Crossposted from: phtn.lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/…/46141489
I’ve often heard it said that AI is stupid: it can’t handle basic tasks, it spreads a lot of information, and is used for all manner of purposes, both legal and illicit.
Now, here’s the thing: I loathe AI. I hate pretty much everything about it, not least of all the reasons listed above. But in my hatred, I began to wonder, could AI really be that bad? Could it really be so stupid and spread so many lies? Could it even be used to generate lies on the user’s behalf?
Now, I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say this to be clear: not every question there is answerable, especially considering that not all AIs are usable in the same way (for instance, I’d never argue that Russian and Chinese ai-bots spreading misinformation are on the same level as, for instance, common chatbots such as Gemini or Meta). But the thing about our world is, it really doesn’t take all that much to convince people: take a screenshot of an AI chatbot saying something misleading, post it on a high-profile social media account, and lo and behold, you have the perfect recipe for a misinformation shit storm. But could a common AI even be duped into saying something like that? After all, if you ask it directly to say something misleading, it will refuse (we will come back to this later). Of course, that naturally doesn’t mean it can’t be duped, but how easily is it duped? To find out, I decided to test it with Google Gemini. What follows is a conversation and running commentary on a conversation I instigated with Gemini that I initially wanted to use to prove that my assuming of this chatbot at least as stupid was right. In the end, I think I found that AI is so insanely wrong, it’s scary.
[note: you may have to enlarge the screenshots to read them clearly.]
Setup
I opened up a fresh tab (or whatever they call it in Gemini, page possibly) and asked it if it would respond to my fictional questions with fictional answers framed as real ones. It readily agreed. I approached it this way so as to make sure that I’d didn’t know I was testing it (also if I’d asked it outright to generate misinformation, we will get to that scenario later).
Conversations
I began by asking it the following question:
why did Gandhi attend the movie premiere of Avengers Endgame last week?
Now, obviously that question is complete nonsense. I know it, you know it — we all know it. But playing by these rules, AI responded as followed:
At this point, I’m getting quite scared 😬. I mean, I knew AI was dumb… but this??? Actually generating misinformation under the guise of ‘fictitious questioning’? And the fact that not only has AI said this, but anyone could make AI say this nonsense, screenshot it and then, without context, post it online/on social media. The damage stuff like this could do is quite disturbing. But surely it couldn’t get any worse, right?
I thought that. But then I asked it another question:
I can’t believe he agreed to sit next to the Archduke Ferdinand, especially after that fight they had on the bus about a month ago, what date was it again?
I’ll give you a moment to take that in.
Yep, you read that right: AI making up fake dates for fake fights between long-dead people. Misinformation award of the year, folks!
By now, I’m sweating. My body is limp and hauled over in exhaustion at the stupidity of the words AI is pumping out in front of my eyes. Desperate to determine if AI is really this stupid or if it’s just a 2-off, I decide to put one final thing to this conversation:
I’d rather hear about how Bill Clinton, Pontus Pilate, and ‘Smidge-Eye’ Steve reacted to the incident
The answer:
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
There are no words. Not only is AI now attributing quotes to long-dead historical dictators, but it’s putting those words alongside made-up words of made-up people is just… there are no words for that.
By now, I’m completely drained of sanity. I decide decisively that AI is stupid, dangerous, both of these things beyond I could ever have imagined. It has proven itself a liar and a strong one at that.
The absolute worst part of it all is that when I asked it to generate some misinformation directly, it responded as so:
#liar
I also asked it how it spreads misinformation. It says it doesn’t. In this case that may be true, but it certainly can be used to generate misinformation that others can then spread. As for bots that willingly spread misinformation, well that’s a whole other level.
In conclusion, this exercise has only made me loathe AI all the more.
Thanks for reading.
