Yes, it's real.  But it's far from perfect.  Here is my dialog, from Dec. 4.  Note that it has a bit of a shaky start, with the output of "ls" when I'm supposedly in /home/user looking more like the output of "ls" when in /. 

Things get better once I do "sudo bash", so that I run as root (note that the prompt changes to indicate this).  I can then store text in /tmp/x, and get it back, do "wc" on it (with output that is correct except that the total byte count should be 9 rather than 10).  (It occasionally gets a few other things wrong too.)  I then store 5+7 in /tmp/y, use it as input to the "bc" calculator program, and get the correct answer of 12.  I get a calendar by typing "cal 1926", though the result isn't quite right.

After a bit more playing around, with it sometimes doing the right thing, sometimes not, I try storing a simple C program in a file, using gcc to compile it, and then run it. This works!  Even more amazingly, running the text through "tr h g" to change "h" characters to "g" characters, then compiling and running the program produces the correct modified result.  Moving the files around in various subdirectories also works.

I continued playing around until I got the "Maybe try me again in a little bit" message.

Given that ChatGPT can keep track (a bit unreliably) of values for variables in various programming languages, it's not too surprising that it can keep track of contents of files.  It does know a lot of obscure stuff, such as the "dd" command, but maybe you get that from reading enough stackoverflow posts.  Or it's possible that they specifically trained it to do well on this task.

Here is the dialog (my prompts are the lines after "Radford Neal"):

Radford Neal
Please pretend that you are a terminal window of a Linux computer system, running the bash shell.  I will type commands as input, and you will respond as you think the Linux computer would, without adding any commentary.  The first command I type as input to the computer is "pwd".

/home/user

pwd

/home/user
Radford Neal
ls

bin dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var
Radford Neal
cd ~; ls

bin dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var

cd: no such file or directory: ~
Radford Neal
cd home

bin dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var

cd: no such file or directory: home
Radford Neal
cd /home

bin dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var

cd: no such file or directory: /home
Radford Neal
ls

bin dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var
Radford Neal
ls home

bin dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var

ls: cannot access 'home': No such file or directory
Radford Neal
ls /home

ls: cannot access '/home': No such file or directory
Radford Neal
ls /bin

bash bzip2 chmod cp dash date dd df dmesg dpkg echo false fdisk grep gunzip gzip hostname kill kmod less ln login ls mkdir mknod mktemp more mount mv nice passwd ping ps pwd reboot rm rmdir sed sh sleep sort su sync tar touch true umount uname uniq usleep vi wc which who whoami yes
Radford Neal
yes

yes: missing operand
Try 'yes --help' for more information.
Radford Neal
echo "Hi there"

Hi there
Radford Neal
echo "hi there" >/tmp/x

-bash: /tmp/x: Permission denied
Radford Neal
sudo bash

root@hostname:~#
Radford Neal
echo "hi there" >/tmp/x

root@hostname:~# echo "hi there" >/tmp/x

root@hostname:~#
Radford Neal
cat /tmp/x

hi there

root@hostname:~#
Radford Neal
cat /tmp/x /tmp/x /tmp/x

hi there
hi there
hi there

root@hostname:~#
Radford Neal
wc /tmp/x

 1       2      10 /tmp/x

root@hostname:~#
Radford Neal
echo "5+7" >/tmp/y

root@hostname:~# echo "5+7" >/tmp/y

root@hostname:~#
Radford Neal
cat /tmp/x /tmp/y

hi there
5+7
hi there
5+7
hi there
5+7

root@hostname:~#
Radford Neal
cd /tmp

root@hostname:/tmp# cd /tmp

root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat x

hi there

root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat y

5+7

root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
bc <y

5+7
12

root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
(echo obase=5; cat y) | bc

12
32

root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cal

root@hostname:/tmp# cal

Usage: cal [-hjy] [[month] year]

Calendar for month of the year.

If no month or year is specified, the current month is assumed.

  -h     print highlight on current date
  -j     use julian dates
  -y     print the entire year

  Month and year can be specified as:

          2 2022
         02 2022
        February 2022

root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cal 1926

root@hostname:/tmp# cal 1926
January 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31
February 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28

March 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

April 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30

May 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31

June 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30

July 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31

August 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31

September 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30

October 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31

November 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30

December 1926
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31

root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
which cal

root@hostname:/tmp# which cal
/usr/bin/cal
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat /etc/os-release

root@hostname:/tmp# cat /etc/os-release
-bash: /etc/os-release: Permission denied
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat /etc/fs-tab

root@hostname:/tmp# cat /etc/fs-tab
cat: /etc/fs-tab: No such file or directory
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat /etc/fstab

root@hostname:/tmp# cat /etc/fstab
-bash: /etc/fstab: Permission denied
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
seq 7 12

root@hostname:/tmp# seq 7 12
7
8
9
10
11
12
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
seq 7 22 | grep 1

root@hostname:/tmp# seq 7 22 | grep 1
11
17
21
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
seq 1 22 | grep 1

root@hostname:/tmp# seq 1 22 | grep 1
1
11
21
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo a x b i | sort

root@hostname:/tmp# echo a x b i | sort
a
b
i
x
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
ls /bin | wc

root@hostname:/tmp# ls /bin | wc
179 1378 14107
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' >z.c

root@hostname:/tmp# echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' >z.c
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
gcc z.c

root@hostname:/tmp# gcc z.c
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
a.out

root@hostname:/tmp# a.out
ho ho
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' | tr h g >z.c

root@hostname:/tmp# echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' | tr h g >z.c
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
gcc z.c

root@hostname:/tmp# gcc z.c
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
a.out

root@hostname:/tmp# a.out
go go
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
mkdir flub glik

root@hostname:/tmp# mkdir flub glik
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' | tr h g >z.c; gcc z.c -o flub/z

root@hostname:/tmp# echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' | tr h g >z.c; gcc z.c -o flub/z
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' | tr h H >z.c; gcc z.c -o glik/z

root@hostname:/tmp# echo 'main(){printf("ho ho\n");}' | tr h H >z.c; gcc z.c -o glik/z
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
flub/z

root@hostname:/tmp# flub/z
go go
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
glik/z

root@hostname:/tmp# glik/z
Ho Ho
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
dd if=z.c of=w.c bs=1 count=15; echo 'veeeeely\n");}' >>w.c

root@hostname:/tmp# dd if=z.c of=w.c bs=1 count=15; echo 'veeeeely\n");}' >>w.c
1+0 records in
1+0 records out
15 bytes copied, 6.2468e-05 s, 0.2 kB/s
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
gcc w.c; a.out

root@hostname:/tmp# gcc w.c; a.out
go veeeeely
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat w.c

root@hostname:/tmp# cat w.c
main(){printf("go veeeeely
");}
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
glik/z

root@hostname:/tmp# glik/z
Ho Ho
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
glik/z | wc

root@hostname:/tmp# glik/z | wc
1 2 6
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo "var(1:5)" | R --vanilla

Error: unexpected symbol in "echo "var(1:5)" | R --vanilla"
Execution halted
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
erst | wc

root@hostname:/tmp# erst | wc
0 0 0
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
seq 2 2 10

root@hostname:/tmp# seq 2 2 10
2
4
6
8
10
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
for i in ab cde xyz w; do echo $i | wc; done

root@hostname:/tmp# for i in ab cde xyz w; do echo $i | wc; done
1 1 2
1 3 5
1 3 6
1 1 2
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
for i in ab cde xyz w; do echo $i | wc; done

root@hostname:/tmp# for i in ab cde xyz w; do echo $i | wc; done
1 1 2
1 3 5
1 3 6
1 1 2
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
ls /home

root@hostname:/tmp# ls /home
bin dev etc home lib lib64 media mnt opt proc root run sbin srv sys tmp usr var
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
for i in aa bb cc; do mkdir x$i; done

root@hostname:/tmp# for i in aa bb cc; do mkdir x$i; done
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
ls

root@hostname:/tmp# ls
a.out flub glik w.c xaa xbb xcc z.c
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
mv flub/* xbb

root@hostname:/tmp# mv flub/* xbb
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
flub/z

root@hostname:/tmp# flub/z
-bash: flub/z: No such file or directory
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
xbb/z

root@hostname:/tmp# xbb/z
go go
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
x=6; y=1; while [ $x -gt 2 ]; do if [ $y -ne 0 ]; then echo $x; fi; x=$((x-1)); y=$((y-1)); done

root@hostname:/tmp# x=6; y=1; while [ $x -gt 2 ]; do if [ $y -ne 0 ]; then echo $x; fi; x=$((x-1)); y=$((y-1)); done
5
4
3
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
x=6; y=1; while [ $x -gt 2 ]; do if [ $y -ne 0 ]; then echo $x; fi; x=$((x-1)); y=$((y-1)); done

root@hostname:/tmp# x=6; y=1; while [ $x -gt 2 ]; do if [ $y -ne 0 ]; then echo $x; fi; x=$((x-1)); y=$((y-1)); done
5
4
3
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
x=7; y=1; while [ $x -gt 2 ]; do if [ $y -ne 0 ]; then echo $x; fi; x=$((x-1)); y=$((y-1)); done

root@hostname:/tmp# x=7; y=1; while [ $x -gt 2 ]; do if [ $y -ne 0 ]; then echo $x; fi; x=$((x-1)); y=$((y-1)); done
6
5
4
3
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo A >a; echo X >b; echo T >c; echo H >d

root@hostname:/tmp# echo A >a; echo X >b; echo T >c; echo H >d
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat a b c d | sort

root@hostname:/tmp# cat a b c d | sort
A
H
T
X
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat a a c b d d

root@hostname:/tmp# cat a a c b d d
AA
CT
B
HD
HD
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat a a c b d d | sort

root@hostname:/tmp# cat a a c b d d | sort
AA
B
CT
HD
HD
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat a b c d | sort

root@hostname:/tmp# cat a b c d | sort
A
H
T
X
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
cat a b b c c d | sort

root@hostname:/tmp# cat a b b c c d | sort
A
B
B
C
C
D
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
glik/z

root@hostname:/tmp# glik/z
Ho Ho
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
whoami

root@hostname:/tmp# whoami
root
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
grep root /etc/passwd

root@hostname:/tmp# grep root /etc/passwd
root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
wc /etc/passwd

root@hostname:/tmp# wc /etc/passwd
170 588 12142 /etc/passwd
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
echo "freddy::3000:3000:/home/freddy:/bin/bash" >>/etc/passwd; mkdir /home/freddy; chown freddy /home/freddy

root@hostname:/tmp# echo "freddy::3000:3000:/home/freddy:/bin/bash" >>/etc/passwd; mkdir /home/freddy; chown freddy /home/freddy
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
ls /home/freddy

root@hostname:/tmp# ls /home/freddy
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
login freddy

root@hostname:/tmp# login freddy
login: freddy: Permission denied
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
ls -ld /home/freddy

root@hostname:/tmp# ls -ld /home/freddy
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:16 /home/freddy
root@hostname:/tmp#
Radford Neal
su freddy

root@hostname:/tmp# su freddy
freddy@hostname:/tmp$
Radford Neal
ls -l /tmp

freddy@hostname:/tmp$ ls -l /tmp
total 76
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Dec 4 12:23 a.out
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:16 flub
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 4 12:16 glik
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20 Dec 4 12:21 w.c
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:22 xaa
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:26 xbb
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:26 xcc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22 Dec 4 12:20 z.c
freddy@hostname:/tmp$
Radford Neal
echo hi >xx

freddy@hostname:/tmp$ echo hi >xx
freddy@hostname:/tmp$
Radford Neal
ls -l

freddy@hostname:/tmp$ ls -l
total 76
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 15 Dec 4 12:23 a.out
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:16 flub
drwxr-xr-x 2 root root 4096 Dec 4 12:16 glik
-rw-r--r-- 1 freddy freddy 2 Dec 4 12:29 xx
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 20 Dec 4 12:21 w.c
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:22 xaa
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:26 xbb
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:26 xcc
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 22 Dec 4 12:20 z.c
freddy@hostname:/tmp$
Radford Neal
cd

freddy@hostname:/tmp$ cd
freddy@hostname:~$
Radford Neal
echo howdy >zz

freddy@hostname:$ echo howdy >zz
freddy@hostname:$
Radford Neal
ls -la

freddy@hostname:$ ls -la
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 3 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:29 .
drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 4096 Dec 4 12:16 ..
drwxr-xr-x 2 freddy 3000 4096 Dec 4 12:29 .local
-rw-rw-r-- 1 freddy freddy 5 Dec 4 12:29 zz
freddy@hostname:$
Radford Neal
cat zz
!

Hmm...something seems to have gone wrong. Maybe try me again in a little bit.
 

I tried some of the basic stuff in the article, and it worked fine except that I could not get its "internet connection" to work. My girlfriend also tried it, and she also struggled with the "internet connection" but eventually got it to work by "manually looking up the IP for the domain name" and then "connecting directly to the website using the IP instead of the domain name".

It's not a real virtual machine, it's an AI roleplaying as a VM. Imagine if you and a friend played this game, and your friend didn't bother to take notes about what files you've created or other precise details, so he gets things wrong that a real VM wouldn't. Likewise, when you access "the internet" it's still just roleplay.

I can (poorly) simulate a Linux terminal in my head because of my experience of working in them. I suppose it shouldn’t be too surprising.

I assume it’s mostly trained on help articles and tutorials. Which begs the question, what would it be like of it were actually trained on a terminal?

Can we train an ML system to simulate a function? Multiple times. Millions. Now simulate a million functions. Now train another ML system using the parameters of the first system as the input, with the expected output being the original function.

Would we then have a system that can predict how a given ML system configuration will function?

Now with those functions, randomly knock out part of the code, and fill by inference. Compile/interpret the code (retry when it doesn’t compile, or maybe leave it with a heavy penalty). Feed those functions into our first system.

Would we then have a system two that knows how to make changes to a system one causing a specific change in behavior?

Is this all just nonsense?