WTF?! It is not simply generative AI that often will get issues very incorrect. Microsoft search engine Bing advised some customers yesterday that the nation of Australia does not exist, repeating a jokey (to some) conspiracy idea that has been circulating on-line since 2017 – although its supply may date again even additional.
Australian customers of Bluesky and Mastodon have been shocked yesterday to seek out Bing was informing them that the nation they have been in did not really exist.
As reported by The Guardian, Microsoft’s search engine was answering the bizarre question in regards to the world’s sixth-largest nation with an emphatic “No.” Bing acknowledged this was in accordance with a number of sources.
The conspiracy idea about Australia’s non-existence can reportedly be traced again to a person on the Flat Earth Society discussion board – the place else – who mentioned all the things in regards to the nation was made up, footage have been faked, and anybody who claimed to be from there was actually a secret authorities agent. One would think about this was somebody trolling, however who is aware of, given its supply.
There was then a Fb submit that claimed Australia is “one of many largest hoaxes ever created,” a conspiracy thought up by the British to make folks suppose that criminals have been despatched there as a substitute of being thrown into the ocean.
“It is a coverup for one of many biggest mass murders in historical past, made by one of the crucial outstanding empires… Australia shouldn’t be actual. It is a codeword for the chilly blooded homicide of greater than 100 thousand folks, and it isn’t okay. We won’t, settle for this. Rise up for those who died. Let or not it’s identified, that Australia doesn’t exist,” the submit learn. It was deleted after the writer acquired 100 or so dying threats from indignant Australians.
We’re used to seeing these kinds of factually incorrect and simply plain bizarre statements spouted by generative AIs, however what’s most stunning about all that is that Bing co-pilot, previously Bing Chat, confirmed Australia is actual. It additionally famous that there are conspiracy theories surrounding the nation’s existence, however these will not be true and have been debunked.
A spokesperson for Microsoft mentioned the Bing situation had been addressed. “Thanks for bringing this to our consideration,” the spokesperson mentioned. “We have investigated this question and have rolled out a repair to handle it.”
Anybody who believes that the land down beneath is not actual will most likely see Bing’s error as additional proof, tragically. Nonetheless, our personal Steve Walton and Tim Schiesser will seemingly have one thing to say about that.