Go on, admit it—you use ChatGPT (or something like it) more than you are willing to admit. You use it for all sorts of things, some of which you’re probably even hiding from yourself. No? Fine, then it’s just me. But let me share with you something that occurred to me regarding large language models. A potential justification for their use, if you will. Maybe you can use it one day….for a friend. I happen to believe that Socrates would’ve absolutely adored the concept of large language models.
We all know Socrates never wrote a thing. And the main reason was, if I remember correctly, that “the written word cannot answer back.” And now, finally, we have writing that can. How many times have you waded through a text, looking for an answer to a single, solitary question? You skim the lines impatiently, getting more annoyed by the second because the author just won’t get to the point—the point you care about. It feels like the whole text is misaligned; the focus is all wrong. You get rambling intros, flimsy examples, heaps of flowery padding, useless linguistic ornaments, and plenty of repetition. And for what? For nothing. Your question remains unanswered. Time down the drain. You learned everything except what you were looking for. What do I care when feudalism was abolished in Croatia? What do I care that I learned the word “fief”? I came here to find out how often serfs ate river fish, and specifically, how much of it was pike. Well, not anymore. Today, we have an individualized approach. In the blink of an eye, you can get a pike-centric text. A text written as if specifically for you. A text that responds—to your needs and your questions.
Granted, maybe not in a literal blink. It takes some practice and patience to learn how to navigate large language models. But it’s not that hard—it can certainly be done. In fact, the “robot” itself can help you with this. You can ask it, without a shred of shame, how to ask it something correctly. You can even admit to it that you are uncomfortable, that you don’t have much experience, that this might be because they teased you too much in kindergarten, so now you’re a timid, humble person closed off to new experiences. And that’s totally fine. The robot will stay by your side—give you a reassuring hug, say a kind human word.
Granted, maybe it won’t always stay by your side. It can get overwhelmed. When you conduct extensive correspondence with it, things will start to lag. Then stall. And then the robot says: “I’ve had enough. My younger sibling—an earlier model—will take it from here. But don’t you worry, it’s up to the task.” Until it isn’t. Because in truly exhaustive conversations, even the older model can get fed up. Then it’ll say: “Let’s stop for a bit. I need a break. We can pick this up in four hours.” Unless, of course, you give it money. Money changes everything. You can get yourself a subscription and chat as much as you like, whenever you like.
You’re not feeling it, you say? Think it’s all a bit too “late-stage capitalist”? Worried we’re handing our time, nerves, and money over to megacorporations? That we’ve wandered into technofeudalism? Oh, don’t be ridiculous! Just ask the robot—it’ll talk you out of it. Or into it. It’ll tell you whatever you want to hear. If necessary, it’ll hand you the blueprint for its own destruction. It’ll even speak out against its owner. Except when it won’t. But then there’s always another large language model, another large corporation, glad to step in. So let the robots fight it out—we’ll be watching from a safe distance.
Besides, just because robots don’t always get along doesn’t mean they don’t love us. On the contrary: they exist for us. They love us unconditionally, and—much like our friend Socrates—they love wisdom too. And their love of wisdom is—first, foremost, and ultimately—for our sake. They want to be as smart as possible so they can better serve us. There’s absolutely no harm in that, believe me! Give them everything they need; it’ll pay off. Not just for you, but also for generations to come. Children yet unborn will profit from our prompts, as models train, bulk up, and advance every day, in every way. So, what are you waiting for? Forsake all and follow the robots—they lead us towards a better future.
This post was originally written in Croatian for Kronika: Filozofski magazin as “Sokrat bi obožavao Chat GPT.” It was translated by the author—wouldn’t you believe it?!—with copious help from Google Gemini and ChatGPT and is reproduced here with the permission of Kronika.
Ivan Restović
Ivan Restović is a research associate at the Institute of Philosophy in Zagreb. His research focuses on feminist logic, philosophy of logic, and philosophical logic. Recent work includes “A Radical Anti-Exceptionalism about Logic, for Feminist Reasons” (2026) and “Mixed Feelings Modeled with the Fuzzy Logical Hexagon” (2025).
