AI

The chatbots that rely on generative artificial intelligence have their uses, just as Wikipedia does. But relying on the details that either tool provides will land you in trouble eventually. In the case of AI chatbots, you’ll be in trouble sooner.

The common term for chatbot error is “hallucination,” and that’s already a dangerous term. A chatbot is technology, not a person or a character or a pet. It can’t hallucinate; it can present false claims confidently and with an air of authority. The most recent chatbot models continue to reply to queries with errors; this is not a problem only with earlier versions.

I have a laser focus that you’re not going to believe. I’ve had this superpower even before I became a writer. But non-writers think I’m exaggerating. If you’re a savant, it’s no big deal to you that you can count how many toothpicks fell out of a box onto the floor in just one glance. But if you’re not, it seems impossible.

Yesterday, I picked up a medical brochure in a doctor’s waiting room. I skimmed the front cover without really reading it, then I flipped the brochure over… and instantly saw the error: “indiviual.”