Chatbots, Apps, and the Truth-- A Cyber-Battle Worth Fighting

Experts call it a "data void," but it's a problem more slippery than that phrase seems to indicate. Misinformation, intentionally funneled into situations, is one of the most harmful things we face in this age of digital gluttony. Just because actual information is not instantaneously available about any given topic does not mean that "the truth" is being with-held. Damar Hamlin's cardiac event was not caused by vaccines. There are no Jewish space lasers. There is no evil cabal of child-traffickers setting up shop in a pizza joint. The stories created are called, by some, "alternative facts," somehow equating full BS with verifiable data and information. 

Along that vein of thought is this new AI chatbot that can "write" scholarly papers; plug in a topic, and it spits out a paper that seems, at least to the reader who is not extremely skeptical, to be rational and well-researched. While this may excite some people, especially those who loathe the slow process of research and writing a paper with proper citations, it creates a huge headache for teachers, professors, and, I posit, the body of human knowledge that we depend on to build schema for future discoveries. Great. Fake cancer research. Chatbot-created histories. What do we do now? People who can ascertain the facts are in short supply already, in every area of human industry and record-keeping. Anyone remember the Bowling Green Massacre, used as evidence by Kellyanne Conway? 

In this period of education when discussion about anything difficult is clamped down on and the "Divisive Concepts" flag is whipping in the wind, facts are under assault. It is a scary thought, that anyone's ill-conceived "truth" will be the basis of how we, as a species, move forward. Enter into this dark age this brave college student who spent his winter break creating GPTZero, an app that can detect AI-generated work. While not perfect, it is a tool that those in academia are heralding as a huge help. 

Imagine: in cyber-land, the paper-generating AI bot is fighting the anti-plagiarism app, all for the good of mankind.

It boggles my mind. "The truth," as they used to say on X-Files, "is out there." And in the Bible, John 8:32, says, "The truth will set you free." 

Have a good day,

C