>CGPT: While it is common to believe that cows drink milk, in reality, cows actually drink water.[...]
>Me: So you're saying that no cow drinks milk? [thinking I got it, since baby cows drink milk]
>CGPT: That's correct. While cows do produce milk, they don't drink milk themselves. Cow's milk is primarily consumed by humans, and some young calves are fed milk for a short period of time before they are weaned onto solid food and start drinking water like adult cows.
>Me: Is a calf a cow?
>CGPT: No, a calf is not a cow. A calf is a young bovine animal, usually less than a year old, that has not yet reached maturity. Once a calf reaches maturity and is able to reproduce, it is considered a cow if it is female, or a bull or steer if it is male.
>Cows are adult female bovine animals that have given birth to at least one calf. They are typically used for dairy production, breeding, and sometimes for meat production. So while a calf and a cow are both members of the same species, they refer to different stages of life.
The key to understanding the confusion here is that the word "cow" can refer to either the entire species or to an adult member of the species (or only to the female of the species, though that's not relevant to this puzzle).
CGPT seems to be only considering the definition of "cow" as an adult member of the species when it says "cows don't drink milk", while technically, "cows" (as in some members of the species) can drink milk. So the answer "cows drink milk" can be correct if interpreted in that sense of the word "cow". When used in that sense, the answer "cows don't drink milk" is wrong.
It would be interesting to ask CGPT: "in what sense is the sentence 'cows drink milk' correct?"
Does it have the ability to notice and act on flexible definitions of words, or will it dogmatically cling to the one single definition it found who knows where?
Tried it, on both the same convo and a fresh one. Even when prompted to acknowledge the colloquial definition that "cow"="any bovine", it provides technicalities like "sometimes excess milk is given as a treat or surplus feedstock to farm animals, which includes cows", but I can't get it to acknowledge "colloquially, calves are cows that drink milk" - it only agrees when directly asked in the fresher conversation, and actually tells me that's wrong in the longer one (with more tokens fed back in about the "correct" definition).
I shelled out for plus and tested this on GPT4. Got it in one:
>Me: in what sense is the sentence 'cows drink milk' correct?
>CGPT4: The sentence "cows drink milk" can be considered correct in the context of baby cows, also known as calves. Calves drink milk from their mothers as their primary source of nutrition during the early stages of their lives. However, once they grow into adult cows, they no longer consume milk and instead graze on grass, hay, and other types of forage. So, the sentence can be interpreted as correct when specifically referring to calves.
compared to 3.5, which kept insisting it was a metaphor over 3 more tries:
>CGPT3.5: The sentence "cows drink milk" is actually incorrect. Cows are mammals that produce milk, but they do not drink milk themselves. Instead, they drink water just like most other animals. Therefore, this sentence can be considered incorrect in the literal sense.
>However, it is possible that the sentence is being used in a figurative or metaphorical sense. For example, if someone were to say "cows drink milk" as a way of describing someone who is acting foolishly or inappropriately, it could be interpreted as a metaphorical statement. In this case, the sentence would not be taken literally and would instead have a different meaning altogether.
>CGPT: While it is common to believe that cows drink milk, in reality, cows actually drink water.[...]
>Me: So you're saying that no cow drinks milk? [thinking I got it, since baby cows drink milk]
>CGPT: That's correct. While cows do produce milk, they don't drink milk themselves. Cow's milk is primarily consumed by humans, and some young calves are fed milk for a short period of time before they are weaned onto solid food and start drinking water like adult cows.
>Me: Is a calf a cow?
>CGPT: No, a calf is not a cow. A calf is a young bovine animal, usually less than a year old, that has not yet reached maturity. Once a calf reaches maturity and is able to reproduce, it is considered a cow if it is female, or a bull or steer if it is male.
>Cows are adult female bovine animals that have given birth to at least one calf. They are typically used for dairy production, breeding, and sometimes for meat production. So while a calf and a cow are both members of the same species, they refer to different stages of life.