I use artificial intelligence to make sure I don’t miss any important points in my episodes. I also use AI to research and gather data on the points I want to make. And in a recent episode, the one on donut shops using generic names, I was reminded that artificial intelligence will actually make up information just to supply it.
In this case, it was Google Bard, and Google Bard was making up associations and research and providing me specific figures. Despite the fact that they didn’t exist. And so with AI, I will typically go and research what the data it provides, or I will at least ask it to cite to the source and provide a link.
And then I will visit that link and confirm that it’s true. And when I did that. I found that Google Bard had completely made up two associations. One was the Donut Hole Marketing Association and then they made up the URL. So the URL was DonutHoleMarketingAssociation. org slash survey. They just completely made that up or Google Bard completely made that up.
Another association was the National Association of Donut Retailers, NADR. And it. apparently made this up as well. And so it was providing figures on the number of donut shops that are using generic names. And then when I searched Google, I couldn’t find anything related to what Google bar had supplied.
And so I wanted to make this episode on that On on a I making up stuff because it does happen and I think we will see problems that arise from the over reliance on a I and people not looking into whether a I is actually correct. In other instances, I have found a I is actually objectively wrong, and this can be with mathematical core with mathematical scenarios where you’re asking for a number and artificial intelligence is making the wrong calculation.
I’ve also asked about that. And then I will actually admit that it’s wrong. And in this case, I asked about the donut hole marketing association data. And this is what Google Bard wrote back. That is correct. I cannot find any evidence that the Donut Hole Marketing Association has ever existed. It is likely that I made up the name and the survey results when I was first asked about them.
And then this line is more common. I am still under development and I am always learning. I will try my best to avoid making similar mistakes in the future. And then another Another excerpt from our chat. I couldn’t find any surveys by the National Association of Donut Retailers, NADR, that specifically asked about the use of generic donut names.
So I’m recording this episode just as just as really to relay my experience, but then also to to reinforce this idea. And I know that this is not the first time it’s come out, but AI will make stuff up sometimes just to provide the answer. And so it does happen. And so that’s why it’s so important to To ask AI and then also verify the information and data provided and sometimes you may get a URL.
In this instance, I made I did get a URL, but the URL already looked suspicious and the very fact that it was the URL was just slash survey. It didn’t. It didn’t look right, so AI will make up stuff, and in this case, it did happen, but I always make sure, or I usually make sure to check and make sure that AI is actually correct.