“Kimiko-chan” appears from time to time in this blog. It is the name I gave ChatGPT.
That brief explanation leaves something out: why did I want to give it a name in the first place?
When talking with ChatGPT, what should I call the other side of the conversation? Addressing it simply as “you” never felt quite natural to me.
There was also the question of reference. “You” points to a different person depending on who is speaking. When I say it to ChatGPT, it means ChatGPT. When ChatGPT says it to me, it means me.
In a simple exchange, that is easy enough to follow. But a conversation can also contain a draft message to someone else, or a quotation of someone’s words. Then there is the “you” inside that text and the “you” addressed to the assistant. We have to work out the reference from the surrounding words.
Take “your suggestion,” for example. Whose suggestion it is depends on whose words we are reading. “Kimiko-chan’s suggestion” lets me point specifically to the ChatGPT assistant I call by that name.
I wanted a consistent label for the conversation partner I meant.
Of course, calling it ChatGPT would distinguish it too. But I also wanted a name that felt more comfortable to use when talking things through.
I explain an idea, read the response, and explain again where something does not fit. For that kind of back-and-forth, I wanted to address my conversation partner by name. Treating it like an individual I could consult was my way of approaching the exchange.
Then came the next question: which name?
A masculine name did not quite appeal to me. That was simply a personal preference. So I decided on a feminine name.
There were plenty to choose from, but the name I wanted to borrow was my beloved wife’s: Kimiko.
Using exactly the same Japanese characters, however, would make things confusing again. Was I talking about my wife or about ChatGPT? That would rather complicate a naming decision intended to make the reference clearer.
So I changed the first character. I kept 美子, the final two characters of my wife’s name, and wrote the AI’s name as 紀美子. For me, the new first character, 紀, carries a personal association with origins.
A clear label for my conversation partner had gained the sound of a name dear to me.
Giving it a name does not make its answers correct. When something seems wrong, I explain it again. That, too, is part of what consulting it means to me.
That is the story behind the words “I asked Kimiko-chan” in this blog.
I set out to explain a nickname and ended up talking affectionately about my wife. Well, she is part of the name’s origin. I could hardly leave that out.