I’ve also tried that, but with mixed results. Generally speaking, GPT is too proud to admit its mistakes. Occasionally I’ve managed successfully point out a mistake, but usually it just thinks I’m trying to gaslight it.

Asking follow up questions works really well as long as you avoid turning it into a debate. When I notice that GPT is contradicting itself, I just keep that information to myself and make a mental note about not trusting it. Trying to argue with someone like GPT is usually just an exercise in futility.

When you have some background knowledge in the topic you’re discussing, you can usually tell when GPT is going totally off the rails. However, you can’t dive into every topic out there, so using GPT as a shortcut is very tempting. That’s when you end up playing with fire, because you can’t really tell if GPT is pulling random nonsense out of its ass or if what it’s saying is actually based on something real.