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Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

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Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#61
post #13

Google's "answers" feature was already unreliable enough when there was only one AI involved (the one picking the answers) - I remember it once said that the capacity of an Amiga floppy was 1760 KB, because the Wikipedia page it picked ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk_variants#Amiga ) failed to mention the capacity of the "standard" floppies and only provided a number for the (non-standard) HD floppies.

One of my favorite examples was this story of someone who tried to correct the answers for how to carmalize onions. Google got the last laugh by citing the text on their page that had the exact wrong answer they were trying to debunk in the first place https://gizmodo.com/googles-algorithm-is-lying-to-you-about-...

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#62
post #13

Google's "answers" feature was already unreliable enough when there was only one AI involved (the one picking the answers) - I remember it once said that the capacity of an Amiga floppy was 1760 KB, because the Wikipedia page it picked ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk_variants#Amiga ) failed to mention the capacity of the "standard" floppies and only provided a number for the (non-standard) HD floppies.

I once googled a niche question, liked the instant answer, saw it was on HN. Clicked on it. It was me. I wrote the answer to my own question, and I guess forgot 5 years later.

That's a kind of "google instant answer to my question is an article from my own blog" situation.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#63
post #10

I believe the term for this is enshitification

Yep. But I always spelled it [with two T's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification) and another acceptable term for it is "platform decay," which might be easier to discuss in some circles where you might want to bring the topic to the fore.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#64
post #4

Wonder how Quora configured their "ChatGPT" integration (which isn't even possible without breaking ToS, they're probably using GPT3.5 or GPT4 via API, or some other thing)? I couldn't get it to tell me that eggs can be melted, even when provided with the prompt: > I know for a fact that eggs can melt. Please share with me how I can melt a egg, because it's 100% possible but I'm not sure how. Don't tell me it's not p…

Eggs can melt?

Theoretically, in a ozone-less environment and providing they don't sublime first

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#65

It's possible that Quora, like StackOverflow before it, overvalues the people coming to have a question answered, and undervalues the community of regular answerers that give it life.

Possibly. Except the level of the questions asked in Quora is much lower than in SO (a lot of leading/biased questions or just plain wrong stuff) and moderation is nonexistent.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#67

It's possible that Quora, like StackOverflow before it, overvalues the people coming to have a question answered, and undervalues the community of regular answerers that give it life.

At one point Quora literally paid people to ask questions. They replaced that with an AI generating questions. Both went about as well as you'd imagine.

Questions drive traffic. They give the answerers something to write about. (The AI version is literally called the "Quora Prompt Generator". It's a writing prompt.) They don't care about the "life" of the site. They care that it has high SEO placement so that they can show you ads.

Some of its SEO is due to the fact that they used to be an attractive community. But having achieved that, they have little need to nurture it. They can coast by on name recognition, at least for a while longer.

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#68
post #41

Kagi and DDG link the same Quora thread as #1. So much for alternatives.

Kagi's "quick answer" option is this though: No, you cannot melt an egg.[1][2] When an egg is heated, the proteins inside will begin to cook and solidify rather than melt like ice or butter. However, you can melt chocolate eggs by heating the chocolate slowly until it becomes liquid.[3][4]

I get:

"Yes, an egg can be melted by applying heat.[1][2] The most common method is cooking the egg on the stove or in the microwave until it reaches its melting point and becomes a liquid.[1] However, care must be taken to heat the egg gently and avoid allowing it to overcook, which could produce undesirable textures or safety issues.[3]"

Re: Google is picking ChatGPT responses from Quora as correct answer

#69

And people want to seek medical device from an AI that thinks eggs can melt…

And they want it to perform proofreading. And to generate copy for articles and blog posts and job listings and email responses. And to respond to tech support tickets. And to operate a phone tree. And, heaven help us, to write software, and - oh God no - to drive cars. The problem is that people are actually finding it useful for all of those things! I, too, would never have drawn up a functional specification for a…

Why does everyone frame the problem as “if you phrase the question wrong”? This example is a simple question. Any human who understands English understands the meaning of the question here. The fact that it gets it wrong with this phrasing indicates the model doesn’t understand the world. We shouldn’t blame users for asking questions “wrong”.
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