The problems with AI

AI has an answer for every question.

Ask any question, and AI will quickly give you an answer. AI will never say, "I don't know."

AI is like the kid who hasn't read the book and gets called on by the teacher in class to answer a question about it. When they don't know the answer, AI and the kid both guess and try to give what sounds like a good answer.

Here's an example

I live four miles from a volcano here in Costa Rica. It puffs out ash and smoke, and tourists can stand at the rim and look down into it. Recently, it was closed, and tourists were not allowed to go to the viewing area.

It was originally closed for a week because they were going to repair a bridge you had to walk across to get to the viewing area. Then they decided to replace the bridge instead of repairing it, and they announced that the viewing area would be closed for a month.

When someone asked AI why the volcano viewing area was closed to the public and how long it would be closed, AI quickly came back with an answer and said that it was closed indefinitely because of the danger that the volcano could erupt.

That sounds like a good guess about the reason for closing a volcano viewing area, but it was totally false.

What Mark Twain said about people is also true for AI. He said, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so."

Occasionally, the volcano gets overly active (as you can see in the photo below), and the viewing area is closed to the public, but that wasn't the case this time.

At least we can give AI credit for a good guess.

Bottom line: AI is wonderful, useful, and most of the time it has the answer you're looking for, but take the information it provides with a grain of salt. Getting information is quick and easy when you're using AI, but like everything else you read on the internet, remember that it may not always be correct.