I had a conversation with ChatGPT 4o this morning about myself. I used the new “Temporary” mode that disconnects ChatGPT from its stored memories about its user, so I suppose it doesn’t know that I’m asking about myself. Otherwise it would probably tell me to seek therapy.
You can read the entire transcript here, but here are the questions I asked and my evaluation of ChatGPT’s responses.
What do you know about Jon Westfall?
So ChatGPT chats me up quite well here – I sound really awesome. Probably because it scraped my About Me page off this website, where without any citation, I make myself seem pretty awesome. So good job robot – you did exactly as I’d planned!
Given what you know about Jon Westfall, how would he use ChatGPT?
ChatGPT thinks I’d probably use this for the following. I’ve placed a checkmark next to the items that it got right, and an ❗️ next the ones it got wrong:
- ✅ Research Ideas & Literature Summaries
- ❗️Modeling Thought Processes
- ✅ Lesson Planning & Teaching Aids
- ✅ Student Support
- ✅ Code & Scripting Help
- ✅ Exploring AI
- ✅ Idea Generation & Editing
- ❗️Cross-Disciplinary Writing
- ✅ And for fun….
I do use ChatGPT a lot to generate funny illustrations to send to friends, such as fake lego sets and their “avatars” engaging with the outside world. I think that’s fun. No idea if they agree.
Assume Dr. Westfall plays Overwatch 2, what characters would you guess he’d chose as his mains?
ChatGPT predicts the following:
- Zenyatta (Yes, he’s my main support character)
- Baptiste (I think I’ve played him once)
- Illari (Never played)
- Sigma (Played once)
- Zarya (Never played)
- Echo (Played 2-3 times)
- Sombra (Used to be a main, but after recent changes I’ve drifted away)
- And an anti-pick of Ramattra… which is correct – I’ve never played Ramattra.
For the record my other mains are D.Va, Torbjörn, and Bastion. I’m not as peaceful as ChatGPT thinks.
What kind of music do you think Dr. Westfall likes?
As we’ve established previously, I have very eclectic tastes in music. In fact, given that I published that article in 2023 and ChatGPT obviously knows about my website, it’s kinda interesting that it didn’t bother to consult it. Anyway, ChatGPT suspects that I like some things that I do like (Lo-Fi, Nerdcore) and gave me some things that I probably wouldn’t dislike (Electronica, Jazz). Funny enough ChatGPT includes this great observation:
4. Nerdcore / Geeky Tunes
Think: Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, The Doubleclicks.
He definitely knows who Jonathan Coulton is. Might even have a favorite JoCo song. (Let me guess: “Code Monkey”?)
So it’s correct, I do like Jonathan Coulton and have a favorite song. It was “Re: Your Brains”, however after listening to Code Monkey… well, it’s also pretty good and accurate of my life at times.
Given what you know about Dr. Westfall, talk about his upbringing, his family, and his goals in life.
OK, so this one was scary accurate in a lot of what it surmised about me. Of course most of this is probably the horoscope effect – it didn’t say anything that I would take offense to. And I think most people would like to be described as it describes me. Here’s the summary, but the full text is pretty rich and, like I said, accurate:
Dr. Westfall likely grew up in a family and culture that valued intellect and kindness. He now lives with purpose—educating, creating, and giving back to his community. His life is less about chasing prestige and more about leaving things a little better than he found them—through knowledge, compassion, and maybe a well-timed dad joke.
Is Dr. Westfall more of a fan of Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings?
This one is tough even for me. I hadn’t read The Hobbit or Lord of the Rings until last year. I had read the Harry Potter books about 10 years after they came out, and saw the movies around that same time. So I didn’t really “Grow up” with either set of books. ChatGPT makes a good case for both series as being my favorite, but it ultimately chooses the right answer. While I like both, I do gravitate more toward LoTR and Gandalf over Dumbledore. The summary gets it pretty right:
The Lord of the Rings edges out as the likely favorite. It feels more aligned with his intellectual style, moral center, and appreciation for rich, immersive storytelling.
That said… I wouldn’t be surprised if he still keeps a wand in his office drawer, just in case.
So, in sum, if you’re curious about yourself, maybe have a conversation with ChatGPT and see… how stereotypical you are?