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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

#151

Post by DamnInteresting »

giancarlostoro wrote: post #52
rob74 wrote: 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.

I had a similar experience recently. I started working for a firm that has some legacy Perl code still in service, and in the process of Googling I was presented with one of my own answers on perlmonks.org from over 20 years ago. The emotions were complicated.

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

#152

Post by yoyohello13 »

Ensorceled wrote: post #109
userbinator wrote: post #73

This happened not long ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37368243 We were already in the "post-truth" world, and AI is just going to drive us further down that path. The tendency of a lot of the population to prioritise quick and vapid answers over researching and thinking for themselves isn't helping either. That said, I'm not sure why whether eggs can be melted is a popular question. Is that a meme?

> The tendency of a lot of the population to prioritise quick and vapid answers over researching and thinking for themselves isn't helping either. This makes no sense... how do they "research researching and thinking for themselves" without the internet? Encyclopædia Britannica stopped publishing in 2010.

My strategy is to find at least 3 unrelated sources that agree before I start believing. Although it seems like that strategy may also be insufficient soon.

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

#153

Post by alasdair_ »

Quora is clearly doing this so that they rank highly on Google and get clicks.

What surprises me is that Google doesn't seem to care, despite their stance that "Using automation—including AI—to generate content with the primary purpose of manipulating ranking in search results is a violation of our spam policies."

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-sea...

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

#154

Post by tchalla »

kr0bat wrote: post #143
pasquinelli wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

just don't stop at the very first answer you get. dig a little.

When do you stop digging? When you reach a primary source? If I can't get a cheap, reliable answer to a simple question without looking into a potentially dense primary source, then online search becomes about as useful as a library card. Besides, not every domain is expected to include primary sources. Did the author of this recipe really think that a wok is better than a skillet for fried rice, or is this the writt…

You can’t outsource intuition - you have to build it yourself. You need to be willing to look like a fool and be wrong. It’s less a question of when to stop digging and more a question of self awareness and ability to keep an open mind.

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

#155

Post by Jensson »

vel0city wrote: post #117
guntherhermann wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But these people all existed 10, 20, 30 years ago, they have existed and will continue to exist throughout humanity. You cannot fix stupid. What is the solution, to control 'The Message'? I agree with the parent. I grew up on the 90s internet, where you didn't believe anything on it! Somewhere along the lines this changed (I blame 2007 -- the iPhone / huge numbers of people going online during this period), and that…

I fully agree they've existed since the dawn of communication. It's different now that it's near free and available to broadcast that idiocy to a billion people in an instant. I'm not arguing the government should step in and massively regulate speech. I'm just saying I'm not exactly excited for where we're going on this ride. I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

> It's different now that it's near free and available to broadcast that idiocy to a billion people in an instant.

This doesn't matter, truth needs to travel but bullshit can be made up on the spot. Internet is way more beneficial for the truth, I talked to people before they used the internet and it was bullshit all over back then as well but there was no truth around to contradict them so maybe it wasn't as obvious. But today you can easily find out thanks to the internet.

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

#156

Post by itsoktocry »

alasdair_ wrote: post #153

Quora is clearly doing this so that they rank highly on Google and get clicks. What surprises me is that Google doesn't seem to care, despite their stance that "Using automation—including AI—to generate content with the primary purpose of manipulating ranking in search results is a violation of our spam policies." https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2023/02/google-sea...

>Quora is clearly doing this so that they rank highly on Google and get clicks.

Quora is garbage and always has been. For a while people thought it was going to be the place where smart insiders provided great answers. Then it turned into another spammy Q&A site that forces you to log in..because VCs need their money.

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

#157

Post by epups »

Ensorceled wrote: post #109
userbinator wrote: post #73

This happened not long ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37368243 We were already in the "post-truth" world, and AI is just going to drive us further down that path. The tendency of a lot of the population to prioritise quick and vapid answers over researching and thinking for themselves isn't helping either. That said, I'm not sure why whether eggs can be melted is a popular question. Is that a meme?

> The tendency of a lot of the population to prioritise quick and vapid answers over researching and thinking for themselves isn't helping either. This makes no sense... how do they "research researching and thinking for themselves" without the internet? Encyclopædia Britannica stopped publishing in 2010.

"The internet" is a vast place. If you believe the first answer on Google, or something you received on social media, then you are not thinking for yourself. If you bother to read the source or multiple sources and decide that the evidence is solid, you are researching and thinking for yourself.

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

#158

Post by personalityson »

jiofj wrote: post #7

Given enough temperature, can't you melt an egg?

Can this be called "melting"?

"In 2015, a team of chemists in the US and Australia showed they could reverse the process. They added urea to liquefy the boiled egg whites, then put them in a vortex device to pull apart the proteins and return them to their original state." https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/can-you-unboil-an-egg

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

#159

Post by enumjorge »

goodluckchuck wrote: post #144
TimTheTinker wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Post-truth’s overwhelming flood of true, false, and irrelevant claims is empowering critical thinking. It’s offering freedom. By and large, critical thinking hasn't been taught effectively in public schools for at least 10 years now. Even when it was, only a fraction of the public were able to think independently and logically in such a way as to eliminate spurious data/voices and deduce the truth accurately. Far f…

I don’t know that critical thinking can be taught. However, you may be right that schools aren’t creating circumstances for children to learn it. I don’t know. What I do know is that most of the information that has ever existed (or will ever exist) is false. Because information can only be true to an extent, from a perspective, and for a purpose. If you change the scope and purpose of a discussion and look at it fro…

> Even if they have the worst intentions we will end up better off (and so will they). We’re just that damned good.

This reads like sarcasm and flies in the face of what’s been going on in the world for the last few years.

You’re making predictions very confidently as if they’re a done deal, but it’s all based on what you think should happen. It’s been several years since social media use has spread to a good chunk of the world’s population. We should be able to see the start of our post truth world’s effects and they’re not trending in a positive direction. Like, have you seen what’s happening? Here’s one recent example off the top of my head https://apnews.com/article/germany-extremism-far-right-russi...

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

#160

Post by vel0city »

Jensson wrote: post #155
vel0city wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree they've existed since the dawn of communication. It's different now that it's near free and available to broadcast that idiocy to a billion people in an instant. I'm not arguing the government should step in and massively regulate speech. I'm just saying I'm not exactly excited for where we're going on this ride. I think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.

> It's different now that it's near free and available to broadcast that idiocy to a billion people in an instant. This doesn't matter, truth needs to travel but bullshit can be made up on the spot. Internet is way more beneficial for the truth, I talked to people before they used the internet and it was bullshit all over back then as well but there was no truth around to contradict them so maybe it wasn't as obvious…

If it's irrelevant why does it seem there's far more flat earthers and anti-vaccine people today than 40 years ago?

I do agree there are positives to the truth being more accessible. I don't need to go to the library or pay massive fees to access peer reviewed articles these days. I can collaborate with peers all over the world to search for the truth. This doesn't help when most of the popular web is actively pushing up falsehoods instead of the truth. And that's happening on a scale that's never before been possible.

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