Chat, J'ai pété

From The Wind and the Line by Robert F. Graboyes.

The world is heavy with soul-wrenching philosophical debate over the world-changing significance of ChatGPT—OpenAI’s artificial intelligence-driven ghost-writing chatbot. ChatGPT, it is said (sometimes by me), is the end of writing, a 24/7 ideological indoctrination camp, and an engine of future unemployment. In France, I have learned, the discussion is just a tad less elevated. My friend Gérard alerted me to the fact that in his native country, considerable attention is being focused on the name “ChatGPT,” rather than on the substance of ChatGPT. “Chat,” you see, is the French word for “cat.” And “GPT,” when pronounced with a French accent (zhay-pay-tay), sounds almost exactly like the French expression «J'ai pété», meaning—forgive me—“I farted.” It is, I imagine, somewhat difficult to wax apocalyptic over something called, “Cat, I farted.”