Generative Chatbots AIn't Experts: Exploring Cognitive and Metacognitive Limitations That Hinder Expertise in Generative Chatbots

Despite their ability to answer complex questions, it is unclear whether generative chatbots should be considered experts in any domain. There are several important cognitive and metacognitive differences that separate human experts from generative chatbots. First, human experts' domain knowledge is deep, efficiently structured, adaptive, and intuitive-whereas generative chatbots' knowledge is shallow and inflexible, leading to errors that human experts would rarely make. Second, generative chatbots lack access to critical metacognitive capacities that allow humans to detect errors in their own thinking and communicate this information to others. Though generative chatbots may surpass human experts in the future-for now, the nature of their knowledge structures and metacognition prevent them from reaching true expertise.