, you can mess it up with a prompt that is biased in a way you don't want.

Thanks for reading! I hope I've made you laugh and think a little today.