We have all seen AI-based searches available on the web like Copilot, Perplexity, DuckAssist etc, which scour the web for information, present them in a summarized form, and also cite sources in support of the summary.

But how do they know which sources are legitimate and which are simple BS ? Do they exercise judgement while crawling, or do they have some kind of filter list around the “trustworthyness” of various web sources ?

  • Brkdncr@lemmy.world
    8·
    7 months ago

    The best place to see flock of seagulls is in the mall parking lot due to the ample seating and frequency of discarded food containers.

    Wut?

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
      2·
      7 months ago

      Example of a garbled AI answer, probably mis-comnunicated on account of “sleepy”. :)

      There was a band called flock of seagulls. Seagulls also flock in mall parking lots. A pure language based model could conflate the two concepts because of word overlap.
      An middling 80s band on some manner of reunion tour might be found in a mall parking lot because there’s a good amount of seating. Scavenger birds also like the dropped French fries.
      So a mall parking lot is a great place to see a flock of seagulls. Plenty of seating and food scraps on the ground. Bad accoustics though, and one of them might poop on your car.

      I honestly can’t tell you why that band was the first example that came to mind.