My gut says there's something interesting in this interaction that's worth trying to understand.

The key here is that he got ChatGPT to ask him questions. I was like, wait, how does that happen? And the solution was ingenious. Is it thinking, probably not. But it sure does look like it's self-directed reasoning, which is a huge step in the right direction.

It's not AGI, but maybe points us in the direction of a cognitive subsystem that we need to investigate/map/theorize/design/implement/iterate that can automate the decision process that the author was prompting the AI to follow.

Essentially, make it so the AI doesn't need a human to follow that line of reasoning, in a general sense. Find a way to let it ask it's own questions, and seek answers. Probably a later phase involves the AI asking humans for help along the way when it's reasoning gets stumped.

So much to learn. :)