Week 376 was posted by Charanjit Chana on 2025-01-06.
Generative AI is impressive, and I use ChatGPT every now and then, but I much prefer finding web results where there is more context and discussion. I can't trust the output of an LLM as fact. If I ask a coding question, then I have to try the code to see if it works and ask follow up questions or provide additional context if it doesn't. That context is usually there if I am looking at an article or answer on the web.
For any topic, I will still verify that the AI results are correct. Let's say I ask what the best foods are to eat for a specific condition or desired outcome, I will get an answer, but I'll still pop the answer into Google to find articles to verify. Often the NHS has an article that will verify it, but given AI does not actually have the answer, it's just generating an answer it thinks is right I will continue to do so.
Why I'm an AI sceptic
The environmental impact also looks like it could be enormous.
Someone needs to come up with a sensible, and achievable, rate card for AI that limits how much energy can be used to generate the output. I am not qualified to speculate what that might look like, but if OpenAI is basically asking for unlimited money to continue operating then that doesn't sit well with me.
There has also been an insane amount of theft that has enabled OpenAI to achieve what it has so far. If anything, the money they raise should be used to compensate every author and artist that they have stolen from.
Are search engines any different to AI?
I've been thinking about search engines place in this argument and I think it comes down to the simple fact that a search engine is designed to connect you with the content where as an LLM/generative tool is effectively plagiarising content.
Google's shift to providing snippets so that you don't need to click through was always at odds with the function of a search engine but makes sense in some contexts. Opening hours for example, as a user the experience is great... but for the website it is taken from, how do I know it was useful for that user?
Enhancing products is all well and good, but Google have been prioritising money for years now and it shows. The experience is nowhere near what it was a decade ago and it's no wonder we're starting to see plenty of disruption around how people are 'searching' for answers. A recent episode of The Talk Show has an interview with Vlad Prelovac, found of Kagi, which is well worth a listen on the topic of web search.
Tags: