“Just Google it!”

“Just Google it!”

Do you remember when Google became popular? You used to hear people say this all the time. “You can Google anything these days!” Knowledge at our fingertips was enough for many people. They rarely stopped to consider the quality of the information they found. 

It’s the same with AI. You often hear people say “just ask ChatGPT!” As if human thought and consideration were relics, like taking a horse and buggy instead of a car. As if instinct and wisdom aren’t hard-earned advantages. They rarely stop to consider the possibility of AI hallucination, or any of AI’s other dangerous side effects. 

If everyone has access to the same ambiguous, potentially incorrect information, it’s no longer an advantage. It quickly becomes a crutch. I fear the day when someone who works with me uses AI to generate a summary of an email chain, only to discover it to be wrong, with drastic financial consequences. It’ll happen soon, I’m sure. 

Just as we learned to verify the sources we Google, we need to learn to verify the information AI generates for us. If we cite it, it speaks to our reputation. The manner in which we use it speaks to our reputation, too.