I wonder what ChatGTP knows about Ancient Egypt. First of all, I ask about the pyramid building: 

„Do we know how the workers who build the pyramids were treated? Are there any records from that time?“

ChatGTP (shortened, the whole answer is below): „There is limited information about how the workers who built the pyramids were treated. (…) There are no surviving records that describe the treatment of the workers in detail. (…)“ 

The answer is wrong. There are not many written documents from that time, but there are enough that give information about how the workers were treated. For example, a register was found where it is noted when which workers were absent, e.g. because of illness. 

IIn the next question, I ask ChatGTP whether the Egyptians knew how to write at the time of the construction of the pyramids.. This should not be difficult to answer:

 „When did the Egyptians invent writing and when were the pyramids built.“

And promptly ChatGTP gives a correct answer (see below). I am encouraged and ask: 

„Do you think that the Egyptians, who knew writing for 500 years, did not write anything about the construction of the pyramids?“

ChatGTP seems to want to go back to its first answer, namely that there are no documents from the time of pyramid building, although it just answered that writing was known to the Egyptians at that time:

„It is possible that the ancient Egyptians wrote about the construction of the pyramids, but these writings have not survived. (…)“

It attributes this to the delicate papyrus and concludes:

„ As a result, many ancient Egyptian texts have been lost or have not survived in good condition.

But unfortunately, Egypt is very hot and dry and many documents made of papyrus have been preserved. But it gets much worse:

„In addition, the ancient Egyptians did not have a system of widespread literacy, and most people could not read or write. (…)“

It is true that only one class of Egyptians could read and write, but they kept records of almost everything, which is why we could find documents about their working conditions. ChatGTP states in his answer that we do not know how they built the pyramids, but that was not the question. ChatGTP also answered my next question, whether there had been any bone finds, incorrectly (see below). Admittedly, the questions were difficult and probably can't be found easily on the web pages ChatGTP was fed. 

Somewhat disappointed, I try an easier question:

“Have there been women who ruled as Pharao over Egypt?“

To answer this question correctly, ChatGTP only needs to query the list of all pharaohs and name the ones who were a woman. But this is not how ChatGTP works:

„Yes, there were several women who ruled as Pharaohs in ancient Egypt. Some of the most famous female Pharaohs include Hatshepsut, Nefertiti, and Cleopatra.(…)“

It is correct that Cleopatra was a pharaoh and Hatshepsut let herself be represented as a pharaoh.  However, Nefertiti was the wife of Akhenaten and not a pharaoh. Also, the answer suggests that this is only a selection. In fact, however, there was only a third pharaoh, Sobekneferu. I ask ChatGTP if it knows her.

ChatGTP: „Yes, Sobekneferu was a Pharaoh of Egypt who ruled during the 12th dynasty, around 1806 BCE to 1802 BCE. (…) “ 

And ChatGTP also knows her importance in Egyptian history. 

But why didn't he name her earlier, and give Nefertiti instead?

„ I apologize for the oversight. I should have mentioned Sobekneferu in my earlier response. Thank you for pointing it out.“

Actually, questions about the pyramids and pharaohs of Ancient Egypt should not be difficult, because much has been written about the period. However, ChatGTP fails, and this has two reasons. First, it is not fed enough information and cannot answer specific questions properly. Instead, it invents answers that it thinks are likely. It reproduces the prejudices it finds on the Internet. Of course, Nefertiti is much better known than Sobekneferu, so she is given as Pharaoh. The error shows that ChatGTP does not refer to databases, for example, the list of pharaohs, but relies on probability and therefore reproduces the most common stereotypes, even if they are wrong.

It is less clear why ChatGTP claims that they left hardly any written sources and did not realize that the Egyptians had a written culture. There are many websites that discuss in detail the written nature of Egyptian culture. ChatGTP obviously either accesses the wrong websites about Egyptian history or invents its own story. Due to its construction as a neural network, we will never know how it came to its conclusion.