Chatbots are trained on astronomical amounts of data taken from the internet. Operating in a way akin to predictive text, they build a model to predict the likeliest word or sentence to come after the user’s prompt. This can result in factual errors, but the plausible nature of the responses can trick users into thinking a response is 100% correct.
The role of critical thinking and health skepticism to be taught in schools, colleges and universities is more critical now than ever before. The onslaughts are coming, and discerning facts from fiction (worse, “directional nonsense”) will become a critical skill for an informed human being
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