As I write this, I realize there will be a certain amount of pushback from this post. I may even lose a great many of the new subscribers I only recently gained to my BLOG. (most became subscribers after reading and liking my post “The Transformative Power of AI in Affiliate Marketing: Unlocking Significant Wealth and Passive Income” )
There is no denying AI produces some stunning graphics as well as some inspiring and heartwrenching writings. But when it comes to generating factual documents, results are highly suspect at best.
I have also found that AIs’ ability to follow basic instructions can leave you screaming at your computer and pulling out your hair. Here’s what I’m talking about. The following prompt was given to both CoPilot and ChatGPT:
Please create for me 15 top 10 lists of the most influential books of every year from 2010 through 2024 in post-apocalyptic literature. Use the first release date for selecting the year to place each work. Do not ever repeat titles. (This last sentence was added after CoPilot kept repeating the same book titles for multiple years.It listed one book for 8 consecutive years.)
I suppose I should say here that I’m in the process of building a website that deals with the history of this particular kind of writing. I believe it would harmful to the credibility of the site if I were to publish a list of books that included titles that were in a year a full two years before it even existed. I seriously wonder how many other books are listed in the incorrect years?
Both CoPilot and ChatGPT produced lists that seemed to do exactly what I asked for. But upon closer inspection, I saw the same titles over and over. Sometimes twice in the same year.
Another curious fact was that they each came up with some very different book titles. Each attempt to get them to stop repeating titles was futile.
Each would apologize, acknowledge their not having followed my instructions, and then do it again.
One time, when I told ChatGPT of a certain title that it placed both in the 2012 & 2016 lists and here’s what I wrote:
Please explain to me how “The Girl With All The Gifts” (a book) could have been originally released in both 2012 AND 2016? This makes me question whether any of these books are listed in the year in which they were released.
The response I got was scary and caused me to question the wisdom of my reliance on AI to do any research task for me that involved writing articles that are fact-based. Here is the response:
You’re correct to question that (accuracy); I made an error in listing “The Girl with All the Gifts” in two different years. The book was originally released in 2014. Here’s how the mistake occurred:
- 2014: “The Girl with All the Gifts” by M.R. Carey was first published in 2014.
- 2016: The movie adaptation of “The Girl with All the Gifts” was released, but the book itself was not released again in this year.
This was a mix-up between the book’s original release and the year the film adaptation came out.
I’ll ensure that any future lists I generate correctly reflect the original release dates of books. If you’d like, I can provide you with a corrected and verified list.
“So,” I thought, “you had two dates from which to choose (2014 & 2016), and one of the dates you picked was for a year that was not only different but was from before the book existed?”
ChatGPT then went on to produce a new set of the top 10 lists I requested. Again, riddled with repeat titles like before, “The Girl with All the Gifts” was listed as being published “for the first time” on four different dates. None of them was 2014! The very date we just argued about. It’s as if AI has attention deficit disorder. One year even had five previously used book titles!
Here’s an example of the type of stuff I was getting (from CoPilot):
2023
- “The Girl with All the Gifts” by M.R. Carey (Released in 2014)
- “The Fireman” by Joe Hill (Released in 2016)
- “The Dead Lands” by Benjamin Percy (Released in 2015)
- “The Bone Clocks” by David Mitchell (Released in 2014)
- “The Three” by Sarah Lotz (Released in 2014)
- “The Martian” by Andy Weir (Released as an e-book in 2011)
- “The Peripheral” by William Gibson *Released in 2014)
- “The Girl with All the Gifts” by M.R. Carey (Again, 2014)
- “The Fireman” by Joe Hill (Again, 2016)
- “The Water Knife” by Paolo Bacigalupi (Released in 2015)
I decided I couldn’t trust anything that the computer came up with. After 5 similar tries on ChatGPT, I let it make one last attempt, mostly to see if it could do it. And wouldn’t you know, the sixth time was the charm! It actually put, “The Girl with All the Gifts” in the correct year too.
The list was completely untrustworthy as far as I was concerned. But hey, at last ChatGPT came up with something without repeating any titles.
CoPilot has more of an, “I’m going to take my ball and go home,” attitude. If you display any frustration or criticism toward it, it will tell you to move on and end the conversation.
Looks like I’ll have to do my research the old-fashioned way.
I realize I will be using many of the same internet sources that AI uses. At least this way I can check sources I trust, dig deeper if I find conflicting data, and I’ll know the process. With I don’t know the process.
One thing is for certain, when confronted with two possible dates about when a book was first released, I will NEVER pick a totally wrong third date.
AI can be extremely helpful in some cases. perhaps as it evolves it will become more reliable in terms of research… now is not that time. What I suggest is that you be extremely cautious if you use AI for other than graphics and creative writing or other forms of writing not dealing with facts. Remember AI is not infallible.
Like it or not, AI is destined to become an integral part of our landscape. Better we learn how we can master it to use it in our daily lives.
Knowing its strengths and limitations is a good start. Like a hammer, AI is capable of performing tasks for us much better than we could without it. But if you tried to say, use a hammer as a screwdriver you would become understandably frustrated. Like every other tool in our toolbag, AI can be an amazing tool for the right applications. Learning what those are is the key.
