To be fair, most of the non-AI references will be made up bullshit, too.
On Friday, CBC News reported that a major education reform document prepared for the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador contains at least 15 fabricated citations that academics suspect were generated by an AI language model — despite the same report calling for “ethical” AI use in schools.
“A Vision for the Future: Transforming and Modernizing Education,” released August 28, serves as a 10-year roadmap for modernizing the province’s public schools and post-secondary institutions. The 418-page document took 18 months to complete and was unveiled by co-chairs Anne Burke and Karen Goodnough, both professors at Memorial University’s Faculty of Education, alongside Education Minister Bernard Davis. […]
When contacted by CBC, co-chair Karen Goodnough declined an interview request, writing in an email: “We are investigating and checking references, so I cannot respond to this at the moment.”
Daniel Dennett, the philosopher of mind, before he died last year, proposed that AI should always identify itself.
This is a simple and achievable corrective.
This problem is not unique in human history. Whenever the speaker is not present there is the risk of misattribution. Verbally this looks like gossip. The same problem exists in books and newspapers.
The solution has been to assign credibility. Unfortunately, institutions in the modern world are all too happy to allow their credibility to lapse. We should be much less forgiving – once credibility is lost it is hard to regain. We should be willing to relegate news agencies and other institutions to the National Enquirer bin.
I think “ethical AI” is going to be of the widest brushes ever. Possibly even bigger than “Green AI” powered by the finest solar panels imported from the east, all soaking in the sun over the former great wheat fields of the west.
“brace yourself Shiela this is going to sting a bit” …
So how do we pronounce co-chair Karen Goodnough’s last name?
“Good? No! Ugh!” is my guess..
The biggest fabrication of all. CBC NEWS
Is AI getting smarter or are people getting stupider?
Not sure, but the government says this this Karen is goodnough to write this report…