Lionel Messi's Instagram ad featuring ChatGPT teaching chess went viral due to a major setup error, sparking online debates.
Messi's Chess Ad Draws Attention for All the Wrong Reasons
In a recent Instagram post, soccer superstar Lionel Messi shared a chess lesson taught by ChatGPT, which quickly became a topic of discussion due to a significant error in the setup. The advertisement amassed approximately 1.9 million likes within a single day, showcasing Messi's immense popularity with over 517 million followers on the platform.
The digital chessboard featured a glaring mistake: each side's king and queen were swapped, a fundamental error that led to a suggested opening move, dubbed the "GOAT Horns," which would almost certainly result in a loss within four moves when played from that incorrect position. While the move made sense on the flawed board, it would not yield a forced checkmate on a properly arranged chessboard.
Messi, who asked ChatGPT to recommend a chess opening that suited his style, was met with a humorous yet disastrous suggestion. The term "GOAT" refers to "greatest of all time," a nickname Messi has embraced throughout his career. This misstep in the advertisement has prompted a wave of reactions from chess enthusiasts on platforms like Reddit, with some questioning the oversight of OpenAI's team in failing to catch such a basic mistake before the ad went live.
Community Reactions and Previous Mistakes
Several Reddit users pointed out that this is not the first time OpenAI has made such an error in an advertisement. An earlier ad reportedly misplaced Black's queen as well. One user humorously remarked, "Nearly a trillion dollar evaluation and they can’t put the queen on the right square lol." This has sparked discussions about the reliability of AI, even when marketed as an all-knowing tutor.
OpenAI's ChatGPT has been touted for its extensive user base, with over 1.2 billion weekly users. However, this incident raises questions about the quality of its guidance, especially for beginners like Messi, who are eager to learn but might be misled by such glaring mistakes.
Looking Ahead
The ad was released just two weeks after OpenAI introduced GPT-6, which includes an Intelligent UI feature for interactive responses. Despite the blunder, Messi's marketing collaboration with OpenAI continues to attract attention, having commenced earlier this year during the World Cup.
While the chessboard may have been incorrectly set up, the engagement from fans and followers highlights the ongoing interest in AI and its applications in everyday activities, including learning chess.
