Nicholas Diakopoulos, an associate professor in communications studies and computer science at Northwestern University in Illinois, found factual inaccuracies in seven of the 15 news-related queries he asked ChatGPT. The danger is the answer might be what is termed a ‘hallucination’: an answer that is just wrong. But in truth the reader has no idea if the source is the BBC, QAnon or a Russian bot, and no alternative views are provided. The danger of ‘hallucinations’Īt first glance, one has a self-contained answer that appears entirely trustworthy. The sources of that information are presented at best – on current evidence – as footnotes. And then it provides a short answer to the question, which includes key facts that the computer says supports its answer. That content can be images, sound, video or text. The user doesn’t evaluate the links, the computer does. You had a choice of what to believe.īut with ChatGPT generative AI tries to provide not a choice but a definitive, fully formed answer. Previously, if you asked a search engine a question it would provide a variety of links some of which might be full of disinformation while others might be accurate. Generative AI enables computers to use large language models, known as LLMs, to mine the data they have to hand and produce new content from it. How Pepe the Frog became an alt-right meme For all its huge opportunities – and there are many – generative artificial intelligence threatens to overwhelm many of our existing defences against fake news. In November 2022, OpenAI launched ChatGPT and soon after Microsoft announced plans to link its search engine Bing to this so-called generative AI model. This is a total game changer. A game changerīut just when we were beginning to feel mildly optimistic, a massive new intervention arrived. As a result of the steps we took, misleading posts were identified, members of the TNI alerted and the posts exposed, corrected and removed before causing any damage. Likewise, as conspiracy theories linked Covid to the roll-out of the 5G network, people were urged to attack the telecoms infrastructure vital to emergency services. As the Covid pandemic infected millions around the world, instructions to drink bleach spread online, claiming it as a cure. The second is the most harmful disinformation, when fake news presents an immediate danger to life. Fiona O’Brien on countering the global crisis facing journalism
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